Crusty Sourdough Bread- Proofing Dough in the Instant Pot!

An overhead view of the Instant Pot Sourdough bread sliced on a cutting board

4.72 from 14 votes

Crusty Sourdough Bread- Proofing Dough in the Instant Pot!

Is there anything better than a crusty loaf of sourdough bread? Don't wait hours and hours for the bread to be ready, cut the time in half by using your Instant Pot!

Prep Time4

Cook Time1

Total Time5

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 236kcal

Author: Lynn Polito

Equipment

Instant Pot

Ingredients

500 g Bread Flour
375 g Water
90 g Starter Active and Bubbly
10 g Salt

Instructions

Whisk together the water and starter in a large bowl.
Add the flour and salt. Mix all the ingredients together until they form a rough dough. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and set it on the counter for 1 hour to rest.
When the dough has rested for one hour, work the dough into a smooth ball for 15-20 seconds by folding the dough onto itself.
Line the Instant Pot with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray to make it easier to get the dough off the paper. Add the dough to the Instant Pot and seal the lid. Set the Instant Pot to "YOGURT" for 4 hours.
Once the dough has risen for 4 hours, open the Instant Pot and place the dough on a lightly floured surface. If the dough sticks to the parchment paper, gently remove the dough with a bench scraper or a spatula. Fold the dough to tighten the internal structure. To do this, take the top third of the dough and fold it to the middle, take the bottom third and fold it to the middle. Fold the sides to the middle and flip the dough over.
Line a bowl with a kitchen towel and sprinkle the kitchen towel with flour. Add the dough to the bowl, seam side up, smooth side down. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and place the bowl in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. After 1 hour, take the bowl out of the refrigerator and remove the damp kitchen towel. Place a piece of parchment paper over the bowl and flip the dough onto the parchment paper. Score the dough with a sharp knife.
Add the dough and parchment paper to a Dutch oven and place the lid on the Dutch oven. Lower the heat in the oven to 450 degrees. Bake the bread for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, carefully remove the lid from the Dutch oven and bake for another 35 minutes. When the dough is done, remove it from the oven and allow the bread to cool before slicing.

Notes

Check the dough after 3 hours and see if it has doubled in size. If you have a very active starter, the dough may be ready after 3 hours.
Make sure your starter is active and bubbly.
If you do not have bread flour, all purpose flour can be used instead.
To check if the bread is cooked completely, carefully tap on the bottom of the bread. It should sound hollow when you tap it.

Nutrition