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This sweet blueberry coffee cake is full of juicy blueberries and has a yummy crumble topping that makes it perfect for brunch or a snack.
There’s no denying that these magic cookie bars are delicious, with rich layers of sweet coconut, crunchy nuts, and decadent chocolate chips.
This sourdough bread recipe is the ultimate guide! After years of research, we created these easy to follow instructions, a…
This sourdough bread recipe is the ultimate guide! After years of research, we created these easy to follow instructions, a printable checklist, and a step-by-step video help you master that tangy flavor, chewy crust, and perfect texture.
Making homemade sourdough bread is one of the most satisfying, transformative things you can do. It’s tastier, healthier, and cheaper than any bread you’ll buy at the store.
As two cookbook authors with previous careers in business writing, Alex and I are passionate about making complex processes simple. So we created this Simplified Guide for Sourdough Bread! It has easy to understand steps, a video, and a printable checklist to make sure you’re able to master the process. Ready to get started?
In this video, Alex shows you everything you need to know about making this sourdough bread recipe! So much of bread making is learning by watching, so this video is crucial to understanding how to make sourdough bread.
This sourdough bread recipe is years in the making. For the past 2 years, Alex and I have been making sourdough bread every week. In that time, we’ve learned that making sourdough bread is an involved process. But we’re also passionate making cooking pretty simple.
We wanted to simplify the process, so set out to make our best sourdough bread recipe: which to us is the most repeatable, easiest to follow recipe with bakery style results. We developed this original recipe after extensive research using the Tartine cookbook and The Perfect Loaf. And we’re happy to say: it turned out brilliantly.
It’s got a chewy crust, tangy flavor, and just enough holes in the bread to be interesting but still hold up to a slather of peanut butter. Our sourdough bread recipe is the perfect everyday bread for snacking, sandwiches, and serving with soup.
Making sourdough bread is a process that spans across 3 days. Here’s an outline of the tasks and approximate active time for how to make sourdough bread:
| Day 1 Evening | Feed the starter (5 minutes active time) |
| Day 2 | Make bread and proof overnight (5 hours active time) |
| Day 3 | Bake (1 hour active time) |
Our instructions are thoughtfully crafted to be easy to follow—and even memorize! The traditional method of cooking the bread using steam can be hard to create at home, so our recipe uses a Dutch oven. Best of all, we’ve created a custom video series and printable checklist so that you don’t miss a step. The hardest part is waiting for the bread to cool!
Not sure you’re ready? Start with this artisan Dutch oven bread recipe instead.
Making sourdough bread requires some special equipment to get the job done. Here’s a list of the required tools. We’ve linked to the exact tools that we use.
You can make sourdough bread with many different types of flour. For our sourdough bread recipe, we use a mixture of all-purpose flour (for texture), bread flour (for strength), and whole wheat flour (for flavor). We find that this mix makes a moderately open crumb—those beautiful holes in sourdough, a chewy crust, and tangy flavor.
Personally, we use King Arthur brand organic flour for all three of the flours. In testing many different flours, we find it has the best and most consistent results for our sourdough bread recipe. (Some other flour brands made for a denser bread.)
Before we start, let’s talk about proofing. Proofing is when you let bread dough rest after you’ve added yeast so that it rises. In this recipe, there are multiple steps that involve proofing, some at room temperature and some in a warm area. For best results, your sourdough bread proofing temperature should be between 80°F and 90°F.
The recipe below calls for setting up a warm proofing area where the bread can sit at this temperature. If you have it, use the proofing setting on your oven for this step. Or, you can turn on the oven to preheat for about 1 minute and then turn it off before you place the dough in the oven. You can also pour a few cups of boiling water into the oven beneath your bowl to raise the temperature.
Whatever the case, while the bread is proofing, be careful not to accidentally turn on the oven for any other reason. We’ve had this happen before, and it’s not pretty!
For the final proofing stage in our sourdough bread recipe, the bread proofs in a basket called a banneton. The banneton helps to shape the bread and also makes for those lovely decorative lines on the top of the bread.
To ensure the bread doesn’t stick to the banneton, the inside is coated with a mix of ½ cup all purpose flour and ½ cup rice flour, a tip we learned from the Tartine cookbook. We keep a container full of this mix on hand for baking days.
When it’s not in use, you can store the banneton at room temperature. There’s no need to clean the banneton; simply let it dry out after baking. After every few bakes, we scrape out any excess flour with a spoon so that you can still get those nice decorative lines in the top of the dough.
