Homemade Sourdough Bread in a Clay Pot (Easy Recipe)

If you have your sourdough starter ready and want to know how to make homemade bread, today’s recipe is perfect for making a wonderful loaf at home. This homemade sourdough bread in a clay pot is an easy recipe with spectacular results, thanks to the terracotta oven we’ll bake it in. You’ll see how soft the crumb is and how crusty the crust turns out this way.

Baking bread dough in ceramic ovens, such as the Römertopf round terracotta bread oven is fantastic. In addition to its excellent baking properties, clay is a natural, healthy, and efficient material, thanks to its great heat retention and the efficient way it distributes it. It is the most traditional way to bake a good loaf of bread, and it also guarantees wonderful results.

To make this easy homemade sourdough bread in a clay pot recipe, you only need to activate your sourdough starter and soak the oven before placing the dough inside. To enjoy the result, any accompaniment will be perfect. With a good extra virgin olive oil or with a well-rubbed tomato and a drizzle of EVOO, it is a delicacy. But if you want an exceptional breakfast, add a few slices of fuet, a freshly made omelet, or some slices of good ham. A luxury!

Ingredients

To activate the sourdough starter

• 20 g sourdough starter
• 60 g water
• 60 g wheat flour

For the dough

• 100 g active sourdough starter
• 350 ml lukewarm water
• 500 g wheat flour
• 12 g salt

Preparation

Preparation of the active sourdough starter

1. Mix the sourdough starter with the water and flour.
2. Let it rest at room temperature overnight (it should grow and show bubbles).

Preparation of the dough

1. In a bowl, mix the active sourdough starter well with the water.
2. Add the flour and salt, and knead the ingredients. If kneading by hand, do it for about 5 minutes; if using a stand mixer or dough mixer, knead at low speed for about 10 minutes.
3. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in the bowl for about half an hour, more or less.
4. When the time is up, wet your hands a little and stretch and fold the dough without removing it from the bowl. Cover the bowl again.
5. Repeat the folds two more times every half hour.
6. After the final folds, cover the bowl and let the dough rise until it doubles in volume (approximately 6 to 8 hours).
7. Once the dough has doubled in volume, place it on a lightly floured surface.
8. Gently shape it into a rectangle and bring each corner toward the center of the dough.
9. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a banneton or in a bowl lined with a floured cloth. Cover the dough and let it ferment overnight in the fridge.
10. Take the dough out of the fridge.
11. Soak the lid of your Römertopf terracotta oven and place parchment paper inside the pot.
12. Turn the dough out into the oven and score it with the lame.
13. Put the lid on the clay pot and place it in the cold oven. Bake at 250º C with top and bottom heat for 25 minutes.
14. Remove the bread from the clay oven using oven gloves or the parchment paper, lower the temperature to 230 °C, and bake the bread for 20-25 minutes more.
15. When the time is up, remove the loaf from the oven and let the bread cool on a wire rack for at least one hour before slicing it.