How To Convert Any Yeast Bread to Sourdough
Learn how to convert any recipe to sourdough. Any bread made with commercial yeast can be adapted to wild yeast bread. This simple conversion will allow you to start or advance your sourdough journey while still enjoying your favorite yeast recipes.
Yield: 1 recipe
Instructions
You will need 100 grams of an active, mature sourdough starter.
- Weigh 100 grams of sourdough starter. Remember, this will be used in place of commercial yeast, so don't bother getting the yeast out.
- Reduce the amount of flour by 50 grams and liquid by 50 grams.
- Follow the recipe as usual, accounting for the sourdough starter and the reduced flour and water.
- Be sure to allot more time for the dough to rise. Depending on your recipe, it take can take 5-12 hours for the dough to rise. If you want to speed up the fermentation process, I recommend using a proofing box.
Example Recipe
- 250 g water >>> 200 g water
- 500 g all-purpose flour >>> 450 g all-purpose flour
- 7 g active dry yeast >>> 100 g sourdough starter
- 30 g sugar
- 10 g salt
- 28 g butter
- Cup Conversion
- The easiest way to convert a yeast recipe to sourdough is using weight, not volume. It is a more precise and repeatable way to bake.
- But you can still convert a yeast bread recipe to sourdough if you don't have a kitchen scale. It's just not as cut and dry.
- 100 grams of starter is approximately 1/2 cup of bubbly starter, which is equivalent to 1/3 flour + 1/4 cup water (see blog post for a full explanation of this conversion).
Example Recipe in Cups
- 1 cup water >>> 3/4 cup water
- 4 cups all-purpose flour >>> 3 2/3 cups flour
- 1 pack active dry yeast >>> 1/2 cup of sourdough starter
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon butter
Notes
- I recommend using a starter with 100% hydration. This is important because this conversion reduces both the flour and water by 50 grams. So, you want the 100 grams of starter you add to the recipe to be made of 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water.
- Sourdough takes much longer to rise. You can anticipate the bulk fermentation to take 5-12 hours, and the second rise usually takes 2-3 hours.
- Sometimes, sourdough seems to have a mind of its own. The ambient room temperature, the type of flour, and the strength of your starter all affect the fermentation process. So it isn't quite as predictable as commercial yeast.
- Many sourdough recipes recommend cold proofing, where you store the dough in the fridge for 12 hours or more. You don't have to cold proof sourdough, but it does create a more complex flavor. And for rustic boules, baking cold dough creates a fuller, bouncier bread.