Sourdough bread is a naturally leavened bread, meaning that instead of using active dry yeast to rise, it uses a sourdough starter. The first step in our sourdough bread recipe is to feed the sourdough starter. The night before you decide to make bread, feed the sourdough starter following the instructions in the recipe below.
Learning how to care for your sourdough starter is an important part of any sourdough bread recipe. To learn more, see How to Feed Sourdough Starter (it includes a helpful video).
If you don’t have a sourdough starter yet, you can learn how to make sourdough starter at home. See How to Make Sourdough Starter—out of thin air! You can also buy a sourdough starter online: here’s a live sourdough starter.
If you’ve read up on sourdough bread, you may have heard of the terms “baker’s percentage” or “hydration level”. These terms refer to the amount of water in the recipe, as compared to the amount of flour.
This sourdough bread recipe is a high hydration bread. The baker’s percentage for this bread is 78% hydration (350 grams of water / 450 grams of flour).
Equally as important as making sourdough bread is learning how to store it! Once you’ve baked your homemade bread, it is best eaten within 48 hours.
We store ours wrapped in cloth at room temperature. You can use a clean dish towel; or, made a special bread bag for storage out of a large napkin. Do not store it in plastic, or it becomes soggy.
If you don’t think you’ll eat the entire loaf in 48 hours, you can freeze whatever you don’t think you’ll eat! Let the sourdough bread cool fully to room temperature, then cut it into slices and place it into a sealed bag or container.
As we’ve honed this recipe through the years, we found that the hardest part of making sourdough bread was keeping track of which step we were on! To solve that problem, we created a printable checklist so that you don’t miss a beat.
Filling in the circles also adds satisfaction to each step! You can reuse the checklist five times—after that, print a new checklist and you’re good to go.
Printable checklist: Download our Sourdough Bread Checklist.
This post is one of three in our series on how to make sourdough at home:
We created this recipe to have a medium-sized crumb. To get holes in the bread like you see in our picture, make sure you are very gently during the folding and shaping steps so that you don’t press out the air.
If you are using a different brand of flour (we use King Arthur) then you may need to increase the bread flour a little bit! Otherwise, just keep practicing your folding technique so that the dough can build strength.
We like this How to Troubleshoot Bad Bread chart from Serious Eats to determine whether your bread was over-proofed or under-proofed. Over-proofed bread has a more dense crumb, while under-proofed bread will have large holes around the edges
Yes! We prefer the oval shape for slicing, but any banneton will work!
Yes, we recommend trying our timing once and seeing how your dough behaves. After that, you can try adjusting the timing to fit your lifestyle.
This sourdough bread recipe is the ultimate guide to making your own sourdough bread! You’ll be amazed by the tangy flavor, beautiful chewy crust, and perfect texture. And don’t forget the printable checklist! Also, see our FAQ if you are having any problems.
On Day 1, you’ll feed your sourdough starter the night before you prepare the dough.
Feed the starter: Remove the active starter from the refrigerator around 9:00 pm. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the starter. Add 50 grams of purified water and 50 grams of all purpose flour. Stir, cover, and leave at room temperature overnight. The starter should be bubbly and about doubled in size between 9:00 am and 11:00 am the following day. (More about feeding your starter is at How to Feed Sourdough Starter.)
Print the printable checklist: Print off our Sourdough Bread Checklist to use when preparing the dough tomorrow!
On Day 2, you’ll make and proof the dough. This is the most labor intensive day; the entire process will take around 5 hours. The step numbers correspond to the printable checklist; make sure you have it printed and ready to go!
1 Mix flour and water; rest for 1 hour at room temp (“autolyse”): In a small mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, bread flour and whole wheat flour with the purified water. Use a spoon or dough whisk to stir until all dry flour has been incorporated into a raggy dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or place the bowl in a large Ziploc bag and place leave room temperature. Set a timer for 1 hour.
2a Prepare the proofing area: Prepare a warm area for proofing before starting next step. For best results, the proofing should be in a warm location, between 80° and 90° degrees. (For more on creating a proofing area, see the section above, “Proofing sourdough bread.”)
2b Stir in the starter and proof for 30 minutes: Add the starter to the dough and stir until loosely incorporated; it does not need to be perfectly stirred in. Cover the bowl and place it in the warm area for proofing. Set a timer for 30 minutes. Watch the video instructions for about folding for the next few steps.
3 Add salt, mix with your hands, and proof for 30 minutes: Add the kosher salt evenly across the dough and mix the dough with your hands until the salt is incorporated. See the video above to watch how to mix the dough. Return the covered dough to the proofing area and set timer for 30 minutes.
