This One-Hour Sourdough Bread really goes from scratch to finish in one hour flat. You do need to add yeast to this recipe for the single rise, but the sourdough starter (or discard) adds terrific flavor and nutrition. If you love the flavor of sourdough breads but don't have the time to make a traditional loaf, this is the bread for you!
Given how much I love getting things done quickly, and given how much I love baking with sourdough, I had been dying to try out a very quick, very easy sourdough bread. And, today, I want to share it with you.
Let me first clarify for all those purists who will want to rage at me that this is not a true sourdough bread, as in it is not fully leavened with a sourdough starter. A true sourdough bread, like this no-knead sourdough bread or this sourdough sandwich bread, would need at least two rises, of which one would be a pretty long, even overnight one, with nothing but sourdough helping it rise and develop flavor.
I love those breads, and I love baking them when I have the time. But don't you have those days when you truly, madly, deeply want a homemade loaf of bread, warm from the oven, to serve with that lovely tomato soup you just made and you know it will be impossible to make a loaf instantly, which sends you into a downward spiral and makes you want to throw in the towel and just serve PBJs, which just ruins the day for everyone else as well and then...well, you get the picture? 😉
Anyhoo. This is the loaf you want to bake on that day, so everything is just as it should be, and everyone--especially you--is happy.
Table of Contents
Why you'll love this one-hour sourdough bread
- It's bread, in an hour.
- There's no extensive kneading involved, and a short rise time.
- The bread has a soft, slightly crusty crust and a fluffy, soft crumb. It slices easily.
- It's delicious. There is no flavor compromise here. The reason most breads have two rise times is to develop both the flavor and the structure of the bread, and when you are rushing things along you want to compensate adequately for both. To rush the gluten production along, helping develop the bread's structure, I use bread flour and the yeast. And to add flavor, I use the sourdough. The sourdough also helps give the bread some oven spring.
- It's easy. Breadmaking comes with a caveat though: if you are brand new at it, you will likely have a learning curve with making any bread. But if you know your way around a bench scraper, you should have no trouble making this easy sourdough loaf.
- It's real bread. Sure, it might appear a bit of a gimmick to make bread in an hour, but this is a real, yeast-leavened bread loaf, and it tastes great.
Ingredients
- Sourdough starter or discard. This is a great use for sourdough you were about to discard, but if you have a strong starter you just fed that would work too.
- Bread flour: this helps create a stronger, better structure for the loaf.
- Vegetable oil: I use avocado oil but any vegetable oil, including olive oil, is perfectly fine.
- Oat milk (or any nondairy milk): Milk helps keep the crust softer. If you want a very crusty crust sub this with an equal quantity of lukewarm water.
- Lukewarm water: If you need some help bringing the dough together.
- Sugar: Sugar helps feed the yeast, getting it to multiply quickly, and it also helps add more flavor to this quick-rise bread.
- Instant yeast or active dry yeast. Yyou will get quicker results with instant yeast, but active dry yeast works too in this recipe.
- Salt, for more flavor in your bread.
How to make one-hour sourdough bread
Place all of the ingredients in a bowl--this includes the flour, sourdough discard, sugar, salt, vegetable oil and nondairy milk. The only thing you shouldn't add to the bowl at this stage is the water.
Mix all the ingredients until a dough begins to form. Make sure the milk is lukewarm when you add it, which will also help wake up the yeast faster.
Now trickle in the water slowly to form a supple dough that's soft but not sticky, You might not need all of the water.
As soon as you have the dough, place it on a square of parchment paper, then lift the parchment paper and place it in a small Dutch oven. This is not a huge loaf, so a smaller pot will help create a better shaped, more rounded boule. A wider Dutch oven will create a flatter loaf.
Cover the Dutch oven with the lid and place it in a warm spot for 20-25 minutes. It's really important you find a cozy, warm spot because you are looking for a quick rise.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit while the dough is rising.
After 20 minutes the dough should have nearly doubled. Use a sharp or serrated knife or blade to make a quick gash at the top of the dough, taking care not to deflate it.
Place the Dutch oven, uncovered, in the oven and bake 30 minutes or until the top of the loaf sounds hollow when you rap it with your knuckles.
Place the Dutch oven on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove the bread by lifting up the parchment paper and continue cooling on the rack. Slice and serve.
Recipe FAQs
Since we aren't giving this bread a whole lot of time to rise, and it's a single rise, whole wheat would not be a great option here. You can sub half a cup of the all purpose flour for whole wheat if you absolutely want to, but your loaf will be more dense.
Yes, absolutely. Any oven-safe pot or baking dish that has a base of no more than five inches or so would work great here.
If you slice bread when it's hot or just out of the oven, you will find it is very moist and, as a result, hard to slice. So you do need to factor in some time to let the bread cool down, at least to lukewarm, before you slice it. For best results, cool it completely.
