The Best Tasting Sourdough Bread Recipe

Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, lunch, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: 10% rye sourdough, best tasting sourdough, how to make sourdough taste better, secret ingredient sourdough, sourdough with rye flour

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings: Loaf

This beginner-friendly sourdough recipe gets a flavor boost from one simple secret ingredient — a touch of dark rye flour. Swapping just 10% of your bread flour for rye adds rich, earthy flavor, a darker crust, and a bakery-quality aroma without making the recipe any more complicated.

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Equipment

Ingredients

100 g active sourdough starter
360 g warm filtered water
450 g unbleached bread flour
50 g dark rye flour
10 g sea salt

Instructions

Mix the Dough:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 100 g active sourdough starter and 360 g warm filtered water. Stir until the starter dissolves and looks slightly milky.
Add 450 g bread flour, 50 g dark rye flour, and 10 g sea salt. Mix with a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and rest 1 hour to let the flour hydrate and gluten start forming.
Stretch & Fold:
Perform four rounds of stretch and folds, spaced 30 minutes apart:
With wet hands, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over itself. Rotate a quarter turn and repeat on all four sides. Cover and rest between rounds. This builds strength and structure in your dough.
Bulk Fermentation:
Let the dough rise, covered, until it’s roughly doubled, jiggly, and bubbly. The added rye speeds things up, so start checking early. I use this temp vs. time as a guide but go off of the look and feel of the dough (mentioned above) to know when it's ready.
Dough Temp Typical Bulk Time *
80°F / 27°C 4–5 hours
75°F / 24°C 6–7 hours
70°F / 21°C 9–10 hours
65°F / 18°C 13–14 hours
* Time starts from the initial mix in Step 1. Don’t let it go for too long or it will over ferment — rye ferments faster and over fermented dough can turn sticky and unmanageable during shaping.
Shape:
Once dough is about doubled and airy, gently turn the dough onto a surface. Shape into a round (boule) or oval (batard). If you need help with shaping, I included a video on how to shape in the blog post above!
Final Proof:
Cold Proof (Recommended): Place the shaped loaf seam side up in a floured banneton or towel-lined bowl. Cover and refrigerate 12–18 hours. This slow proof deepens the rye flavor and makes scoring easier.
Room-Temperature Proof: Let rise at room temp for about 2-3 hours, until noticeably puffy and springs back slowly when poked.
Bake:
Preheat oven to 450°F (232°C) with a Dutch oven inside for 30 minutes.
Flip the dough onto parchment and score with a bread lame or razor.
Transfer carefully into the hot Dutch oven.
Bake 30 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered for a deep, golden crust.
Cool on a rack at least 1–2 hours before slicing (cutting early can cause gumminess)