4 Fold and proof for 30 minutes: Fold the dough: with wet hands, lift one side of the dough straight up so that it stretches and fold it across the center; turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat 4 times. Lift up the dough and wrap it onto itself until you have a smooth surface, then flip it over and place it in the bowl seam side down. See the video above to watch how to fold the dough. Return the covered dough to the proofing area and set timer for 30 minutes.
5 Fold and proof for 45 minutes: Fold the dough again in the same way as Step 4, wrapping it as much as possible without tearing the dough. Return the covered dough to a warm area and set a timer for 45 minutes.
6 Gently fold and proof for 1 hour 30 minutes: Gently fold the dough in the same way as Step 4, being careful not to deflate built up air in the dough. Return the covered dough to a warm area and set timer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Before you start Step 7, watch the video for instructions on pre-shaping and shaping the dough.
7 Pre-shape the dough and rest for 30 minutes at room temp: At this point the dough should appear bubbly on top and wiggle when shaken. (If it is not ready, proof for a few more minutes; the timing can vary depending on the temperature of your proofing and variations in the starter.) Turn the dough onto an unfloured countertop. Lightly flour the top of the dough and then use a bench scraper to gently scrape the dough into a ball, creating tension on top. Do not go so far that you tear the dough. Place an inverted bowl over the top of the dough. Set a timer and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
8 Shape the dough, place it in the banneton, and rest for 30 minutes at room temp: Prepare the banneton by rubbing the 50/50 rice flour mixture into all of the grooves of the banneton. Remove the bowl from over the dough; the dough should be formed into a gently rounded shape. Rub just enough flour onto the top of the dough so that it isn’t tacky. Use the bench scraper to flip the dough so that the floured side is down. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle. Moving quickly, fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third up to create a packet. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and gently roll it into a log shape. Be careful to not press the dough or deflate it. Use your hands to gently pull the dough tight and pinch off the seams at the end of the dough. Rub a little more flour onto the top of the dough so that it isn’t tacky. Gently flip the dough into the banneton and pinch off the bottom seam. Place the banneton into the proofing bag and set timer for 30 minutes.
9 Refrigerate overnight: Place the banneton in a bag and refrigerate until the following morning.
10 Preheat the Dutch oven at 515°F for 30 minutes: The following morning, place a covered Dutch oven on the center rack in your oven. Preheat to 515°F for at least 30 minutes. If your oven only reaches to 500°F, the recipe will still work, but you won’t get quite as much rise out of the bread.
11 Place on parchment, score, and bake for 17 minutes in Dutch oven:
12 Place the bread on the oven rack, reduce to 400°F and bake for 23 minutes: After 17 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Remove the Dutch oven, carefully take out the bread, and set the bread directly onto the oven rack. Bake for an additional 23 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack for at least 45 minutes. After cooling, the bread is ready to eat. Store the bread wrapped in cloth or in a bread bag on the counter for up to 2 days, or freeze wrapped in foil in a plastic bag for several months.
These pumpkin banana muffins are so moist and flavorful, you’ll be making them on repeat! Infused with pumpkin spices and…
These pumpkin banana muffins are so moist and flavorful, you’ll be making them on repeat! Infused with pumpkin spices and topped with crunchy sugar, they’re easy to whip up as a baking project with friends or family.
Ready for your next fall baking project? We’ve got three words for you: pumpkin banana muffins! Alex and I are all about cooking with friends and family (we even wrote a book about it). For this season, we created this muffins recipe for doing just that. Though of course, you can bake them solo too.
These muffins come out beautifully moist from both pumpkin and banana, infused with cozy pumpkin spices. They’re just sweet enough and topped with crunchy sugar. Our family can’t get enough of these—and we promise everyone who tastes them will beg for the recipe!
Turns out, pumpkin and banana go hand in hand in these pumpkin banana muffins! The banana adds a nice natural sweetness and additional moisture. Here are a few notes on ingredients:
There are so many ways to dress up pumpkin banana muffins. We almost made them with our favorite maple glaze, but wanted to keep them basic and let you add your desired mix-ins or toppings. Here are a few other ideas:
These pumpkin banana muffins store well. They last 4 days at room temperature in a sealed container, refrigerated for 10 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.
These pumpkin banana muffins are vegetarian. For vegan, substitute flax eggs.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes 
Yield: 12 These pumpkin banana muffins are so moist and flavorful, you’ll be making them on repeat! Infused with pumpkin spices and topped with crunchy sugar, they’re easy to whip up as a baking project with friends or family.
