Sourdough Maple Bread
Here's a recipe for a no yeast, sweet, sourdough maple bread loaf. We show you how to make this no knead bread that's so soft and tangy it makes the perfect toast or sandwich bread.
Equipment
- Cast Iron Bread Pans, if available.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Sourdough Starter
- 2 Cups Warm Water
- 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup, to taste May increase to 2/3 cup, if desired.
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sea Salt
- 1 Tbsp. Butter, room temperature May also use coconut oil.
- 6 Cups Organic White Flour May swap out some white for wheat flour.
Instructions
At Least 8 Hours Before Baking
- Combine the 1 cup of starter, 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of syrup, 1 Tbsp. of salt, and 1 Tbsp. of butter in a mixing bowl. Mix until smooth. If using a mixer, you can use the whisk attachment of your mixer, if desired. Once done mixing, replace with dough hook attachment.
- Add flour in 1 cup increments and mix until incorporated. The dough will clean the sides of the bowl when it is thoroughly mixed. The dough will be slightly sticky still but don't add too much flour or this will dry out the bread. See notes for more info.
- Take out the dough hook and scrape off dough into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and keep in warm place for 6 hours to ferment.
Shape, Rise, & Bake
- To prepare the bread to rise, wet your hands and remove half the dough from the bowl. Form into a roll and place into a greased bread pan. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Cover each bread pan with another inverted bread pan. Cover the bread pans with kitchen towels to further cacoon the rising dough. Allow bread to rise again until doubled in size - about 2 hours.
- Once rising, score the top by cutting a 1/4 inch deep line in the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Bake at 400°F/204°C for 55-60 minutes or until an inserted thermometer reads 200°F/93°C.
Notes
Add flour slowly to the starter mixture and be sure to mix well in between additions. The flour will continue to absorb the liquid while the dough rise, and will stay slightly wet. You do NOT want to add too much flour, however. This will cause your bread to be very dry and breakable.
The dough will be the right consistency when it begins to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl, clearing the dough bits from the bowl by absorbing them. You may need a little more flour if the ambient humidity in your kitchen is high.
Sourdough bread is part art, part science, and an extra part practice. You'll get it! Even if the loaf shape or texture requires practice, this sourdough maple bread is so tasty no one will notice slight imperfections as you learn.
Adding Wheat Flour
If you want to add whole grain wheat flour to this recipe, you certainly may! Regular white or red wheat won't alter the recipe much except that the bran makes the bread a bit heavier, which can result in longer rise times.
If you add an ancient grain like Einkorn, start with 1 1/2 cups water instead of two cups. You don't want to dough to be too wet with Einkorn flour because it will be too heavy to rise well. Einkorn and other ancient grains don't generally have strong gluten content like modern wheat does. This is part of what makes it healthier for many people!
Also, the bran in any whole grain flour can interfere with the gluten bonds developing in fermenting bread dough. If using whole grain flour, you may want to stretch and fold, or even bang and fold your dough at the beginning of its fermentation cycle.
This isn't hard at all, so don't worry! To learn more about stretching and folding your dough, please visit our article Sourdough Bread Beginner Recipe and scroll down a bit for instructions.
- Strech and bang instructions are exactly the same except that instead of stretching, you bang one end of your dough firmly onto your kitchen counter and then fold it over.
- Next, elongate your dough a bit and bang the other end against the counter. Then, fold it over.
- Give the dough a few good whacks this way and put it back in the bowl to rest.
- Do this band and fold process three times, 30 minutes apart each.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!