Easy Sourdough Loaf (for Beginners) 

IMHO this is the best bread making channel on planet RU-vid. Thank you John☘

Here's a massive compliment : I suffer from insomnia and I always listen to your videos to fall asleep as your voice is really calm, it really helps! (I just have to re-watch your video in the morning to remember the recipe haha!) thank you!

Thank you for sharing your easy to follow recipe! Beautifully looking tasty bread!

I’ve been making sourdough loaves for a couple of years, with varying rates of success, but have just tried your method out for the first time and the result was in another league - rise, crumb and crust all vastly better. Your videos are a joy to watch, too. Thank you!

Thank you Chef. Appreciate all the little tips from how-to-roll-fold-and-tuck to reminding us that time is a guideline and actually looking at the dough is what really counts.

I bake sourdough every week and decided to try your recipe. Very simple and easy to understand. The dough seemed a little wet during the machine kneading so I sprinkled a little more flour in and kneaded about 25 minutes. (I live in Florida, so the atmosphere is quite different) after the 3 hour proofing the dough was still a little sticky but I was able to shape and stitch without any problems. When I took it out of the proofing basket to bake, it was perfect!! And the baked loaf was absolutely beautiful!! (I wish I could post a picture!) Since I use my bread for sandwiches, this less open crumb is perfect for sandwiches!! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!

I was looking at sourdough recipes last night and today... John blesses me!

My wife loves your rolls!

Your voice is very soothing, making it easy to listen to your instructions while learning to make your fantastic recipes.

Never have I felt I might be able to do this! So grateful for this brilliant clear tutorial. Thank you very much.

Hello John, first of all I want to say that my husband and I really enjoy your videos. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. I am new to sourdough. Today I baked my 5th loaf. It is the first time I have used your recipe and it turned out so well, by far the best! This will be my go-to recipe from now on! Next, I'm going to try my hand with your sourdough dinner rolls. Thank you again for all your wonderful videos!!😊

I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times if not more. It comes out perfect every time. Thank you 🙏🏼

Thank you Mr. Kirkwood for another fine bread video! I have tried most of your recipes over the last 2 years. I stayed away from the meat pies though since my pastry dough never seem to come out right.

I made this today using your sourdough starter and recipe and it turned out perfectly! I’ve never made sourdough before so I’m blown away! I wish I could add a picture here because it’s really beautiful and tastes delicious. Thank you so much for your easy to follow instructions, you make cooking a joy 🤩

I've never cared for sourdough bread... but I think this is a recipe I would enjoy, and it looks gorgeous. I love how you never omit steps that beginners might not know to do. This makes it so easy to follow without making novice mistakes. Now I'm wondering how to adapt it to baking in a dutch oven over hot coals. I have a bread droid to do the hard work of kneading. :)

Well my first loaf came out beautiful and tasty, baking another one today!!! I am so happy I found you. God Bless and be well.

Thank you! I've been trying sour dough for a long while, and while it's turned out okay, I haven't managed to get that beautiful ear you have on yours. I didn't realise that was related to the tightness of the skin.

I smiled seeing your well organized empty fridge shelf as you put in your 2 bannetons to proof the dough overnight. My fridge is so crowded that it's always a scramble to find space for one loaf let alone two. It looks like a lovely recipe.

Hello John I've started with the sourdough wish I've many times tried, must try again now Thank you so much for your recipe.

Nearly 500k subs, and 38 million views - amazing. Many thanks for the channel.

You make it look so easy, thank you for showing us how to make an easy sourdough loaf.

I loves this videos pure vintage and enjoy the cooking book Mr. Kirkwood.

John watching you make bread is always mesmerising! Thank you

Thanks for this video it's so clear & easy to follow. I have been wanting to try sourdough but many of the other recipes I've seen are all too complicated. Such a great channel 👏

As I’ve never made sourdough before then it’s gotta be a “must” for trying….TY for showing us “how” John. Hope you are all well. 😊

Made this again. Started this last night, bake off this morning. To hot to cut right now but it smells amazing. Thanks for a great & easy recipe. It’s a keeper.

Looks beautiful. I got some artisan Sourdough bread from the local bakery a few weeks ago and it really was the best bread I ever tasted. It was Sourdough mixed with some white potato and rosemary... couldn't stop eating it. Gonna have to learn to make this myself. Thanks.