Mix-in ideas: Add ½ to ¾ cup dark chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, or chopped pecans into the batter before baking.
Streusel topping variation: Combine ¼ cup rolled oats, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, ¼ cup turbinado sugar and ¼ cup salted butter cut into pieces. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or fork until a crumbly streusel forms. Sprinkle on top before baking.
Glaze topping variation: Make 1 recipe of this Maple Glaze and drizzle it over the muffins with a fork. Or, use the Salted Caramel Glaze from this Brown Butter Banana Bread recipe.
Category: Muffin
Method: Baked
Cuisine: Pumpkin
Diet: VegetarianEvery fall we make it our goal to make all the pumpkin recipes! Here are a few favorites:
It’s not fall until you’ve made a batch of pumpkin muffins. Right? These muffins fill our kitchen with the wonderful fragrance of pumpkin and spice, which makes it feel like autumn, even when the weather outside is still unseasonably warm. These almond flour-based pumpkin muffins are tender, fluffy and delicious. My daughter and I have…
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It’s not fall until you’ve made a batch of pumpkin muffins. Right? These muffins fill our kitchen with the wonderful fragrance of pumpkin and spice, which makes it feel like autumn, even when the weather outside is still unseasonably warm.
These almond flour-based pumpkin muffins are tender, fluffy and delicious. My daughter and I have been enjoying batch after batch.
I love these pumpkin muffins for several reasons—
I’ve enjoyed baking with almond flour lately because it lets the other flavors shine, whereas regular flour can dull them. I’ve also been mindful of my blood sugar levels and appreciate that almond flour is lower in carbohydrates than grain-based flours, like all-purpose and whole wheat flour.
I’ll always be a huge fan of my Healthy Pumpkin Muffins, which are made with whole wheat flour and sweetened with maple syrup. This recipe has much in common with that one, but it’s gluten-free in case you need that quality or you’re looking for a worthy alternative.
Continue to the recipe...The post Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins appeared first on Cookie and Kate.
These pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are a fall favorite! The soft and cakey bars are packed with pumpkin…
These pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are a fall favorite! The soft and cakey bars are packed with pumpkin spice flavor and finished with a lusciously creamy frosting. Every time we serve them, someone asks for the recipe!
What’s the best pumpkin dessert? For some people it’s pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, but for us it’s these pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting! These have become a fan and family favorite over the years because they are just that good.
This pumpkin bars recipe is ideal for any fall occasion. Every time we make them, we cannot stop sneaking bites! All our friends and family adore these, and here’s why:
This pumpkin bars recipe is simply a matter of mixing the dry ingredients, the wet ingredients, combining them and baking! Here are a few notes on the overall process:
These pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are nothing without that sweet, creamy layer of goodness on top. If you’ve never made cream cheese frosting, it’s simple but requires a few tricks:
The last thing to know about these pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting? They’re best stored refrigerated! While you can store them at room temperature, the frosting holds up best in the fridge. Store the bars refrigerated for up to 5 days.
In the fall, it’s all about that cozy orange squash. Here are a few more pumpkin recipes and pumpkin desserts you’ll love:
These pumpkin bars are vegetarian. For vegan, substitute flax eggs and this vegan cream cheese frosting.
Print
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 24 bars These pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are a fall favorite! These soft, cozy bars are packed with pumpkin spice flavor and finished with a lusciously creamy frosting. Every time we serve them, someone asks for the recipe!
For the pumpkin bars
For the cream cheese frosting
Category: DessertMethod: BakedCuisine: FallDiet: VegetarianThis easy pumpkin bread recipe is made in just one bowl and bakes up into the best moist, cozy-spiced slices.…
This easy pumpkin bread recipe is made in just one bowl and bakes up into the best moist, cozy-spiced slices. Top it with a simple maple glaze to take it over the top! This is our family favorite recipe we use every fall.
A good pumpkin bread recipe is an essential for any home cook. As cookbook authors and passionate home cooks, we’ve made more pumpkin bread recipes than we can count. Here’s our spin: we wanted to create a loaf that was easy to make and full of flavor.
This one comes out cozy-spiced, tender, and moist, with a texture not too fluffy or too dense. It’s simple to whip up: one bowl, no special equipment; just dump and stir! Top it with a sweet maple glaze to take it over the top. It’s the quick bread to make in fall!
