7 Easy Sourdough Recipes the Entire Family Will Enjoy

A month ago, I tried to buy a jar of yeast, but all they had were a few little packets. I wanted to bake during quarantine, so the quest began for making bread without yeast. I started off by attempting to make natural yeast, but then the neighbor’s dog ate my starter. My friend then took pity on me and gave me part of her already active sourdough starter.

Despite having acquired a starter, I barely knew (know?) what I’m doing. Yet, even with all my ignorance, I have been knee-deep in successful sourdough creations ever since. I’ve basically devoted my life to it, guys, I’ve gone through a twenty-five bag of flour. Apparently, baking with sourdough is trending during quarantine. Did anyone else know this? I am still cracking up about it… I’ve never been on trend with anything in my life before.

My Kitchen Skill Level (If I can do this, anyone can)

I would never describe myself as a baker, even after all these sourdough creations. I do, however, have a knack for being able to tell if a recipe will work out before I make it. If I have a good recipe, I can make anything. Trust me, the recipes below are easy to follow. Any beginner can bake these recipes. They turned out perfectly the first time I made them!

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Items Needed for Sourdough Baking

Before we get started, you will need certain kitchen tools to help you on your way to sourdough success. I’m sure everyone has a loaf pan and a muffin pan, but beyond that, these are the essentials you need for sourdough baking.

-Sourdough starter. Grab one from a friend or make your own.

–Jars to keep your sour dough starter. Mason jars are great to have on hand. Especially if you have a garden!

–Kitchen Scale to feed your starter. You feed your starter with equal weights water and flour. I already have a kitchen scale because I am on an eternal diet. That is the one I use, and it has been going strong for two years now.

–Kitchenaid stand mixer. I don’t know how you would created any of these recipes without a stand mixer (minus the cake and muffins). If you don’t have one, and can’t afford one, I get it. I am currently borrowing my mom’s from the 70’s. She recently showed interest in sourdough baking, and I discouraged her because then she would need her mixer back. I am a terrible person, I know that. Either way, if you can afford one, get it. My mom’s works like brand new and it is 40 years old. These things have heirloom potential at that rate!!

–Pizza Pan. There are two recipes I want to try with sourdough that require a pizza stone or cast iron pizza pan. One recipe specifically suggested that pan. I don’t have it yet, but I’m sure it’ll work like a charm.

The Recipes

These recipes are all ones I have tried and deemed a smashing success. I have listed them from what I considered the easiest to hardest. My kids were in the kitchen helping me with all of these recipes. They helped measure, mix, and shape the pretzels and bagels. It looked like they helped too, but it still tasted great!

They were all so delicious that they will be made again. Keep in mind, I was able to create all these recipes as I stumbled through understanding sourdough over the last month. I’m still learning, but in the process I’m baking. Here are my favorites so far:

Easy Recipes

Blueberry Muffins These muffins were not sickeningly sweet. They were moist, and they didn’t dry out quickly so we ate on them for days. We actually subbed strawberries for blueberries because one of my kids doesn’t like blueberries. We omitted the cinnamon with the strawberries. It is obviously a versatile, delicious, and easy recipe.

Coffee cake I made this on a whim one day. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. However, the next day it was super dry, and I didn’t eat the last piece. My friend keeps telling me that if I store things with a cut apple it will stay moist. Maybe try that or freeze half of it. There are five people in our family, so it was pretty much gone immediately. I baked it in a loaf pan.

Medium Difficulty Recipes

Hamburger Buns These were much easier than I expected. They were delicious too. One thing I liked about this recipe is that it made a lot of buns. I have half the batch in the freezer ready for the next time we make burgers. I may never buy buns again.

Cinnamon Rolls These require some forethought. I started the dough the night before. Other than remembering to start your dough the evening before you want to eat them, they are easy. I followed the icing recipe, but then added about 3 oz of cream cheese to it because it was too sweet. The texture of the dough is dense and chewy, and they were still perfect the next day.

Pull Apart Rolls These aren’t too hard, but you do have to keep remembering to do small things. I fed the starter the night before I made the dough. Then the dough rose all day, and you shape them into balls that night. The next day you bake them. Again, it’s not hard, but there are small steps you have to remember. These were very good.

Difficult Recipes (But still pretty easy)

Bagels The bagels were not too bad, but boiling them was a hassle. That’s why they are listed as more difficult. Shaping the bagel was quick and easy. I think next time I make it I will use the full 6 cups of flour because I only used the suggested 5 and 1/2 cups. They were very soft, and that made it hard to move them into the water to boil. Again, huge success, and my kids loved them. The texture was perfect.

Pretzels These are listed as the hardest because rolling them and shaping them into pretzels was annoying. Then I had to find space in the freezer for two pans of giant pretzels. They were also hard to transfer to the boiling water. However, they baked perfectly and were exactly as a pretzel should be. Next time I make them, I am doing pretzel sticks.

Future Baking Plans

Update 5/1/20: I baked the English Muffins and Crispy Pizza and they were a SUCCESS. On a regular rotation now.

English Muffins I am waiting to get some bacon, sausage, and eggs in this house before I make these. I. Can’t. Wait.

Thin and Crispy Pizza Crust As soon as my pan arrives, this is happening. I have high hopes!

Breakfast Pizza This recipe intrigues me because the pizza crust is simply sourdough starter spread on a hot pan. All my hopes and dreams are hinged on that cast iron pan arriving in the mail!

What are you baking?

That’s all I have baked, and that’s all I have a desire to bake. What are you guys baking? Let me know if there is anything that I am missing out on, and let me know if you try any of these recipes! I’d love to hear from you.

Fun Fact: I lost 2.6 pounds last month despite being in quarantine and baking, baking, baking. If you’d like to learn more about balanced weight loss, check out this post.

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