Best Sourdough Bread in the World

Are you searching for the best sourdough bread recipe in the world?

You’re not alone.  In 2017, Business Insider set out to find the best sourdough bread, and found it at Tartine Bakery, San Francisco.

With lines around the building, it appears that the people have voted with their feet (and stomachs).  The sourdough bread they make is reported to be perfectly tangy, full of holes and crevices, and delicious.

If you’re not lucky enough to live nearby to the Tartine Bakery, keep reading for how you can make a perfect loaf of sourdough bread.

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Best Sourdough Bread Recipe (that you can make at home)

A perfect, artisan looking loaf of sourdough bread isn’t as hard to make as you think.

Here is my favorite recipe from The Kitchn for sourdough bread that strives for a loaf similar to the one at the Tartine Bakery. I have used this recipe countless times and have never been disappointed with the results.

Typically when I make it, I use a dutch oven.  This is what The Kitchn calls for in their recipe, and using one truly does make the best sourdough bread in the world.

The high baking temperature, coupled with the use of a dutch oven, give this loaf a hard crust on the outside, and a soft inside.

And while this sourdough bread recipe is made at home, it has the look of a bakery-made artisan loaf. I recently brought a loaf to my friend, and she would not believe that I had made it until I showed her a picture of my messy kitchen.

Tips for Making the Best Sourdough Bread Recipe

I’ve been making this sourdough bread recipe for years now, and along the way I have learned a thing or two.

Here are my tips on how to make the best sourdough bread recipe.

First, you can make make the dough ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for days.  My fridge always has several bowls of unbaked sourdough bread in it.  When I need a loaf, I fire up the oven, pop the dough straight from the fridge into the dutch oven, and in an hour or so I have a perfect, artisan loaf.

Second, you can double the recipe if you want.  I am nervous about doubling bread recipes at times, because of the kneading involved.  But since this recipe doesn’t call for kneading, and instead uses a folding method (which is easy!), it is a great one to double.

Third, if you are a health conscious, you can modify this recipe into a whole wheat sourdough bread recipe by substituting up to 1/3rd of the white flour with whole wheat flour.  This will make your loaf slightly denser, but will also give it that slightly nutty flavor that whole wheat flour imparts.

Everything You Need to Make the Best Sourdough Bread Recipe in the World

In my years of sourdough bread making, I’ve found a few things to be indispensable.

Here is a list of all the things I use when I am making sourdough bread.

1. Dutch Oven – this is essential for that hard crust
2. Long Oven Mitts – When you’re making this sourdough bread recipe, you’re heating your oven to 500 degrees.  You have to remove the lid with the temperature at 450 degrees.  That is SUPER HOT.  Don’t mess around with flimsy oven mitts.  Between the intense heat and the weight of the dutch oven, you need to get yourself some really good oven mitts.  These ones give you the added benefit of silicone on the ends, making them great for picking up a heavy dutch oven, and go the whole way up your arms.  You need this!  I can’t tell you how many times I have burnt my arms when removing the lid of the dutch oven.  The steam from the loaf comes out and goes right on your forearm, and burns for days.  Get these mitts so you don’t burn your arm like I did before I got them!
3. Proofing Basket and accessories
4. Cooling Rack
5. Electric Knife – Sounds a little crazy, I know.  But this loaf is HARD when it comes out of the oven.  And while that makes it amazing to eat, it makes it difficult to cut with a regular knife.  Pick up this electric one that we use, and you’ll be set to slice it up!
6. Linen Bread Bags – for optimal storage!

The Best (Fast) Sourdough Bread Recipe

While it is the best, sometimes you just don’t have time to make the recipe from The Kitchn.  Maybe you have unexpected guests coming for dinner, or you forgot to make the dough ahead of time.

When this happens, I use this instant baguette recipe, with a little modification.

I simply add 1/2 cup of sourdough starter and 1/4 cup of extra water to the recipe to infuse the bread with the more sophisticated flavors of sourdough. The best thing is that you can now have an instant sourdough french baguette or instant sourdough Italian bread loaf in less than an hour! It totally ups your dinner game to deliver hot, delicious bread to you family and friends along with the otherwise ho-hum pasta dish.

Good luck with your sourdough making!

I hope that you find this recipe as good as I do!  Wow your friends with it, or, if you have a better recipe, share it with me below so I can check it out!

Need ideas for what to do with your excess sourdough starter?

Check out my list of 50+ recipes that use sourdough starter.  With everything from muffins to pancakes to breads to cookies to pretzels, and more, you’re bound to find something you love!

The Best Sourdough Bread Recipe in the World

Thanks for sharing!