Perfect as always. Simplest instruction out there, results guaranteed.

Absolutely scrumptious 🍞

As ever john, you are the master of bread. I have a problem with digesting supermarket bread but no problem with this sourdough recipe. A BIG THANKS!!!

You make a very good job of explaining how to make your recipes, very enjoyable to watch, thank you. Good luck from Spain!!

That looks beautiful. I don't like all the air holes in the bread, so this recipe is ideal for me. Many thanks. 💛

I’ll need to try this! I’m actually making your hamburger buns today for my husband’s birthday dinner tomorrow! The best!

I love the sound of lots of loaves cooling after they've been taken out of the oven. I was bowled over (no pun intended) the first time I heard it. The popping and crackling sounds were amazing.and the smell of fresh bread. There's nothing else quite like it. We had to make our own sourdough starter, but it always seemed a chore and took days. . So, now that I know you have it for sale, I will surely buy it to use. Thank you for showing so many lovely videos John.

I learn so much from your videos. I’ll be trying this recipe soon. I made your sandwich baguettes, and they lived up to your hype.

I just made your other recipe and it came out beautifully …and so I need to take some to a friend tomorrow …and I’m going to try this recipe so I can bake it in the morning and take it to her warm. All of your recipes have been exceptional and I’m sure this one will be as well. Thank you for what you do.

This video is great John. I can’t wait to make it. Thanks so much.

Sourdough Pancakes are so good!! I would love a recipe for this!!❤💙

I literally can smell the bread! Thank you for your videos, I learned a lot.

Hiya John, just an update on my first ever sourdough baking! I mentioned that I had to add another 4 heaped dessert spoons of flour to my mix as it was like cake batter! anyway I went through the process of getting into the oven! It had risen quite well , so I turned it over on to my home made table tennis bat, to dust of the excess flour, and all looked pretty good,but after a few seconds it started to collapse so I quickly got into the pre heated large bowl and placed it straight into the hot oven but it continued to collapse slowly and almost looked like a thick pizza base, lol. I had to cook for an extra 15 mins and then turned it over for another 10 mins to cook the bottom! It had a lovely crispy crust, was still a little doughy inside with a light grey sort of colour, but when it cooled my wife and I had a couple of slices each with lashings of butter and it wasn’t too bad! Room for improvement comes to mind! So I’m thinking what went wrong ? Should I have stirred the sourdough starter before using it? All my weights and rises were perfect! I’ve now ordered some Alison’s very strong flour 14 protein, and will try again this weekend! So any ideas John would be very helpful to a better Loaf this Sunday! Kind regards David.👍👍

I followed your instruction carefully but using 1/3 rye 2/3 white flour. Came out perfect and very tasty. Fermentation took about 5 hours though. I think I'll continue using this method over the traditional stretch & fold method. Thanks for your video!

You are a true first class baker!

Thanks so much for the recipe and video instructions. I have had a few sourdough failures, but I tried again this time with your beginner recipe. Started it yesterday and baked it this morning. Success! Lovely rise, crispy crust and great taste. So then I thought why not try the regular high hydration recipe you also have. It was so easy with just the folding and no kneading, I couldn’t resist. Such a soft dough though, and I had planned to bake it in a cloche instead of Dutch oven. It spread a bit when I put it on the cloche so I was thinking I might not have a well shaped loaf…..John, it came out amazing. Too hot to taste right now but wow it looks fantastic. Nice rise. You really are the best with your combo of recipes and clear instructions! Thanks so much again! Oh, and you know since my mum was from Great Britain, I love seeing some of the foods she made for us here in Canada, but left no recipes for! Thanks again! 🇨🇦

Hi John, I hope you are well! I have tried making sour dough before without success. The recipe was very complicated. I am going to try your recipe as I know it will be a success like all of your other bread recipes ( I have your bread book) and your super easy Yorkshire pudding recipe. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Linda from Australia. 🥰🇦🇺

Hello John, I would like to thank you for your easy to follow step by step recipes. I have made a few of your bread and roll recipes and they always turn out great. Just a note to everyone reading this, my store was out of my usual flour so I bought another brand. After seeing this video I looked at my “bread flour”label and turns out it is 3g of protein per 30g serving. That’s only 10% protein. I guess I should read the labels before I buy now. Oh, and great voice! Very calming indeed.