There are many ways to make a great pumpkin bread. Alex and I created this one to be ultra moist, with the perfect sweet, cozy spiced flavor and soft, tender crumb. Why is it easy? There’s no need for a mixer or waiting for butter to come to room temperature: you can mix it all up in one bowl! Here are a few ingredient notes for this recipe:
This pumpkin bread recipe is easier than most: no need for a stand mixer or two loaf pans. It’s straightforward and made in one bowl! There are a few things to keep in mind for baking success:
This easy pumpkin bread is delicious plain, but we like it best with a glaze! This maple glaze is simple to whip up and has a sweet, maple-forward flavor.
Want a solid glaze? Make double the glaze recipe below and glaze the cooled bread in the pan, so the glaze doesn’t run down the sides.
OF course, there are lots of ways to riff on a pumpkin bread recipe. Here are a few ideas for adding to the top or inside this bread:
This pumpkin bread recipe tastes even better the next day, because it picks up moisture during storage. Here are a few tips for storage of this quick bread:
When it’s pumpkin season, you’ve got to taste test them all! Here are a few tasty pumpkin recipes you might enjoy:
This easy pumpkin bread recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, go to Vegan Pumpkin Bread. For gluten-free, go to Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Yield: 12 slices This easy pumpkin bread recipe is made in just one bowl and bakes up into the best moist, cozy-spiced slices. Top it with a simple maple glaze to take it over the top! This is our family favorite recipe we use every fall.
For the pumpkin bread
For the glaze (optional*)
*You can also use this 1-Minute Powdered Sugar Icing or Vanilla Glaze for topping.
Category: BreadMethod: BakedCuisine: BakedDiet: VegetarianEveryone goes crazy for this pumpkin cookies recipe! They come out ultra soft, chewy, and cozy-spiced, drizzled with a sweet…
Everyone goes crazy for this pumpkin cookies recipe! They come out ultra soft, chewy, and cozy-spiced, drizzled with a sweet and simple icing. In our opinion, it’s the perfect fall cookie!
When it comes to favorite pumpkin recipes, here’s one at the very top for us: these chewy iced pumpkin cookies! Whenever we make these for someone, they rave (recently, our son’s teacher couldn’t say enough about them).
These sweet morsels are lusciously pillowy and chewy, scented with a burst of fall spices and a hint of molasses. The exterior has a subtle sugar crunch and a drizzle of simple sweet icing. Even better, the soft texture holds up for days. They really are the best: great for fall desserts, Halloween, Thanksgiving and everything in between.
We’re not huge fans of cakey pumpkin cookies. You know, the kind that are basically like little round pumpkin cakes? To us they’re not really cookies, more like cake bites. So with this recipe, we created pumpkin cookies that are soft and chewy, with the texture of a molasses ginger cookie but with pumpkin and pumpkin spices. The key here? Don’t use too much pumpkin puree: it adds lots of moisture which leads to cakey cookies. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this pumpkin cookie recipe:
Cookies can be temperamental, and pumpkin cookies are no different. It’s challenging to get cookies that look perfectly identical. Here are a few tips for upping your baking game:
There’s a fair amount of variation between pumpkin puree brands. Some are rather dry, and others are very wet.
We’ve found from experimentation that Libby brand of canned pumpkin has the best dry texture for baking. We’re not affiliated with the brand; we’ve just noticed that other brands can be very wet. If you have access to this brand, we’ve found it yields the most consistent results.
These pumpkin cookies hold up well over time. This is a must for cookies in our opinion, since you’re making them in such a big batch. Here’s what to note about storing these cookies:
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 26 cookies Everyone goes crazy for this pumpkin cookies recipe! They come out ultra soft, chewy, and cozy-spiced, drizzled with a sweet and simple icing. In our opinion, it’s the perfect fall cookie!
For the cookies
For the glaze (or Maple Glaze)
*Don’t use pumpkin pie filling! Canned pumpkin can vary in moisture level, and too much moisture makes cakey pumpkin cookies. We’ve found Libby brand canned pumpkin has the best dry texture for baking, while other brands can have more moisture than others.
**You can also chill the dough longer than it takes to bake the first tray, but let it come to roughly room temperature before making the balls. (Baking the dough right from chilled yields different results.)
Variation: Try this Maple Glaze for topping the cookies.
Category: DessertMethod: BakedCuisine: FallDiet: Vegetarian‘Tis the season! Here are a few more pumpkin recipes you’ll love:
Our blueberry butter is a spiced spread that simmers away in your slow cooker to create the perfect sweet indulgence.
This impressive caramel banana cake roll features a sweet banana cake that is filled with a delicious brown sugar and cream cheese center.
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