All the time at home in the last year has pushed a lot of people to learn new skills and hobbies – myself included. I’ve really been honing in on my homesteading skills (baking from scratch, preserving, gardening, etc.), and I finally took the plunge into sourdough baking! I didn’t know much at all about it, so I gathered up what I think are the best sourdough bread resources. Some are paid courses and others are free recipes and tips, but I think you’ll find all of these incredibly useful on your sourdough journey! I’m still learning, so if you are too, hopefully these will help you with everything from starter to finish (see what I did there??).
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If you’re unfamiliar with sourdough bread, it’s bread made without the typical storebought yeast we are used to. Instead, it uses wild caught yeast. It typically uses much fewer ingredients and has enormous benefits to your health, as the “starter” (the wild caught yeast) is fermented. You can purchase a starter or make your own.
If purchasing a starter, I really like Cultures for Health brand. You can get different varieties, including gluten free. I followed this method for making my own starter.
There are so many resources and recipes for making sourdough; I’m sharing the ones I found most helpful. You can find more links on my Pinterest page.
Melissa is the first person I found when I wanted to learn about sourdough. I started out with her cookbook, moved into her bread course, and then joined her membership! She has a lot of free recipes on her website too though, so she has recourses for every price point. Melissa is an excellent teacher, and I’ve learned so much about sourdough (and canning and gardening!). I highly recommend checking out her resources.
- I highly recommend her bread baking course – this is where I began!
- Her Handmade cookbook goes through sourdough step-by-step (but without the visuals you’ll find in her course)
- She has numerous recipes on website, and her method of developing a sourdough starter from scratch is my favorite.
Kate is an incredible resource for making just about anything from scratch. If you head over to her website, you will find countless recipes (not just sourdough – she has knowledge on everything from cheesemaking to raising cows!). I’ve had a lot of success with her recipes, and here are a few:
Lisa is a great resource for so many from-scratch recipes – her Instant Pot cookbook is a fave around here (the soup above is her baked potato corn chowder from the book, paired with some sourdough crackers). We are friends on Instagram, and she really inspires me with how consistent she is in her sourdough – with a bunch of kids like me. :) She has some awesome sourdough discard recipes:
If you’re an Instagram user, I really love following @that.dough.tho – she has really clear steps in her story highlights walking you through how to make sourdough. I’ve watched them many times, and they’re so helpful!
I’ve also been experimenting with the sourdough discard in our favorite recipes. I used my sourdough discard in my banana bread recipe, and it turned out delicious! Melissa’s bread course gives great guidance in how to use your discard in recipes, but there are MANY recipes on Pinterest too. I’ve been pinning some of my favorites on my Sourdough board.
Supplies You Need
If you’re getting started in sourdough, there are a few things you’ll need. There are a lot of tools that are nice to have, but this was the bare minimum I found I couldn’t do without:
- Dutch oven – I have used both an enameled cast iron dutch oven and this 2-piece set.
- Kitchen Scale – measurement by weight is really important when baking sourdough bread
- Parchment paper
- Mason Jars
- Wooden spoon
- Large bowl
- My favorite source for buying flour is an organic buying co-op called Azure Standard – you can buy in bulk or you can buy in regular sizes. You can use my referral code JessicaCollier1 if you create an account!
Happy baking!