Small No-Knead Sourdough Country Bread/Pain de Campagne (with 7-minute scoring)

Small Sourdough Country Loaf (79% Hydration)

Small No-Knead Sourdough Country Bread/Pain de Campagne (with 7-minute scoring)

Course: Bread

Cuisine: European

Prep Time: 7

Cook Time: 45

Cold retard in the fridge:: 18

Total Time: 1 1

Servings: slices (about 500-gram loaf)

Calories: 129kcal

Author: Marvellina

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.

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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

Recipe with 10% whole wheat flour:

270 gr bread flour (12.7% protein content) 90% (plus more for dusting)
30 gr whole wheat flour 10%
230 gr water 79% final hydration
60 gr active starter (100% hydration) 20%
4 gr fine sea salt 1%

For dusting banneton:

rice flour

You will need:

Instructions

Prepare levain (the night before):

I strongly encourage you to have an active starter that is at least one month old before you attempt to bake this recipe. You can try using your young starter that is at least 2-week old, but the result may not be as satisfactory
Since I know I will be baking the next day, I will prepare more starter the night before. I will feed at 1:7:7 ratio so it will last me until the next morning, about 10 hours to double or triple at 75-77 F (24-25C). This also depends on the strength of your starter and the room temperature the starter is at. It may be faster or longer.
I use 5 grams starter + 35 grams flour + 35 grams water. I usually prepare a bit more as some may get stuck to the glass jar, spatula, etc.
Ideally, you want to use your starter at its peak, meaning it has doubled or tripled when you are ready to use it. If for some reason you can't use the starter right away, store it in the fridge and try to use it within 12 hours for the best result.

Fermentolyse (around 8:00 am):

Weigh 60 grams of starter into a mixing bowl. Feed the starter as per your normal routine. Combine starter, water, and salt and stir to combine. Add bread flour and whole wheat flour to a mixing bowl. If you have a dough whisk, you can use that, otherwise, a sturdy spatula or your hand would work too. Stir to combine into a rough wet dough. The whole process probably take about 3-5 minutes. It is important that there shouldn't be any visible dry bits. All flour needs to be fully hydrated. Cover and let it sit for 1 hour. Maintain dough temperature at 70-72 F (21-22 C) at this stage if possible
If it's really warm where you are, you may want to put it in a cooler bag with a pack of ice. Because the starter is already added at this point, we don't want it to start fermenting way too early before we have a chance to strengthen the dough during bulk fermentation
Bulk fermentation begins when you innoculate starter (adding starter) into the dough. In this case, it starts at this fermentolyse step

Stretch and fold #1 (around 9:00 am):

From this point on, I maintain the temperature a bit warmer, at 75-78 F (24-26C).Please watch the video to see the step-by-step tutorial there. Wet your fingers lightly. Pick up the dough from one of the edge, kinda wiggle it and stretch it up and fold it over. Repeat this throughout the edge of the dough. You may end up with 4-6 stretches
Only stretch as far as the dough allows you too, don't force it. You can clean up the side of the bowl using a bench scraper and round the dough up flipping it to the smooth side (Not shown in the video). Cover and rest for 30 minutes

Stretch and fold #2,and #3 (every 30 minutes):

Do the same stretch and fold again with your slightly wet fingers. You may notice the dough is a bit tighter this round as gluten has developed a bit more. Cover and rest for 30 minutes and repeat until you've done 3 sets of stretch and fold every 30 minutes

Continue with bulk fermentation:

I recommend using a see-through container or bowl to help you gauge how much the dough has risen so you know when to call an end to bulk fermentation. I also mark the container with a marker to see where the level of the dough is. This helps me to roughly gauge how much it has grown. I usually proof until the dough has doubled in volume or at least close to double
During this time you can do 1-2 coil fold if you feel that the dough needs to develop more gluten. Coil fold is a gentler way to strenghten the dough without deflating it during bulk fermentation.
Total bulking time from the time the starter is added to this end of bulk fermentation is about 6 hours at 78-80 F (26-27 C). Again, you need to observe the dough, not the clock. It may take longer or faster depending on the temperature

Shape into batard (around 2:30 pm):

I don't do pre-shaping since I only bake one small loaf and the dough usually seems pretty strong after all those stretch and folds and coil folds. I also try not to handle the dough too much near the end of bulk fermentation, to avoid degasing the dough too much
Lightly flour the surface of the dough in the container
Tip the container upside down to let the dough gently slide down upside down. Dust the surrounding of the dough with flour. Since I use a square container, the dough will be sort of "squarish". If you use a round container, the dough will be "roundish"
Just use a bench knife to help you stretch the dough out a bit to make it more "squarish". It doesn't have to be a picture-perfect square
Use a bench knife to tuck in the flour underneath the four edges of the dough
Gently fold half of the dough over towards you to the center. Repeat with the opposite half, overlapping the first half. Then roll the dough over from one end to the other. You can feel that the dough is jiggly and full of air. You can also refer to my video for alternative batard shaping call "caddy clasp"
Tuck a bench knife under one side of the dough and push gently to tighten the dough a bit. Seal both ends

