Description
Light, airy, soft & delicious, this sourdough discard soft French bread is the perfect bread to use up sourdough discard. It’s the perfect side to a weeknight dinner or makes yummy French toast. Easy to mix together, shape and ready in just a couple hours, you’re going to love this discard French bread!
Ingredients
- 200 grams sourdough discard 100% hydration, about 3/4 cup
- 430 grams water, warmed about 1 3/4 cups
- 40 grams honey about 2 Tablespoons
- 10 grams instant yeast about 1 Tablespoon
- 70 grams coconut oil or any neutral-flavored oil, see recipe notes, about 1/3 cup
- 20 grams salt about 1 Tablespoon
- 860 grams bread flour about 6 cups, see recipe notes
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add sourdough discard and warm water. If the discard is cold from the fridge, make sure the water is very warm or hot. Mix the discard and water together with a spoon or your hands to disperse the temperature before adding in the instant yeast – you don’t want to kill the yeast! Add the instant yeast and honey. Let sit until it smells yeasty and is a little foamy (this shows you that your yeast is active).
- Add the oil, salt and bread flour. Knead with a dough hook for about 8 minutes. The dough will be smooth and elastic feeling. It should be tacky to the touch and not overly sticky. If it is overly sticky, add a little more flour and continue kneading. Alternatively you can knead the dough by hand for 10-12 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a dough container and let the dough rise for about an hour until doubled or tripled in size. The time it takes for the dough to rise will depend on the temperature of the dough. I like to use a dough mat or place the dough in a warm place to speed up the process.
- Turn dough out onto the counter and cut into two pieces. With your fingers, press each piece into a rectangle shape (not quite as long as your baking sheet). Roll up, pinching in the seams as you go. Pinch the dough closed and place on one half of a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other portion of dough.
- Cover the shaped dough with a kitchen towel and let rise for an hour or two (depends on the temperature of the dough) until doubled in size, puffy, light and airy.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Score the loaves with a bread lame or sharp knife, making several slashes across the dough or one large slash down the middle of the dough.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Brush with melted butter and let cool before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Sourdough Discard: I use 100% hydration sourdough discard in discard recipes. You can also use fresh, bubbly sourdough starter or discard that’s been in your refrigerator for a week or longer, if you like the flavor of older discard. You can use it straight out of the fridge if you use warm water to mix your dough.
Coconut Oil: For a super tender loaf, I use coconut oil. You can substitute any neutral-flavored oil in this recipe. The coconut oil won’t change the taste of the bread, but it makes for a rich and fluffy texture.
Bread Flour: If you don’t have bread flour on hand, you can add 20 grams vital wheat gluten to all-purpose flour to increase the protein content and improve the elasticity, crust and crumb of the bread.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Rise Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 126kcal
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 244mg
- Fat: 3g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.4g
- Carbohydrates: 22g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 4g