Baking Sour Dough Bread

Baking the Bread

Once your loaf has doubled in size, your sourdough bread is finally ready to go into the oven. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and place a pan filled with 1/2 inch of water on the bottom rack of the oven. When the oven is all hot and steamy, gently transfer (careful not to squish the risen dough) from the bowl onto a lightly greased baking sheet (I find covering the sheet with tin foil helps with clean up!)

Being careful not to burn yourself on the steam, take a water spray bottle and spray all over the sides of the oven to create a large amount of additional steam. With a very sharp knife and a very quick hand, slice 2-4 quick cuts across the top of the dough. Quickly put the risen loaf into the oven before the steam subsides.

All this steam in the first part of the baking process is what gives artisan bread that delicious chewiness in the crust. You don't HAVE to use the steam to get good bread, but it certainly DOES give you results that are a million times better!

After 10-15 minutes in the oven, remove the bottom pan of water and lower the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake your bread for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire baking rack, and enjoy!