Another great recipe John. Your Sourdough Starter is fantastic. Mine is out of the fridge warming up a bit to be fed. Thanks for the shout out, pleased to help.

thanks for this ! never knew about the baking cloche, you've taught me a number of things

Thank you so much for this video. After too many failures you’ve saved Sauron, my starter, from the bin! I’ve just made this amazing loaf and it turned out perfectly! 🥳

Fantastic, John, I have made your French baguettes several times. I find it relaxing. I will make this recipe soon. PS: I’m going to recommend your channel to others.

Going to be making mine soon John! And I can’t wait to taste this bread 👍

Thank You! This will be fun! I’m working on collecting German Wasser Brötchen Recipe’s

This was great, I can't wait to try it. Thank you for your efforts. I'll report once I make it...

Looks amazing ! I’m just imagining the smell x

Thank you John - you got me in to baking bread and through lockdown 👍

Hello again Mr. Kirkwood, I want to thank you so much for the fantastic videos you put out for us to learn and enjoy, please keep up the great work you do believe me it is much appreciated, take care hope to speak with you one day.

What a great presentation John. Thanks so much for sharing. Cheers from AKL, NZL.

From Toronto Ontario Canada and l love your website it's awesome. Made the beef stew and dumplings it was excellent. I figured it would last me and my wife a week. Lasted two days absolutely awesome. I'm just starting my sour dough bread adventure , as l only have all purpose flour I added 4 grams of wheat gluten per 100 grams of flour and it's much easier to work with thanks. I am having a beer but enjoy your tea thanks again have a great day

A bit different method than how I make mine but I think I'll try yours with my next one. Thanks for your great instruction!

Where’s all the comments!? Another amazing looking loaf John!

Maybe I'll try this before stepping into the higher hydration kind, thanks for the wonderful recipe as always!

Hi John, another great video! I've found myself missing a lot of your videos and I'm ashamed as your recipes are really good. I've rung the little bell and hope RU-vid works with me. I'll be sure to binge watch all I've missed Take care and stay well, Greetings from a small village just south of Amsterdam

I will try this recipe, I have my own starter in the fridge but I only use 100g and I have to say the rise isn’t as much as yours. I’ll feed him Monday morning and get going in the afternoon thank you for for this recipe.

Thawadah for your recipe, this was my first attempt at sourdough bread and I am hooked....

Yay . A new John video 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

That is a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread!

Hello John. I love all your videos. You are clear & precise. My favorite bread is an open crumb with a crispy outside. I have made ciabatta rolls, loaves, and baguettes. I question myself after every loaf prepared because of the time consumed with Ciabatta. So, I found this recipe and thought I had "The one." I really want a larger hole crumb, though. The outside of this recipe is ideal. What recipe name should I search for on your channel to find the closest to my desired bread? Sour dough, or any other artisan type of bread, would be appreciated. Thank you.

My favourite bread, so I have to try this out. Cheers John!

Hello John! Thank you so much for this recipe! My sourdough bread turned out perfect! Have a lovely day!

thanks so much my dear friend 😀 it is really great bread

Just what I needed been trying sourdough lately

Great recipe for beginners! The overnight proofing does so much for flavour. I made a Lithuanian scalded rye loaf last weekend. Super delicious and much better than the supermarket versions as I didn't add any sweetener. Isn't knowing all the ingredients great?.

Best sour dough recipie on youtube. Sour dough for dummies. Relie on your trusty wooden spoon!

Love your tutorials - hope to one day try them, thank you - love your accent

Just baked off the bread this morning and it turned out quite nicely. As some other commenters have reported, the dough was stickier than it appeared in your video. I didn't add any extra flour to compensate but just went with it. ;)

Dear John, thank you for another very useful recipe. Question for you : If I don’t have bottled or filtered water, can I use recently boiled water from the kettle simply waiting for the temperature to drop to around 40 degrees ? Thank you again for the perfect and detailed way of relaying your recipes to us.

Excellent, Thanks John.

