North Carolina Sourdough Bread. Soft, scrumptious bread that is perfect as an appetizer, side dish, or to use for sandwiches. Fill your house with the warm aroma of delicious, homemade bread!
Family Traditions
I love homemade sourdough bread. Really love it. Growing up, my mom frequently made sourdough bread, especially for holiday meals. So now, the taste and smell of sourdough bread fills me with sweet memories of my childhood. And, it’s just really good, so it makes my belly full and happy.
In college, when I began to cook meals of my own, sourdough bread was one of the first things to go into my rotation. At this point in life, I make a double recipe a few times a year, freeze the extra loaves, and pull them out whenever I’m craving it. This past week, I was craving it, and was out of freezer loaves, so it was time to make a batch.
Recipe Sharing
I’ll be honest, when I first began thinking about sharing this recipe, I was a little hesitant. I thought, “this recipe is special to my family, and if I share it, everyone will know how to make it!” I asked my mom what she thought, and she said, “you should share it!”
I thought about it some more and realized how much I enjoy sharing this bread with friends when I make it. It makes people happy. There is something about sitting around a table, sharing warm, homemade bread, that brings people together. I decided the world needs more of that, so I decided to share it with you!
North Carolina Sourdough Bread
The recipe has been in my family since before my time, but I’m not positive where it originated. I grew up in North Carolina, so I’m assuming that is where the name, “North Carolina Sourdough Bread” came from. This bread does not take much effort to make, is easy to put together, and will make you seem like a rockstar. Even kids love it!
You have to prepare to make this bread a few days in advance, but hands on time is not much at all. Here are few tips and tricks for this recipe:
- When I make this bread, the time frame generally looks like this: Tuesday night: put together the starter. Saturday morning: remove the starter from the fridge and feed it. Saturday night: put together the bread for the first rising. Sunday morning: prepare the bread for the second rising. Sunday afternoon: bake the bread!
- I like King Arthur bread flour and I generally use buttery instant potato flakes.
- I don’t like to feed starter or waste starter. Since the starter makes just over two cups, and a recipe of bread uses 1 cup of starter, I almost always make 2 recipes of bread.
- This bread freezes well. I let the bread cool to room temp, cover it with plastic and aluminum foil, and freeze it. In my experience, it keeps in a deep freezer for up to 6 months.
- Instead of using loaf pans you can: use a biscuit cutter and place on a greased baking pan, make balls out of bread and put them in greased muffin tins (will make muffin looking bread), or roll into a loaf shape and place on greased baking pan.
North Carolina Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
Starter:
- 3 1/4 ounce packages of active dry yeast NOT instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water 100-110 degrees
Starter Feed:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp instant potato flakes
- 1 cup warm water 100-110 degrees
Bread:
- 1 cup starter that has been fed (from above ingredients)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup corn oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups warm water 100-110 degrees
- 6 cups bread flour
Instructions
Starter:
- In a glass or plastic bowl, combine yeast and water. Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 5 days. Do not store in a metal container.
Starter Feed:
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together sugar, potato flakes, and warm water. Combine with starter. Again, do not use metal container.
- Let starter sit out at room temperature for 5 to 12 hours.
- To make bread, take out 1 cup of the fed starter, and return the remaining starter to refrigerator. To keep the starter in the refrigerator alive for future bread, you need to feed it with above feed ingredients every 3 to 5 days. Each time you feed the starter, you need to either use 1 cup for bread, or throw out a cup (if you do not do this it will deplete your starter).
- Alternatively, you can double the bread recipe. A double recipe uses almost of of the starter.
Bread:
- In a very large bowl, combine sugar, corn oil, salt, water, bread flour, and one cup of fed starter.
- Once the dough has come together into a stiff batter, spray another large bowl with cooking spray.
- Place dough in prepared bowl and turn dough over so that all sides of dough are covered with spray.
- Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let sit for 8-12 hours (overnight is perfect).
- After 8-12 hours, punch down the dough and divide it into thirds.
- On a floured surface, knead each third of dough 8 to 10 times.
- Spray three loaf pans with cooking spraying and place dough in each of the pans.Turn dough over in prepared pan so that each side is coated with the cooking spray.
