Seriously, what could be better than a homemade loaf of roasted garlic parmesan sourdough bread? This recipe makes one big sourdough-meets-garlic-bread loaf, with a crispy crackling cheese crust and plenty of garlic flavor throughout.
The loaf is loaded with whole melty cloves of roasted garlic and a fair amount of freshly grated parmesan. It’s intensely savory, a little salty, and a lot satisfying.
But wait – it gets better. This is an easy, beginner-friendly sourdough bread recipe. There’s no kneading or special equipment involved. As long as you have a healthy, active sourdough starter and an understanding of how to maintain that starter, you should be good to go. (A dutch oven will help, too!).
How to make roasted garlic parmesan sourdough
This bread is best made over a two day period. On day one, make the bread dough. Let it sit in the refrigerator to ferment overnight. The next day, shape it and bake it.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Day 1: Mix the sourdough & roast the garlic
To make the dough, stir together your active sourdough starter with salt, olive oil, and water in a large bowl. Then add the bread flour, mixing until it forms a rough ball. It will be shaggy and look a bit dry, that’s normal!
Then, cover the bowl and let the dough sit for 45-60 minutes. The exact time here really doesn’t matter. After that, you’ll begin a series of stretching and folding the dough to help develop the gluten.
Roasting garlic
While the dough is relaxing, it’s a great time to roast the garlic and prepare the parmesan. Cut off the top of a whole head of garlic. Place it in a piece of foil in a small oven-safe ramekin. Drizzle it with a little olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
Bake the garlic at 400° F for about 45 minutes, or until the cloves are super soft. Remove it from the oven and the foil and let it cool.
Grate the parmesan and set aside. Once the garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze the cloves out into a small bowl.
To stretch and fold the dough: Pull on the dough from one side and give it a long stretch, then fold the dough back to the middle. Turn the bowl a quarter turn, stretch again and fold back to the middle. Repeat on all four sides, cover the dough back up, and allow it to rest again.
On the second round of stretches, fold the cooled roasted garlic cloves and grated parmesan into the dough.
Over the next few hours, you’ll repeat this process of stretching and folding the dough about every 45 minutes or so (again, time doesn’t need to be exact). Plan to stretch and fold a total of four times. By the end, the dough should be smooth and elastic with noticeable tension, quite different from the shaggy mass we started with!
Once you’re done with all the dough stretching, place the covered dough in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight.
Day 2: Make garlic parmesan bread!
The next day, remove the sourdough from the refrigerator and let it warm up a bit at room temperature. Line a large bowl with a tea towel and dust it lightly with flour. Then scrape the dough out of its bowl onto a clean countertop.
Shape the dough into a rough ball, pulling it towards you to create tension. Flip the dough over and place it seam side up in the towel-lined bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until puffy and bubbly. This can take two to four hours, depending on your dough and the temperature of your house.
Baking the bread
Once your sourdough is proofed, preheat the oven to 450° F. Then carefully tip your dough out of the bowl and onto a piece of parchment, seam side down. Score the dough with a bread lame or a very sharp knife in any desired pattern.
Lift the parchment paper with your sourdough and lower it into the dutch oven. Bake covered for 25 minutes. Then, remove the lid from the dutch oven and continue to bake uncovered for another 18-25 minutes, or until bread is golden and cooked through. In the last five minutes or so of baking, sprinkle the additional parmesan on top.
Sourdough baking tip
The best way to tell if bread is done is to take its temperature with an instant-read thermometer. The center of the bread should be 205 – 215° F.
Let your roasted garlic parmesan sourdough cool for about an hour before slicing into it. Then enjoy it fresh and warm, cut into thick slices with salted butter. Yum!
Looking for more information? Find more sourdough baking tips here.
More savory sourdough recipes:
Roasted Garlic Parmesan Sourdough
Equipment
- Dutch oven
Ingredients
Sourdough Bread
- 150 grams active, bubbly sourdough starter
- 11 grams salt
- 20 grams olive oil
- 310 grams water
- 500 grams bread flour
Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Filling
- 1 whole head garlic
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan, for top of bread
Instructions
Roasting the garlic:
- Cut the top off a whole head of garlic. Place in a piece of foil in a small oven-safe ramekin. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
- Bake the garlic at 400° F for about 45 minutes, or until the cloves are super soft.
- Remove it from the oven and the foil and let it cool, then squeeze the cloves out into a small bowl and set aside.
For the sourdough (day 1):
- Stir together sourdough starter, salt, olive oil, and water in a large bowl. Add bread flour and mix until it starts to form a rough ball.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough sit for 45-60 minutes.
- To stretch and fold the dough: Pull dough from one side and give it a long stretch, then fold dough back to the middle. Turn bowl a quarter turn, stretch again and fold back to the middle. Repeat on all four sides, cover the dough back up, and allow it to rest again.
- Over the next few hours, you’ll repeat this process of stretching and folding the dough about every 45 minutes or so. Plan to stretch and fold a total of four times.
- On the second round of stretches, fold the cooled roasted garlic cloves and grated parmesan into the dough.
- Once you’re done with all the dough stretching, place the covered dough in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight.
Day 2:
- Remove sourdough from refrigerator and let it warm up a bit at room temperature. Line a large bowl with a tea towel and dust it lightly with flour.
- Scrape dough out of its bowl onto a clean countertop. Shape dough into a rough ball, pulling it towards you to create tension. Flip dough over, placing seam side up in the towel-lined bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap.
- Let dough rise until puffy and bubbly, about 2-4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450° F.
- Carefully tip dough out onto a piece of parchment, seam side down. Score dough with a bread lame or very sharp knife in any desired pattern.
- Lift parchment paper with sourdough, lowering it into dutch oven. Bake covered for 25 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake, uncovered, for another 18-25 minutes, or until bread is golden and cooked through and internal temperature is 205 – 215° F. In the last five minutes or so of baking, sprinkle the additional parmesan on top.
- Let bread cool at least an hour before slicing into it.
Did you try this recipe?
Be sure to leave a comment below!
This bread is so good!