Best Rosemary Sourdough Bread Recipe

This rosemary sourdough bread recipe is the perfect recipe to try your hand at adding inclusions into your sourdough bread!  

Have you been baking sourdough for a while, but haven’t tried adding inclusions into your bread because you don’t know where to start?  This was me a few years ago.  I made beautiful Sourdough Artisan Loaves a couple times per week for my family, but for some reason I was timid about adding inclusions.  I guess I had the mentality of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”.  

My husband and I were visiting his mom and stopped by Trader Joe’s to pick up something for dinner.  We saw these loaves of olive and rosemary sourdough bread and had to try one.  Let me tell you – that thing was so good!  When we got back home to Texas, I quickly tried my hand at recreating that loaf.  First, I started with just adding rosemary which is where this recipe came from.  Here is the recipe for my Olive Rosemary Sourdough Bread if you want to give that a try too!

What You’ll Need for This Rosemary Sourdough Bread Recipe

Equipment:

• Dutch oven
• Large mixing bowl
• Kitchen scale or measuring cups
• Banneton or shaping basket
• Proofing bag or plastic wrap
• Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
• Bread lame or sharp knife
• Dough scraper (optional)

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup (50 g) active sourdough starter
• 1 ⅓ cups + 2 Tbsp (350 g) filtered water
• 4 cups + 2 Tbsp (500 g) bread flour
• 1 ½ tsp (10 g) fine sea salt
• 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary chopped – you can also use dried rosemary if you don’t have fresh on hand 

How to Make Rosemary Sourdough Bread

1. Autolyse:

In a large bowl, mix together your active sourdough starter, water, and bread flour until you have a shaggy dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and let the dough rest for 1 hour.

2. Bulk Fermentation:

Next you’ll add salt to the dough and mix it in by squishing the dough between your fingers. Once the salt is evenly mixed into your dough, add your fresh rosemary by sprinkling through a series of stretch and folds. I like to add about 1/3 of my fresh rosemary to the top of the dough, then stretch and fold the dough on top of itself. I give the dough a quarter turn, then add the same amount of rosemary to the top of the dough and repeat until all of my rosemary is added to the bread dough.

Perform a series of stretch and folds every 30 minutes for 2 hours for a total of 4 sets of stretch and folds. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let your dough rise until it doubles in size.  This will take approximately 3-4 hours depending on the temperature of your room.

3. Shaping:

Once the dough has doubled in size, place it onto a lightly floured surface.  Next, shape the dough into a round.  I like to shape by turning my dough roughly into a square.  I pull each corner to the center and press down, then do the same thing with the new corners that were created.  I then flip my dough over so the seams are on my countertop and use two hands to roll the dough into a ball.  

For you visual learners, here is a link to a video where I show you how I like to shape my round loaves.  Let your dough rest on the countertop covered with a kitchen towel for about 30 minutes. Flip your dough back over so the seams are faced up, and reshape your dough using the same technique outlined above.  Once you’ve shaped into a ball again, you will place it seam side up into a floured banneton basket or proofing basket. Place the proofing basket into a plastic grocery bag, and place your dough into the refrigerator for 12 to 36 hours.  

4. Baking:

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven and Dutch oven to 500°F for 30 minutes. Turn your dough out of your proofing basket onto a piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat. You will need to score the top of your dough using a sharp knife, razor blade, or bread lame to allow the dough to expand and not tear while baking. Once your oven is pre-heated, place your dough into the hot Dutch oven. Lower your oven temerature to 450°F. Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes until golden brown.

Tips for the Best Rosemary Sourdough

• Use Fresh Rosemary: Fresh rosemary has a brighter flavor than dried. If you don’t have fresh rosemary on hand, you can use dried, but it won’t have the same depth of flavor as fresh.
• Don’t Skip the Stretch and Folds: I see a lot of content creators out there showing bread that hasn’t gone through the stretch and fold process.  The reason we stretch and fold the dough is to help develop the gluten in the dough, and to add structure to the dough.  For this recipe, it also helps to ensure the rosemary is evenly distributed.  
• Watch For Signs of Readiness vs. Time: It’s important to remember that with all sourdough recipes you need to watch for signs that your dough is ready to work with more than the clock.  So many factors impact how your dough will respond (room temperature, and starter strength to name a couple).  The clock is the least important metric.  If your dough seems ready before the time recommendation, then go with it. Conversely, if your dough does not resemble what it should, then wait it out.  Your dough will let you know when it’s ready to move to the next step.  

