King Arthur Flour Sourdough Challenge
Since the world went to heck last March, I found my world tipped completely upside down and was struggling to find hope, meaning, connection, drive, and joy. In April, right after COVID started, I decided to try to do something to lift my sprits that let me use my hands and get away from staring at a screen or doing homework. I wanted something tangible and as my family and I are huge foodies, I decided that my quarantine project was going to be making my own sourdough starter. I found the starter recipe on King Arthur Flour’s webpage and began the process by mixing some flour and water into a mason jar. After two weeks of fermenting the starter, I began making a few sourdough bread recipes on KAF (King Arthur Flour’s) webpage and unintentionally began a challenge of baking all of the sourdough recipes on the website (at the time there were 83 not including the starters themselves). Besides bread other recipes included muffins, cakes, and waffles (of which one of my amazing aunts kindly gifted me a waffle maker so I was able to complete this challenge). Some of the recipes I modified since I’m mostly vegan decided to change some ingredients to fit those dietary restrictions. I also was a bit flexible with folding numbers and rising times as being a full-time student limited my avaialbities to be in the ktihen and tend the bread as things got busy again in the fall and spring as classes transitioned back from online to mixed and in person.
Almost a year later I am finally done! I officialy completed this self-made challenge on March 13, 2021. I’ve had a lot of fun with this challenge and have loved basically everything I’ve made and wanted to share some photos and some of my favorites from this challenge.
If you want to skim through the list and read some of my notes as I was making them I’ve listed everything below. I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way but have learned a lot about the art of bread making and hope this project inspires you to try a new bread recipe or start your own sourdough.
Some of my favorites were honey-oat loaf, classic maine waffles, seeded multigrain sourdough, and cinnamon buns. Recipes that came out after I started include : Pain de Campagne, Boiled Cider Rye, Dessert Focaccia, Cubans Pizza, Banana bread, Pasta, and Chocolate Pan de Coco. I may make this recipes later as a bonus, but as of now I’ve made a lot of loaves and my freezer has a few leftover that I want to finish before I start anything new.
Recipe Date Tried| Month Made | Comments | Link
(Note SD=Sourdough)
Sourdough Pancakes - November - Pretty good! Made vegan using coconut milk and poppyseeds.
Extra Tangy Sourdough Bread (SDB)- April- Good, rise could’ve been better
Rustic SDB-May-Good, not much rise
SD Pizza Crust- October- Good! Prefer Mom’s recipe though
SD Biscuits-April- Good! Very buttery and flakey.
SD Buns-August-good! probably could've made without chia seeds, but nice and fluffy
Cinnamon Raisin SD - October - Yummy! Nice sweet bread, good swirl.
SD Crumpets-November-Really good & easy! Tastes like a mix between English muffin and pancake
Basic SD-May-Basic, but good
SD English Muffins-June-Really good! Baked instead of pan fried, definitely a keeper
Blueberry SD Muffins-August-Yum~ fluffed up nicely, didn't add as much honey and defintley should've gone with the full recipe for sweetness
No-Knead SD-June-Good, not much rise so more dense than I hoped
SD Pretzels-July-Good and pretty easy to do! Added seeds to some and would recommend doing that
SD Popovers-November-First recipe I've made in this challenge that hasn't been vegan, forgot how much I dislike eggs
Clay's Mutligrain SDB (Sandwich)-July-Really good! Could have used more salt
SD Baguettes-August-Turned out flat....why?? taste is okay, but could've used more salt
Mutligrain SD Boule-April-Very good, love the grains!
Naturally leavened SD-May- Good! Got more rise this time
SD Cinnamon Crumb Cake-August-Really good actually! Messed up the crumble top but using applesauce as an egg/milk substitute was the right way to go
Bread Machine SD-February- Small loaf but tasty, didn’t have a bread machine so used a generic knead/rise/bake time
Merlin's Magic SD-October-Messed up the recipe a bit because I added all ingredients at once and didn't let rest overnight before adding the extra flour/oil/yeast....and I let it rise for longer than it was supposed too and not in the refrigerator...and added food dye to make it ‘magic...but it still came out alright??
SD Sandwich Bread-November-Good! Made some buns too
Whole Wheat SD-April- Very good! I liked the whole wheat
SD Cinnamon Buns-October -Smells wonderful and tastes like heaven, vegan version worked well!
Fruited SD-July-Pretty good! Underbaked a bit because apples added more moisture than I realized
Onion SD Biscuits-October-Pretty good! Slightly burnt them, whoops
Whole Wheat & Rye SD-February -Yum! Subbed more wheat flour because I ran out of regular flour
SD Date Nut Cranberry Muffins-July-A tad dense/oily but not bad
SD Boule-July-Really good! Love the seeds
SD Waffles-November- Finally got a waffle maker & it was delicious!