- Cover pans with kitchen towel and let rise 5-8 hours.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Brush tops of bread with butter.
Notes
- I don’t like to feed starter or waste starter. Since the starter makes just over two cups, and a recipe of bread uses 1 cup of starter, I almost always make 2 recipes of bread.
- The bread freezes well. I let the bread cool to room temp, cover it with plastic and aluminum foil, and freeze it. In my experience, it keeps in a deep freezer for up to 6 months.
- Instead of using loaf pans you can: use a biscuit cutter and place on a greased baking pan, make balls out of bread and put them in greased muffin tins (will make muffin looking bread), or roll into a loaf shape and place on greased baking pan.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this North Carolina Sourdough Bread, you might enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Buttermilk Biscuits
Cast Iron Yeast Rolls
Lemon Dill Fried Chicken
Honey Lime Roasted Carrots
Orange Cinnamon Rolls
Links to items used to make this recipe:
I live in North Carolina too and this is the EXACT sour dough recipe my Mama used and the only one I use. The only difference I’ve seen is the starter. Mama made her starter with the exact ingredients you use to feed yours and then feed it with them each time. I live in western NC so I’m wondering if we are near each other to have this same recipe.
That is so neat! I grew up outside of Asheville. Are you in western NC too? It is THE best!!
I live in Morganton…50 miles east of Asheville.
So amazing, my mom received a starter from my granny some 25 years ago and she used this very same recipe except like your mom, my granny used the feeder as the starter. I remember the smell of the bread. It’s very nostalgic for me. Thank you guys for sharing and responding. Oh my granny was from Ashford Alabama but I don’t know where she got the recipe
P.S. I have 3 loaves rising right now and soon they will be ready to bake. Love how my kitchen smells when I bring them out of the oven!!
Hello! I was wondering what size loaf pans you usually use? Thanks!
Usually 8×4, BUt I have used 9×5/mini loaf pans/muffin tins/shaped it in a 9×13 …. they all work, you just have to watch for when the top browns!
I have been looking for the recipe for years! My aunt who lived in NC used to make this for as long as I can remember and I’ve been searching for her recipe but no one had it! Thank you!!! It tastes just like hers!!
That makes me so happy! It is my favorite bread!! 🙂
I’m in SC and this is the same recipe I have used for many years! I like the fact that it is easy and inexpensuve to maintain. And if you forget about it for a while, you can always bring it back to life!
I love that, thanks so much for sharing! It is my favorite!!
Hi! I have my yeast and water in the fridge for the three days. Should it be foamy? Mine has separated. Not sure if my yeast is bad, or if this is expected.
Hi! It might not be foamy – and it does separate, but you shouldn’t see yeast granules. It should have a bit of a yeasty smell is it’s good!
Perfect. I think I’m good!
Absolutely the best homemade bread I’ve ever made. I have to double the recipe when I make this for guests or family because everyone wants to take some home with them.
Agreed! It’s a great one! Thank you!
I have been making this bread and sharing it. It is loved by everyone. I tweaked it a little and have used 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt when making the dough. Is it necessary to refrigerate the yeast mixture for three days or could I short cut it and feed it immediately?
I’m so glad you love it! I’ll have to try the increased sugar and salt too! You can cut it short but the taste will be much more mild, not so much of the sourdough taste.
I need a bit of help. I’ve followed this recipe and had great success the first and second time baking the bread. By the third time I couldn’t get my dough to rise. I’ve tried several more times with no success. I end up with very flat dense bread. My starter foams and doesn’t seem dead. Do I need to start all over again or is there way to revive the starter?
Did you feed the starter every few days? And if not making bread, throw away a cup of starter? Yeast can be tough, but here are a couple of great articles on saving starter that might be helpful:
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/10332-sourdough-starter-rescue-remedy
https://abetterwaytothrive.com/reviving-a-weak-sourdough-starter/
This is the same recipe that my grandma used to bake sourdough many years ago. This recipe is much more easy to follow than the one I have where steps were added in out of order. I have been working on mastering it for the last 2 weeks and I finally have the taste right, but the texture is still off. Any suggestions on how to get the dough to be more airy and less dense? Her bread was always so light and fluffy and the only two batches I have made have been in the heavier, dense side