Serving Suggestions

This rosemary sourdough bread is delicious on its own ,but here are a few other ways that we’ve enjoyed it:

• Dip pieces of this bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Make avocado toast topped with Everything Bagel seasoning and a fried egg… OMG, it’s GOOD! 
• Toast and top with garlic confit – this is probably my favorite way to eat this bread.  I mean, who doesn’t love obscene amounts of roasted garlic?
• Use as a side with soup like my Homemade Butternut Squash Soup.

FAQ’s

How do I store my rosemary sourdough bread?

Keep your loaf in an airtight container or bread bag at room temperature for 3-5 days. For longer storage, you can refrigerate for up to a week or freeze up to 3 months.  

Can I use different herbs to make this bread?

​You can use just about any culinary herb (fresh or dried) for this bread.  Some herbs will hold up better and have a nicer flavor than others.  Thyme is a favorite addition in our home!

Can I make this bread with whole wheat flour?

Technically yes, but you will need to increase the hydration to accommodate the whole wheat flour. 

Can I make this bread with all purpose flour?

Yes!  I like to use a high quality bread flour because it has a higher protein content, but all purpose flour will work great as well.   

Why don’t I add the salt at the beginning of the recipe?

Salt is a retardant for yeast and bacteria meaning that it slows their activity.  When you give your bread dough an hour or so to rest before adding your salt, you really allow the yeast and bacteria in your active starter to really begin the fermentation process.  While you don’t have to hold back the salt, I find that I achieve my best results with any sourdough loaf when I do this.  

My dough isn’t rising as quickly as you said.  Should I just move to the next step anyways?

No.  With any sourdough loaf you need to look for the signs that your bread dough is ready to move onto the next step instead of relying on the clock.  If your dough hasn’t risen fully then wait until it rises, otherwise you will likely wind up with a dense, under-proofed  loaf of bread.  The same goes for if your dough reaches 75% to double its size before the time I said.  Watch your dough for signs that it’s ready.  The times are just a general guideline. 

Why isn’t my dough rising? 

This could be for a number of reasons.  The most common is that your room isn’t warm enough.  Sourdough really likes to be in an environment around 76 degrees F (~24 C).  Not everyone has the luxury of a perfectly stable environment to allow your dough to consistently rise in the same amount of time.  If your room is colder, try placing your bread dough in a warm place, such as the oven with the light on.  

Another reason your rosemary sourdough bread dough might not be rising is your water quality.  Using unfiltered water means that you are potentially introducing chlorine into your dough.  Chlorine kills bacteria and yeast, and unfortunately, that lovely bubbly starter you have relies on yeast and bacteria to rise your dough. 

It is also possible that your starter ins’t strong enough.  You can strengthen your starter by feeding it at regular intervals, or increasing the oxygenation.  You can download my 50 page Sourdough Starter Guide here for all of my trouble shooting tips for starters as well as some of my favorite sourdough recipes!

Do I have to place my dough into the refrigerator?

Nope.  If you don’t want to put your dough into the refrigerator, you can leave it out for another hour at room temperature before baking.  This will yield a less sour tasting sourdough bread loaf, and less structure to your bread.  I also find that it is much more difficult to score a bread dough that is at room temperature, so if you want to have a beautifully scored dough, then you’ll want to refrigerate it.  

Why do I add my inclusions during the stretch and folds?  Can’t I add them when I shape my bread?

You can absolutely add your inclusions when you shape your bread.  I see lots of sourdough bloggers and creators who do that.  I prefer to add them during the stretch and fold process because I find that they become more evenly distributed throughout my dough when I add them this way.  

Do I have to use sourdough for this recipe or can I use conventional yeast?

Yes, you will need to use sourdough for this recipe.  There are ways of converting sourdough recipes into conventional yeasted recipes, but you won’t achieve the same depth of flavor that you do with sourdough.  Also, if you were to convert this recipe, the process would look much different.  You would need to knead your bread dough instead of performing stretch and folds and your rise time would only be about an hour.  

More Recipes to Try

If you loved this rosemary sourdough bread recipe, be sure to check out some of my other favorites:

• Olive & Rosemary Sourdough
• Homemade Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Double Chocolate Cranberry Sourdough