Sourdough French Bread (2024)

You can make deliciously crusty, light, and flavorful sourdough French bread with your sourdough discard and a few simple ingredients. It’s an easy dough to make and rests overnight to get just the right rise without any yeast needed. Then just shape, score, and bake to perfection! This is a tried-and-true rustic sourdough bread recipe you will surely love.

We’ve been making and feeding sourdough starter for many years. Making artisan sourdough bread or soft sandwich bread with sourdough is easy! And, we love the slightly tangy taste and great texture you get with sourdough recipes.

Did you know that the discard can be used to create all sorts of sourdough recipes?

Our slew of sourdough recipes includes leftover starters, like this French bread with sourdough starter recipe! It easily makes a flavorful baguette that is crusty on the outside and terrifically tender and fluffy on the inside.

Baking with Sourdough

Anyone who has tried making bread with sourdough discard knows that you need these 2 key things for the perfect loaf: a starter (be sure to make this quick sourdough starter before you get, well, started. It’s homemade with flour and water, and is ready in a week thanks to my no-fail tips!) and patience.

And true to form, this fantastic sourdough French bread recipe also requires these. However, unlike many other sourdough discard recipes, this one doesn’t use any yeast.

Instead, it ferments overnight to get just the right rise. So you’ll certainly need that patience, but I promise this bread is so worth it,

Let’s get started with this easy french sourdough bread recipe!

Sourdough French Bread Recipe Ingredients

• Sourdough starter (see link above for the best foolproof starter recipe)
• Warm water
• Sugar
• Olive oil or other vegetable oil
• All-purpose flour (I use King Arthur flour)
• Salt

This is a sourdough discard recipe, but your discard should come from an active starter fed within the last day (if stored on the counter) or the last week (if stored in the refrigerator).

The sugar helps activate the sourdough sponge. The small amount of sugar won’t give this bread a sweet taste.

I prefer using King Arthur flour for my recipes. For me, KA flour is readily available locally, or on Amazon, so it’s easy to get. Find a quality brand that you like and stick with it. Using the same brand of flour will provide the most consistent results in your bread making.

French bread pan

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Dough whisk

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Recipe Tips

We’re presuming that you already have sourdough starter on hand. Feed your starter 12-24 hours before starting the dough.

Although it does take some time to prepare, there are only 5 simple steps to make a perfect sourdough French bread with no yeast:

1. Mix the dough either by hand or with a standing mixer.

Cover the dough and let it rise (ferment) overnight.

Shape the dough, cover it with plastic wrap on a baking sheet and let rise one more time.

Score the loaves with a sharp knife.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated oven to 400 degrees F.

Serve it with Herb Garlic Butter for a tasty loaf of garlic bread with dinner.

Keep reading for foolproof tips!

Here are some signs your sourdough has finished proofing.

1. The dough should be smooth and pliable.
2. It should stretch easily for several inches without holes or tears when stretched.

If not, the dough needs further kneading to make it as soft and pliable as it should be.

After a minute of hand kneading, it should look like this:

The dough above is soft and stretchy. When stretched, it was thin enough to see through without holes.

Tips for Proper Proofing of French Bread Sourdough

Sourdough undergoes a fermentation process during the overnight proofing. Here are a few signs that your sourdough has finished proofing (and is fermented):

• It has doubled in size. In cooler temperatures (less than 75º) this may take longer.
• You can see bubbles in the dough. There are finger-tip-sized bubbles on the top and sides of the dough and smaller bubbles underneath.

Sourdough fermentation takes hours, and your dough will need at least 6 hours and possibly 12 hours until the sourdough has proofed. Keeping the dough between 75º and 85º will speed up the fermentation process.

Under proofed dough is stiff and the surface of the dough is smooth.

Properly proofed dough shows bubbles on or below the surface. It’s soft, and the impression stays when you press your finger into it.

Over-proofed sourdough may spill over the sides of the bowl during proofing. To avoid over-proofed sourdough, set a timer per the recipe card and keep the dough at 85º or lower.

The scoring for this sourdough bread recipe is simple but necessary to keep the bread from cracking. Use a very sharp knife or lamé for sourdough scoring. I prefer to use a lamé or a serrated knife.

Frequently Asked Questions

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