Small No-Knead Sourdough Country Bread/Pain de Campagne

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Learn how to bake a small loaf sourdough country loaf with open crumbs and medium hydration without kneading. I’m also sharing how to do a 7-minute scoring for sourdough ear, and how to shape a batard in two different ways in my video tutorial.

It has been my obsession trying to learn how to bake sourdough bread with nice airy open crumbs. It took me over 2 months (and MANY MANY sourdough breads!) to finally understand sourdough, the techniques, and why things need to be done the way they are so that I can finally produce a decent sourdough bread with open crumbs. It’s not the most perfect yet, mind you! but I’m happy to see those wild open crumbs!

What is open-crumb sourdough bread?

Open-crumb sourdough bread literally means crumbs with a lacy open structure. You know, that mixture of large, medium, and small holes evenly distributed throughout the crumb of the bread!

How to achieve an open-crumb sourdough bread

After baking way too many failed sourdough artisan bread and finally consistently successful, If I may say that, I’ve learned that it’s not only one thing that produces open-crumb sourdough bread. It is a combination of pretty much everything from the ingredients (the flour you use, etc) all the way to the techniques applied in making the dough and baking the bread. If I were to summarize it, here are a few critical points to take note of to be able to achieve an open crumb:
1. Strong starter
This is perhaps one of the most important criteria. In fact, nothing really matters if you don’t have a strong active starter. The wild yeast does the heavy lifting here and if it’s not up to the task, the result shows!!
2. Type of flour
The quality and protein content in the flour we use is important. I use bread flour with at least 12.7%-13% gluten content. The dough needs to develop enough gluten to be able to give the bread its structure and hold the gas produced by the yeast to leaven our bread. If you use more whole grain flour, it’s less likely that you will get open crumbs. It’s just the nature of whole grain flour. Whole grain flour gives more flavor though compared to using just bread flour. This recipe incorporates about 10% whole wheat flour. The more whole-grain flour you use, the less open crumbs you get.
3. Hydration
You certainly do not need high hydration to achieve open I used to think I needed at least 80% and above to be able to get open crumbs. Dough hydration between 70-80% is enough to achieve open crumbs with proper techniques and other elements mentioned
4. Temperature control
The fermentation usually doesn’t actively take place until the last 2 hours during bulk fermentation. So you want to make sure that the temperature is not too high that the fermentation happens too quickly that you don’t have enough time to do all the stretch and fold and coil folding to develop that gluten to strengthen the dough
5. Gentle handling
You want to be firm yet gentle when you handle the dough. You want to make sure you stretch enough during the early stage when we do all the stretch and fold and bench fold to develop gluten and get more and more gentle as the time progresses because the fermentation gets more active towards the end
6. Skip preshaping if possible
I’ve learned that by baking a small loaf and usually only one loaf, I can skip preshaping if I have developed enough strength in the dough. The more you handle the dough, the more you break air pockets that you have built during bulk fermentation. So I usually just gently shape the dough right away after bulk fermentation

Techniques and terms used in sourdough baking and this recipe

If you watch the video or look at the recipe card, there are a series of techniques that are applied to the dough. They are mainly to help strengthen the dough. I highly recommend watching the video to understand the process and why things need to be done the way they are.
1. Bulk fermentation
This is one of the most important steps in bread making. This is also sometimes referred to as the first proofing. Bulk fermentation begins once you mix in the starter. In this recipe, I allow the dough to proof until about 50% growth in volume. Bulk fermentation takes about 5-6 hours at a temperature of about 75-78 F (24-26 C). The activity of the starter is highly dependent on temperature. So it is important to monitor the temperature throughout the process to make sure it’s not too warm that the dough ferments too quickly before we have a chance to strengthen the dough during bulk fermentation
2. Autolyse or Fermentolyse
Autolyse is a process of mixing water and flour and then allowing it to rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour or longer. The water and starter are added later after autolyze. During this time the flour and water work together for early gluten development. The dough becomes extensible and less kneading is needed to develop that elasticity later.
Fermentolysde is usually the process of mixing pretty much everything from the beginning, flour, water, starter, and salt. I prefer this because I won’t forget to add salt later and also it’s easier because everything gets mixed and so much easier.
I’m no expert, but I’ve tried both autolyse and fermentolyse and didn’t see much difference.
2. Stretch and fold
Stretch and fold is usually applied at the early stage of bulk fermentation, right after autolyse or fermentolyse. Its purpose is to develop strength on the dough and it also helps to smooth out the dough

3. 5 or 7-minute scoring
What is a 7-minute scoring? It is a delayed scoring. Some do it at 5 minutes. Usually, we do the expansion score (deep score) before we bake the bread, with 7-minute scoring, we bake the dough for 7 minutes and then get it out from the oven and do the expansion score and then put it back into the oven and continue to bake.

What are the benefits of delayed scoring or 7-minute scoring for sourdough ear?

I consistently find a good oven spring and get the sourdough “ear” when I do 7-minute scoring, especially with high-hydration dough. I have baked more than 10 loaves using 7-minute scoring and each one of them hasn’t failed to give me a good oven spring and nice ear. Of course, you need to score the dough properly too (at a 45-degree angle and about 1/2-inch deep), but I have been very impressed with this technique.

Shape into a boule or a batard

It’s really up to you. I have learned from the article written by Maurizio Leo from the Perfect Loaf that a batard gives you an open crumb compared to a boule shape. I have put this to the test myself and it’s true! None of my boule shape country loaves could achieve nice open crumbs like the batard shape could. Perhaps the way the boule is shaped is more “rough” so the crumbs are more even and small, which doesn’t mean a bad thing too. It’s more of a personal preference. Some people prefer nice closed even crumbs, some, like myself, like the airy open crumb artisan bread!

What is a “Caddy Clasp”?

I learned of this sourdough bread shaping term called “caddy clasp”, invented by Wayne Caddy. He shapes the dough in just two moves. I have started using this caddy clasp method for the past few months and I like it. Mine is not exactly in two moves, sort of modified a bit, but I found it much easier. You can watch my video tutorial for more details.

Sample of baking timeline

The night before – prepare a starter that will peak right at the time you are going to use it for baking. Temperature was maintained at 75-77 F (24-25 C)
8:00 am– fermentolyse (mix everything and rest for 1 hour) bulk fermentation starts here
9:00 am– stretch and fold #1
9:30 am– stretch and fold #2
10:00 am– stretch and fold #3 and transfer to bulking dish and mark the container with the height of the dough. Continue with bulk fermentation until dough has doubled in volume.
2:30-3 pm -shape the dough and transfer dough to the fridge for cold retard 15-18 hours
The next day – score and bake the cold dough

If I may offer some advice

1. Don’t give up if the bread doesn’t turn out the way you want it. Sourdough artisan bread takes a lot of practice and patience.
2. Practice with the same recipe over and over and take note each time so you can find out what works and what doesn’t
3. If you were to change something, change one thing at a time so you know exactly what works and doesn’t
4. Even if your bread doesn’t end up with open crumbs, it is still delicious bread!

Did you make this Small No-Knead Sourdough Country Bread/Pain de Campagne recipe?

I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!