Transfer to an oval banneton:

I use an 8-inch oval banneton lined with a cloth. 9-inch banneton would work too. Lightly dust the cloth with rice flour on the bottom and the side of the cloth. Lightly dust the top of the shaped dough. Dust off some excess. Very gently, using the help of the bench scraper to flip the dough onto your palm. So the seam side is facing you now. Gently put the dough into the prepared banneton. The seam side is up. I like to tighten and seal the seam by pulling a bit of the dough from both sides

Cold retard the dough:

Place the dough inside a produce plastic bag and twist the bag and secure with a clip. Any large ziploc bag would work too. Put this inside the coldest part of your fridge. Make sure the fridge is cold enough at 37-38 F (3-4 C). This is important so the dough won't continue to ferment and you end up with an over-proofed dough. Let the dough cold retard for 15-18 hours

Preheating oven:

I bake using a cast-iron dutch oven combo cooker. 45 minutes before you plan to bake, position one oven rack at the lowest level and then another one, one rack above it. Place the dutch oven and its lid at the 2nd rack. I keep the pot and the lid separated during preheating. Preheat the oven together with the dutch oven to 485 F (250 C) for 45 minutes
Cut a parchment paper about 2 inches bigger than the size of your banneton. I have a combo cooker Dutch oven, which is nice because I can load the dough with less risk of getting burnt on my arms. If you have a regular Dutch oven pot, you want to cut parchment paper so that it has a "handle" so you can lift the handle and lower the dough into the pot without getting burnt.
Place the parchment paper covering the top of the banneton and turn it over so the dough is now sitting on top of the parchment paper

If you choose to do 7-minute scoring: (score after baking for 7 minutes)

Wear a mitten and carefully get the Dutch oven pot and its lid out from the oven and place one baking sheet on the lowest rack and quickly but carefully close the oven's door back to prevent too much heat loss. This helps to prevent the bottom crust of your bread from being too thick and tough
Carefully load the dough by lifting the parchment paper and lower it into the pot or the combo cooker, mist with some water. Close the lid. Open the oven door again and carefully transfer the pot into the oven again and close the oven door. Lower the temperature to 450 F (230 C) and bake for 7 minutes
After 7 minutes, remove the Dutch oven from the oven, carefully open the lid and use a bread lame to score the dough, kinda off-center a bit, about 1/2-inch deep at a 45-degree angle
Cover it back with the lid and put it back in the oven and bake for the next 33 minutes
After 33 minutes, remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Transfer the bread to a regular baking sheet and put this back inside the oven
Lower the oven temperature to 425 F (220 C) and bake for 5 minutes. This part is just to brown the crust. I like to use digital instant-read thermometer and the internal temperature should be at least 200 F (93 C)

If you choose to score the dough before baking:

Wear a mitten and carefully get the Dutch oven pot and its lid out from the oven and place one baking sheet on the lowest rack and quickly but carefully close the oven's door back to prevent too much heat loss. This helps to prevent the bottom crust of your bread from being too thick and tough
Use a bread lame and make a slash, about 1/2-inch deep at 45 degree angles on the dough, kinda off-center a bit. Mist the dough with water. This creates nice crackling all around the crust later
Update: Bake at 450 F (230 C) for 45 minutes.
I like to use digital instant-read thermometer and the internal temperature should be at least 200 F (93 C)

Cooling down:

Get the bread out of the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack immediately and now comes the hardest part! You need to wait for at least 3-4 hours or longer before you slice it. If you slice into warm bread, you will end up with gummy crumbs

Store:

Once the bread has cooled down completely, you can store it in a bread box if you plan to consume it in the next few days. You can also put it inside a paper bag
For longer storage, you can wrap the whole loaf or sliced bread in plastic wrap and then put inside a freezer bag. Push all the air out and seal. It can be kept frozen for 1-2 months. Simply thaw at room temperature before serving and then reheat them in toaster or air-fryer. Most toasters these days can toast frozen sliced bread. So you may not even need to thaw it completely

Video

Notes

I have simplified the techniques for making sourdough bread. I used to do stretch and fold, bench fold, coil fold, but I have now simplified it to only doing stretch and fold and coil fold only if necessary. The result has always been great and it eliminates unnecessary steps that makes people nervous about making sourdough bread. I feel like sourdough bread is very forgiving and no matter what, you will still end up with tasty loaf

Nutrition