Hello John your loaf looks delicious, I do like homemade bread especially when it’s still warm and the butter melts into it.... yum!! tfs Jax 🥰x

This channel is now a go to for my morning routine. Keep it up! Thank you. 🙏

Okay John, I have been too intimidated to make sourdough, but since every other bread recipe of yours that I have tried has worked, I guess this will be my next one to have a go at!

That is beautiful bread. The term "sour" comes from the technique of using already fermented flour to start your batch. Your stater is the sourdough in your sourdough bread. It's the same from sourmash whiskey. You are using the ferment from a previous batch.

Lovely, thank you John

Finally, two real sourdough loaves, John. Gorgeous. So proud;

Another winner loaf/bread recipe 👍🏼❤️

Hello John. We love this bread at home, so I asked an English lady friend of ours for the recipe. I did everything according to her recipe but unfortunately didn't succeed. Hers turn out beautifully!🤣 However, I'm going to follow your recipe as the result looks absolutely fantastic. Thanks very much for sharing this.

Looks wonderful. I made sour dough from scratch once. For me, living alone it was too expensive to keep the starter alive as I was wasting more than I could eat or even give away. That said, had I learned how to do this when my family was still young and living at home it would have saved money. Do you have any recipes (other than the bread), that use the part of the starter that you have to remove each week when you feed it? One thing I observed while tending my starter weekly was that my starter was much more vigorous when I used a whole wheat flour as compared to a regular white bread flour. It also had a better "sour" flavor. You're definitely correct, it is the best tasting bread you'll ever eat. Your video makes me want to have another go at it. I do miss a good sour dough.

I can’t wait to try this! I have the same shape banneton too!

A fantasic bread John. Cheers.

Oohhhh... have not made sourdough in years.... this is now on the list! Thank you for this!

Good day John, I have I have made quite a few of your yeast bread recipes which have had great results. Yesterday I made your sourdough recipe which turned out amazing. I was so pleased with myself as I have made quite a few sourdough recipes but always have failed as they look great on the outside, but very dense and gummy on the inside and was Rose to give up with my sourdough and throw it in the bin. But I came across your recipe and thought I would give yours, a try. It was very easy to follow and was very happy that I could mix with my electric mixer as I have osteo arthritis in both hands and find it very hard to mix the dough by hands. I would like to make a few more this week for my family, but I would like to add some extra flavour like sun-dried tomatoes, Rosemary, or olives. Would you please be able to advise me at what stage of the mixing am I able to add the additional flavours to the dough. I have also shared quite a few of your recipes with my friends as they find your recipes very easy to follow and we all have said you make a amazing teacher. Looking forward to hearing from you & thank you once again for making it so easy and simple to follow recipes. 🙏🏻🇦🇺

I’ve tried this! Absolutely delicious!

Good Morning John, This is GrahamDavid Hobbs from Malaysia and a very Big Fan of Sourdough Bread Baking I shall definelty try out your Sourdough recipe from this video. I am sure it will work for me here as My average Kitchen temp is 29+ C and humidity is always around 60%. i will get back to you and let you know how it turns out

Good morning (PST)! I started making bread with your recipes and am now coming back to you for sourdough lessons. So, thank you. I was wondering if I can double the recipe for two loaves or must I make them separately?

I have made 3 of your other Crusty Sourdoughs - turned out great and tasty but challengingly wet dough. I need a recipe that does not need a fridge overnight as fridge space is limited while camping. Can I leave this one for 5-6 hours like the other more hydrated dough and then bake in dutch oven - as with other recipe. ps I used some stout beer for half the water - and had a lovely malt flavour. The crispy buns were also a winner. Thanks for great recipes.

John how are you today sir? I’m making this recipe today for the 4th or 5th time. I love it! Today, however, after running the mixer, my dough was very sticky, not smooth like before. I added a dash of flour to hopefully fix the stickiness, and it helped a tad. I’m sure I followed the recipe but wondering if you or anyone else here, had a clue as to why dough was so sticky.

John, thanks for another great video. I do like to bake sourdough bread as well.

I’ve got to make this, though sometimes sourdough has a bitey taste to it. I’ve done long fermentation bread and it has a mild sourdough taste to it which I enjoy.

Great John. Just recently ordered my Sour Dough starter mix from the online shop. Would also love to see your take on a good french Onion soup? Great enjoyable channel 👍

Oh my gosh! I'm salivating❣️

The legend returns

Nice job Mr John .