Ballerina Farm Sourdough Recipe Dupe

Baking your own bread at home from scratch, all by yourself, is an instinctual skill, taking us back to our primal instincts. And when you want to run back to your roots and bake a beautiful sourdough loaf, nothing beats trying out a copycat Ballerina Farm sourdough recipe. While using commercial yeast may seem simpler, successfully creating the perfect sourdough bread from scratch truly elevates your baking skills. Fortunately, this Ballerina Farm sourdough bread recipe is among the more accessible ones, my own version of this recipe is just as great and follows the same directions. I will give you step-by-step instructions on how to bake homemade bread. 

This ballerina farm recipe dupe uses basic ingredients so you can be a master sourdough baker. If you don’t have a mature starter, you can get your own sourdough starter HERE. This is how you can revive your own starter, and start baking a loaf of bread for the whole family. 

Equipment

• Large or medium bowl.
• Dutch Oven.
• Oven.
• Bread Basket.
• Kitchen scale.

Ingredients

• Active starter — 250 g.
• Bread flour — 1000 g.
• Sea salt — 24 g.
• Water — 735 g., another 50 g. after adding the salt.

Instructions

1. Combine the active starter with water in a large bowl using your kitchen scale to measure each ingredient. 
2. Mix well until it reaches the desired consistency.
3. Add the bread flour.
4. Mix until combined, which should take a few minutes.
5. Add sea salt, along with the rest of the water.
6. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest for half an hour. This gives the flour time to absorb the water and the gluten will start to develop. 
7. When the dough is ready, start doing stretches and folds to incorporate the salt and water.
8. Cover and let it sit for another half hour.
9. Do this again 4-5 more times, every 30 minutes, and let the dough rest for half an hour each time.
10. After the fourth or fifth time, cover it again and let it rest at room temperature until the dough doubles in size.
11. Transferring the bread dough onto a lightly floured surface, and cutting it in half.
12. Give the dough a square shape, and roll it up.
13. Push the rolled dough first, then follow by pulling it towards yourself, this gives the dough tension.
14. Do this a few more times until the dough is bouncy.
15. Do the same with the other half.
16. Let the two halves rest for half an hour, uncovered at room temperature of your kitchen. 
17. After half an hour, do the push-pull step once again, with both halves.
18. Carefully place the loaves into two different bread baskets and cover them with plastic wrap.
19. Transfer the baskets to the fridge and cool them for two hours. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees about an hour before you bake, let the dutch oven preheat in the oven.
20. Gently place the loaves in the oven, ideally in a hot dutch oven. 
21. Place the lid on your dutch oven and bake for half an hour at 450 degrees.
22. Remove from the lid and bake for another 15 minutes before taking out of the oven. Let the bread cool before using a bread knife to cut into it. 

Substitutions

• Bread flour — The Ballerina Farm sourdough recipe uses all-purpose flour. I personally think that bread flour works better than all-purpose when it comes to sourdough bread. Bread flour has a high protein content, and when baking sourdough bread, this gives the loaf a better texture and better shape. Wheat flour is usually recommended because your loaf could end up dry. 

•  Sourdough Discard – You need to use an active starter with this bread recipe. Sourdough discard will not work as it’s not strong enough for the recipe can cause flat or gummy bread.

How should I Store my Bread?

Wether you use this ballerina farm sourdough recipe dupe or your own recipe, it’s a good idea to keep your sourdough bread as fresh as you can for as long as you can! Follow these instructions for proper storage:

• Keep the sourdough bread at room temperature. Don’t put it in your fridge, it will dry out your beautiful bread.

• Let the sourdough bread completely cool, and then you can cover it with plastic wrap. Aluminum foil also works great. 

​Baking Tips

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• Baking — The loaf should be golden brown by the time it’s done baking. If it’s not, let it bake for about 5-10 more minutes.

• Practice — The first attempts at baking sourdough bread might be difficult, overwhelming, time-consuming, and confusing. You might be throwing away your first few loaves, but the point is that you don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged and keep going. This ballerina farm sourdough recipe dupe is easy for you to follow.

• The starter — You don’t want to use sourdough discard for this recipe. You want to feed your starter the night before, have it double in size and when it’s at its peak, that is when you should use it. Distinguishing itself from other types of bread, sourdough bread follows a unique process that sets it apart. Unlike conventional bread, it does not rely on traditional dry and active yeast, also known as baker’s yeast. Instead, it undergoes a natural fermentation process facilitated by lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast that occurs naturally. This natural fermentation gives sourdough bread its distinctive ability to rise and its characteristic sour taste.

Key Take Aways

There are a few different ways to bake sourdough loaves, this delicious ballerina farm sourdough recipe dupe is simple and easy to follow. The good thing about baking is that you can always try again. Sourdough isn’t easy to bake, the amount of starter you use and the amount of water can alternate how it turns out, and the bread rise. If your bread doesn’t turn out how you would like it to, keep trying! This skill is not an easy one, but once you get it, it is so worth all of the time put into it! I hope you like this ballerina farm sourdough recipe dupe. Now it’s time to make other sourdough recipes!

Favorite sourdough supplies

Make your own sourdough starter – sourdough starter recipe here.

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