Related recipes
- Bread Machine Sourdough Bread
- Soft Sourdough Rolls
- No Knead Sourdough Bread
- Gluten-Free Sourdough Boule
One Hour Sourdough Bread
Equipment
- Small Dutch Oven (2 quarts) or a small, metallic or glass baking dish
- Stand mixer (optional), or large bowl
Ingredients
- 2 cups bread flour
- ½ cup sourdough starter (or sourdough discard)
- 2 teaspoon instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ cup lukewarm nondairy milk (I used oat milk)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ cup lukewarm water (you might not need all of this)1
Instructions
- Place all ingredients except water in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached.
- Mix until the dough comes together. Continue kneading for a couple of minutes, trickling in the water if necessary. The dough should be soft but not sticky.
- As soon as you have a ball of dough, place it in on a sheet of parchment paper, then lift the parchment paper into a dutch oven. Cover with the lid and place in a warm spot. It is important to ensure that the dough has a mice, cozy, warm place to rise as you are hoping to get this done really quickly and dough will take longer to rise in a slow oven.
- While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 500 degress Fahrenheit.
- After 20-25 minutes the dough should have nearly doubled. At this point make a gash in the top of the bread using a sharp blade or serrated knife.
- Place the bread in the hot oven and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. The bread should sound hollow when you tap on it with your knuckles. Let it cool down for at least 10 minutes in the Dutch oven placed on a rack, then remove and continue to cool the loaf on the rack.
Bonnie Murdock
We've enjoyed this recipe several times. I now have a 3-quart Dutch oven, and am wondering if I could simply plus up the ingredients by 50% and make a larger loaf. Any comments as to how this might affect the result? I imagine it would need to rise and cook longer, perhaps at a lower temperature. Any advice?
Vaishali
Hi Bonnie, so happy you love the bread! You can certainly scale up the ingredients. You don't have to change the rise time but you will have to bake longer. I'd add five minutes to begin with and add more if needed.
Bonnie Murdock
We are enjoying this bread! I have made about five loaves so far. We increased the rising time - it takes an hour or more to get a good rise, which is when the dough expands enough to fit our improvised "Dutch oven," an oven-safe ceramic container. We see that a nice, warm nook for the rise is important! We also decreased the oven temperature to 425 degrees Farenheit, and are leaving in the oven for about 40 minutes as well. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Lynn
I love this bread, but for my oven, the 500 degrees is too hot, or the 30 minutes is too long. Next time I am going to try 400 degrees and see how it goes.
Maria
Simply delicious 😋 My family loves bread and they were so happy to have a fresh loaf coming straight out of the oven for dinner. It’s one of the easiest and quickest bread I’ve made. Thank you Vaishali. I’m so glad I found your blog and I’ll definitely try other recipes!
Vaishali
Hi Maria, so happy you and your family loved it. Thanks for letting me know. 💕
Bonnie
First, bread was a hit and devoured within minutes.
I didn't get the rise I was expecting. I mixed by hand and will use the mixer next time. I also had to tent it about halfway because it was getting pretty brown.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Molly
Great bread! Just made my first one - the crust got a bit too dark, so will need to tweak the temperature to work with my oven, but that's all part of the fun 🙂
Any thoughts on sizing this up a bit though? Could I just multiply all ingredients by say 1 1/5? What would the cooking time be?
Vaishali
Hi Molly, so happy you liked the bread! I think sizing up would be fine, you can increase the time by 5 minutes and see if the bread sounds hollow--let me know how it goes!
Barbara
I cook by the seat of my pants with good results, so I used a full cup of starter and added more flour to compensate. I also always add psyllium flakes to my bread recipes for more fiber. I too found that 500 degrees is too hot, so I bake it at 450 degrees and increase baking time, keeping an eye on browning. It turned out more sour & a bit bigger. I’ll try doubling the recipe next time.
Graciela
Great recipe! I agree with the temperature of 500'F being too high. About 20 min in and the loaf was way darker than I would want. Next time I will bake it at 400'F for the 30 min instead and see how that works. Read the comments before baking.
Saroj Nandam
Hi Vaishali,
I have just discovered your blog.
I really enjoyed reading about you, your blended family(human and furry).I grew up in Bombay as well, in the days when it was still called Bombay.I now live in Brisbane Australia.
I have been making sour dough breads for a while, and am delighted to find an easy quick bread recipe, which uses up the sour dough discard.My family has voted it their new favourite.
One query though,I know you state that all the water may not be required, but in fact I probably added only about 10 mls , as the dough was quite soft already.
I kept my fingers crossed as it baked and the result was an amazing, very delicious loaf, though I remain puzzled about the water content..
Thanks again for sharing.
Vaishali
Hi Saroj, thanks for the lovely message. I am so happy you tried the quick sourdough bread. One reason why you might've needed less water is the difference in the hydration of the sourdough starter you are using, as compared to what I use. How much moisture a dough requires on any given day also depends on the weather. On humid days here, for instance, I find I need less liquid for my bread dough than I need on dryer days, and it can vary quite dramatically.
I am glad you figured out a way to make it work!
Donna
Wondering about taking starter straight from the fridge…does it need to sit out a while?
Vaishali
Yes the sourdough should be at room temperature — a very cold starter would slow down the rise. Good question!