Do you ever want to make a personal sized sourdough loaf? Maybe you want to turn it into a little bread bowl for soup, or perhaps it would be fun for each guest to have their own mini loaves to enjoy. Whatever your purposes, this mini sourdough loaf recipe will tick all the boxes, I promise. These loaves are perfectly moist and chewy, while having a high crust to crumb ratio because of their size. 

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What to do with a mini sourdough loaf 

• Personal-sized loaves for each place setting
  • This is an adorable idea if you are hosting. You can even make the bread part of your table setting 
• Lots of unique flavors
  • Try sourdough inclusions on smaller scale. If you don’t want to make 3 different flavored sourdough loaves, try three small ones instead. Less ingredients and less bread overall
• Carve them out to make a bread bowl
  • Carve out the top and middle of the loaf for a perfect little bread bowl you can fill with soups, stews, and of course, mac and cheese
• Just be over the top
  • Sometimes making something cute and small is fun just because it is!
• Travel-friendly bread
  • If you’ve ever taken a full sized sourdough loaf on the go you know it can be a mess to store, seal, and keep fresh. A mini sourdough loaf, however, is small enough that you (and maybe one other person) can finish it off in one sitting without leftovers. If you bake a few mini loaves you can have a another fresh one for the next day!

Shaping the mini sourdough loaf

The main difference between a regular loaf and this mini sourdough loaf is the way you shape it. I like to divide this dough into 3-5 mini loaves and shape them as I would normally, just on a smaller scale. Three loaves will be a large bread bowl size, and 5 loaves will be personal-sized. You will have to decide how many you need based on your own purposes.

A note on sourdough starter: be sure you have an active, bubbly starter before you bake! You can read more about how to achieve this below

Sourdough Starter Tips

Mini Sourdough Loaf

Print Recipe

Servings 3 mini loaves

Ingredients

• 150 g Active sourdough starter
• 300 g filtered water
• 450 g organic unbleached bread flour
• 10 g salt

Instructions

The Day before Baking

• Measure and add starter and water into a large bowl and mix until starter mostly dissolves into water
• Measure and add flour
• Gently mix until it forms a rough shaggy dough
• When the flour is mostly incorporated with the water, cover and rest for 30 minutes (this is the autolyse)
• Add salt to the dough and use your hands (or stand mixer) to incorporate all the ingredients together. To keep dough from sticking, keep your hands wet when kneading, stretching, and folding.
• Cover your bowl with a lid, a damp towel (or clean shower cap)
• For the next hour, stretch and fold your dough every 15 minutes
• For the following two hours, stretch and fold your dough every 30 minutes
• After the stretch and folds are done, cover and allow to bulk ferment for 3-4 hours or until doubled in size
• Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface and pre-shape into 3-5 balls. Rest for 15-20 minutes
• While the dough is resting, line soup bowls with floured tea towels. Use as many bowls as you have balls of dough.
• Gently build tension by shaping the loaves into tight little boules. Transfer into the bowls.
• Cover and place in the fridge for 8-10 hours

Bake Day

• Place your bakers and lid in a cold oven. I used a few enamel cast iron sauce pots
• Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F for about 30 minutes
• When you are ready to bake, gently turn your dough out, seam side down, onto baking paper
• Score your dough as you like and using the baking paper, lift the dough into the preheated baker and cover with the lid. Place inside the oven
• Bake covered loaves in the oven for 25 minutes
• Remove lids after 25 minutes, turn your oven down to 475 and allow to bake for another 10 minutes or until the loaves reach the color you like. I like to strive for a dark caramel but try not to burn the ears!
• Pull out your loaves once they reache your desired color and cool for at least 1-2 hours before slicing