Rosemary Sourdough Bread
This rosemary sourdough bread combines earthy rosemary with a touch of lemon zest, for a beautifully fragrant bread. It’s perfect for serving alongside soups, cheeses, or simply toasted with butter.
I love the taste of rosemary in sourdough bread, it’s my favourite part of my sourdough focaccia! So I wanted to make a loaf with a similar taste. It bakes up beautifully and it’s so yummy served with a wedge of brie.
Rosemary is very strong in flavour, so a little goes a long way. That being said, feel free to increase or decrease the amount to your liking.
This rosemary sourdough is
✔ Fragrant & flavourful – The combination of rosemary, lemon, and sourdough is simple but packs in flavour.
✔ Naturally leavened: No commercial yeast needed, just your sourdough starter.
✔ Long fermentation for maximum flavour and texture: The overnight cold proof enhances texture and taste.
Sourdough starter
You’ll need an active sourdough starter for this recipe. I usually make an offshoot starter, called a levain, specifically for my breads. This is a portion of starter that’s fed and then used entirely in the dough. If you feed your starter differently, that’s fine! Just use an active and not too acidic starter for best results.
Baker’s Schedule
The timing can be tweaked to suit your schedule, but here is a guide of the timeline I currently use when it’s spring. It will change a bit in winter.
- 9 am: Create your levain.
- 2 pm: Mix the dough
- Between 2 pm-5 pm: Over three hours, stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes.
- 5-7pm: Bulk fermentation continued for another 1-2 hours.
- 7 pm: Shaping and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day – The bread can be baked the next morning.
Tools I use
Here’s what I use
How it’s made
Mixing the dough
Begin by feeding your starter.
When the starter is ready, combine flour and water into a shaggy dough. Let this rest for 15 minutes then add in the starter, lemon zest, chopped rosemary and salt.
Stretch and fold and bulk ferment
Over the next three hours, stretch and fold the dough, a set every 30 minutes to give the dough strength. As the time goes on the dough will become smoother and stretchier.
Bulk ferment contd.
After the folds, place the dough in a clean bowl and give it another hour or two to finish the bulk ferment. There should be definite signs of activity on the dough, like bubbles forming and the dough will jiggle if you give the bowl a shake. In a room temperature of around 24°C/75°F my dough needs about another 1 1/2 hours, but in colder temperatures it will take longer.
Shape
Lightly flour the bench and tip out the dough. Preshape into a round and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Flip it over so the smooth side is down. Gently stretch it into a rectangle.
Fold like a pamphlet
Fold the top third down and the bottom third up, like a pamphlet.
Roll into a log
Starting from the short end, roll it up tightly into a log.
Then, pull the dough towards you on the bench to create surface tension.
Cold-proof
Place it seam-side up into a floured, lined banneton basket for the final proof.
Baking
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your dutch oven so it’s extra hot. This will help it capture steam. Give your bread a slighly angled slash down the length of the loaf which help form an ear when it bakes. Bake it covered for the first 20 minutes which lets the bread rise to its full potential before the crust sets.
Then once uncovered, bake again until it has browned to your liking.
Sourdough without a dutch oven
To bake sourdough without a Dutch oven, preheat your oven with a baking stone or sheet pan inside. Place an oven-safe pan on the bottom rack to create steam. When ready to bake, place the shaped dough on a sheet of parchment paper and slide it onto the hot baking stone or sheet pan. Pour a cup of hot water into the preheated pan at the bottom of the oven to generate steam, then quickly close the oven door. Bake for 20 minutes with steam, then remove the water pan and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes until the crust is deep golden brown.
Tips
✔ Use fresh rosemary – Dried rosemary won’t give the same flavour. If you do use dried, use only half the amount.
✔ Chill overnight – A cold proof deepens flavor and improves structure.
✔ Bake with steam – A covered Dutch oven traps steam for better oven spring.
✔ Let it cool before slicing – This prevents the crumb from becoming gummy.
More sourdough recipes
Rosemary Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
Levain
- 25 g sourdough starter
- 50 g all-purpose flour
- 50 g water
Dough
- 400 g all-purpose flour with protein of at least 11%
- 285 g water
- 1 tbsp lemon zest finely grated
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped, decrease or increase to taste
- All the levain (around 100g active starter)
- 8 g salt
Instructions
- Mix together the starter ingredients in a bowl and stir well until thoroughly mixed. Add it to a clean jar and loosely cover it. Leave it in a warm spot until it doubles in size.
- When the starter has almost finished rising, combine the flour and in a large mixing bowl. Use a fork or wooden spoon to bring it together, then switch to wet hands to mix it into a shaggy dough ball with no dry bits of flour remaining. Cover the bowl and let it autolyze at room temperature until the starter is ready.
- Add the starter, lemon zest, rosemary and salt to the dough and squish it in using wet hands. Add in a few slap and folds to incorporate it better and start developing the structure.
- Over the next 3 hours, stretch and fold this dough every 30 minutes. Pull the dough up and over itself, turn the bowl a quarter turn, and repeat. Do this on all sides, and always use wet hands.
- After the folds, place the dough in a clean bowl and give it another hour or two to finish the bulk ferment. There should be definite signs of activity on the dough, like bubbles forming and the dough will jiggle if you give the bowl a shake. In a room temperature of around 24°C/75°F my dough needs about another 1-2 hours, but in colder temperatures it will take longer.
- Shape the sourdough into a batard or ball depending on what basket you’re using.
To shape a bâtard:
- Lightly flour the bench and tip out the dough.
- Pre-shape into a round and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Flip it over so the smooth side is down. Gently stretch it into a rectangle.
- Fold the top third down and the bottom third up, like a pamphlet.
- Starting from the short end, roll it up tightly into a log.
- Pull the dough towards you on the bench to create surface tension.
- Place it seam-side up into a floured, lined banneton for the final proof.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and cold-proof in the refrigerator for 8-24 hours.
Baking
- The next day, preheat the oven and a Dutch oven to 450°F/230°C for at least 30 minutes until well-heated.
- Remove the hot Dutch oven and flour the bottom well. Take the dough from the fridge and carefully flip it out of the basket and into the Dutch oven. If baking this in a large pot, it’s best to tip your dough onto a piece of parchment paper. This way, you can lower it into the pot.
- Score the dough using a razor blade or sharp knife.
- Bake covered with the lid for around 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake uncovered for 20 minutes more, depending on your preference or your oven. Some ovens run hotter and may need less time, while others need more.
- Let the sourdough cool for at least two hours before slicing.