Rustic Olive SD-October-Subbed green peppers for olives and it tastes like pizza!
Sourdough Focaccia-May-Very good! Need to add more rosemary next time
SD Pumpkin Spice Bread–September-OMG Yes!!So good for fall! Subbed chocolate chips for walnuts & yum
SD Maple Walnut Bread-September-Subbed raisins for walnuts, sweet but good!
SD Dinner Rolls-October -Yummy! Super fluffy!
Artisan SD-December-Wonky shape but had finally got those coveted air bubbles!
SD pumpernickel Bread- March-Hmm...Idk about the onions...
SD Hamburger Buns-January-Good!
Fig & Walnut SD-March-Subbed craisins pretty good!
Nutty-fruity SD-December - Used raisins, craisins, sultanas, pecans and cashews
Mutligrain Raisin SD-June-Good! Problem with moisture, possibly the oven or had too little flour/too much oil in pan...hmm
Chewy SD rolls-September - Good! Got a little crunchy on top so maybe bake at a lower temperature next time
Multigrain SD Sandwhich Bread-Apri-Good! Liked the loaf shape
Baker's Grain SD-September - Nice! Subbed oats for potato flakes
Corn and Scallion SD Pancakes-October-Not bad! Could've cooked a tad longer
SD Beer Bread-December - Somehow both sweet and savory, really good!
SD Honey Quinoa Bread-June- Very good! Subbed oats for quinoa
Jeffery's SD Rye - February - Good! Not a ton of rise though
SD Buns-August-Pretty good
SD Apricot Oat-November-Used dried mixed fruit instead of just apricots
Do-nothing SDB-July-Did not add enough flour and rise was not great after I attempted to add more flour to the still very soupy mixture, so not great but it was my own fault.
SD Ciabatta Sandwich Rolls-July-Good! Similar to moms ciabatta bread but rolls instead of loaves
Honey-Spelt SDB-January-Couldn’t find spelt so just used regular flour
SD Hot-dog buns-January-Turned into regular buns, pretty good!
Seeded Sourdgouh Boule-April-Very good! loved the seeds
Seeded Mulitigrain SD-April-One of my favorites
SD Fig & Orange Bread-February - Used trail mix instead of figs + nuts and it tasted nice! Similar to other the other orange bread
High-fiber SD Waffles-November-Subbed oats instead of high fiber, also ran out of butter so...eh? Most bread-like of all the waffle recipes
VT SD-May-Not bad...not a lot of rise
Wild Rice/cranberry/cornmeal SD-November - Subbed oats, pretty good!
Fresh-milled Spelt SD-December- Subbed oats for spelt, really good bread
SD Crackers-August-Really good actually! Liked the herbs
SD Chocolate Cake-September-Did a lot of substituons for milk/eggs and made into cupcakes, plus had more of a chocolate ganache for the frosting but they turned out pretty good!
SD Carrot Cake-September-Tasty! Subbed coconut/veg oil and didn't add nuts, used raisins instead, it was yummy though!
SD Rye Bread-January-No bread machine so guessed and did everything by hand
Seeded SD Soda Bread-May-Really good! Subbed oats for harvest grains mix, and made twice
WIld rice/pecan/cranberry SD-July-Subbed oats and flax for rice & pecans, left out cranberries
Brioche-style kugelhopf-December-Soaked raisins in brandy and grenadine because I didn’t have any cherry liquor, boozy~
Quinoa date & nut SD-January-Subbed oats and pumpkin seeds for quinoa and nuts
Pain au levain-August-Waayy over-proved because I left the levain in the fridge overnigh...twice...whoops...very flat, need to RETRY! Later: tried again and still not good?
Rye levain pumpernickel-January-Really good!
Mission Fig bread-March-May have cheated a tad and omitted figs but the rest of the loaf was delicious!
Onion&Bay Loaf-Januar-Savory and pretty nice actually
French-style Country Bread-July-Really good! Slightly burnt but got the air holes!
Cinnamon Apple Flatbread-September- Ooh yes this ones a keeper
Chocolate Malt Waffles-November-Tasty! Made vegan but forgot to add chocolate chips into the mix
Jewish Rye Bread-December-Mmhmm very good
Just Bread-September-Lots of rise time so took a long time to make but really good bread actually
High-fiber English Muffins-December-Interesting...tried to bake because I didn’t have a griddle and I don’t know if that’s what messed it up?
Vollkornbrot-February-Nutty and dark but tasty
Fresh-Milled Miche-August-Ran out of wheat flour but finally got a hella good rise!
Black Bread-January- Hmmm not so sure about this one
Surum Sesame Bread-December -No surum, so just used regular flour
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