Sourdough Garlic Bread

This sourdough garlic bread is the ultimate comfort bread recipe! Fresh roasted garlic and dried rosemary shine in this savory sourdough bread. Dip it in soup, spread it with butter, or serve it with your favorite dish to add an extra special touch to your meal. This easy recipe is sure to become a new favorite!

This garlic bread is a variation on Easy Overnight Sourdough Bread, making it a great recipe for if you’re just learning to bake with sourdough. All you have to do is mix the dough, fold it twice, let it rise, shape, and bake!

One fun thing about this bread is that you can eat it in so many different ways. Serve it alongside your meal, use it as a base for a sandwich, make an appetizer like Italian Bruschetta, or just enjoy it fresh from the oven. Once you see how simple yet delicious this recipe is, I’m sure you’ll be making Sourdough Garlic Bread on a regular basis. 🙂

Is Sourdough Bread Healthier than other Breads?

Sourdough starter breaks down the effectively breaks down gluten in flour, which makes it easier for our bodies to digest. In fact, people with gluten-sensitivities often find that sourdough bread doesn’t bother their stomachs the way traditional bread does.

Furthermore, because the bacteria in sourdough starter breaks down the sugars in flour, sourdough bread has a lower glycemic index. This means that it doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar the way regular bread does. Overall, sourdough bread is a healthier choice for your digestive system.

Tips for making Sourdough Garlic Bread

• You can add more or less of the roasted garlic depending on how strong of a flavor you want. You can always save extra roasted garlic and add it to other dishes.
• To give your bread a stronger sourdough flavor, use your starter several days after feeding. For example, I generally feed my starter on Sundays and bake this bread with it on Saturdays.
• Proofing times will vary depending on the season. Due to the heat, your bread won’t take as long to rise during the summer as during the winter. To make sure it has proofed properly, poke the dough with your index finger. If it springs back, your dough is ready.
• The dough will seem a bit wet and hard to manipulate, but this is ok! The high hydration level will give your sourdough bread more holes and a springier texture.
• To see a video of how to fold this bread, check out Easy Overnight Sourdough Bread. It uses the same folding technique as this garlic bread.
• This bread will stay fresh for about 3 days after baking. Cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.

Tools you will need

You’ll need a large mixing bowl, parchment paper, foil, a food scale, and a dutch oven to make this bread.

Ingredients you will need

Here are all the ingredients you need for sourdough garlic bread:

• 520 grams flour
• 100 grams sourdough starter
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 3 tbsp of dried rosemary
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 10 grams salt

How to make Sourdough Garlic Bread

The night before:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chop off the top of the garlic bulb, so that the tops of the cloves are open. Wrap it in foil and bake for 30 minutes, until soft.

Once the garlic is roasted, remove it from the foil. Use a fork to remove the soft garlic from its peel and place in a bowl.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, starter, salt, water, and rosemary. Add in half of the roasted garlic. You can save the rest for other dishes. (If you REALLY love garlic though, feel free to add it to the bread.)

Stir the dough to combine. Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

Uncover the bread dough and wet your hands. Starting at the edges of the bowl, grab the dough and bring to the middle. Repeat this, working your way around the edges of the bowl to fold it to the center. Stop once it forms a ball. Cover and let rest another 15 minutes.

Repeat this folding process again and then cover the bread dough. Let the dough rise overnight.

In the morning:

Line a bowl with parchment paper and sprinkle some flour in the bottom of the bowl. Wet your hands and loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl. Lift the dough out of the bowl and fold the ends underneath to form a square.

Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat folding process. Rotate again and repeat one more time. Lift the bread dough into the bowl with parchment paper and sprinkle a bit of flour on top. Refrigerate the bread dough for at least 1 hour. I’ve found that refrigerating the bread for 4 hours before baking it gives it the perfect oven spring, but you can do more or less time as you like.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have a convection setting on your oven, use it to ensure your bread bakes evenly! Place a dutch oven in the oven as it preheats.

Once the oven is heated, remove the bread from the fridge and score. Grab the edges of the parchment paper and lift the bread into the dutch oven. Place the lid on top and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the lid from the dutch oven, turn the temperature down to 450 degrees, and bake for another 12 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Place on a rack to cool the rest of the way. Try to wait 1 hour before cutting it! (If you can’t, I totally understand though!) Enjoy your sourdough garlic bread!

Looking for more sourdough recipes?

Make sure to check out the Kitchen Counter for all things sourdough! Here are a few recipe ideas to get you started:

• Easy Overnight Sourdough Bread
• Chocolate Sourdough Bread
• Sourdough Focaccia
• Sourdough Sandwich Bread