Sourdough Bread Recipe
I use this bread Le Creuset for my breads- but you can use a regular dutch oven or even a baking tray with a pot of water underneath.
Begin your Sourdough journey with me
I have been making sourdough for almost a year now. I learned through watching videos and just by practising. It is key to have a good starter and always bake with an active starter. I used to check if my starter was active by placing a dollop in cold water. if it floats, its active. I used to feed my starter 50g starter, 100g water, 100g flour but now I feed 30g starter, 60g water and 60g flour, just because this gives less discard. I feed my starter the evening before baking (maybe 8pm) and start baking in the morning around 7am. Sometimes I bake the bread in 1 day, it depends really how long bulk fermentation takes. After bulk fermantation (this basically means that the dough doubles in its bowl while resting in a warm place), you move the dough into the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours to cold proof. Then you can bake the bread afterwards.
All this information may seem overwhelming at first, but it really becomes easy the more you keep practising and find a rythym that works for you. If you are a beginner, use measurements from 1 recipe and keep practicing with that same one. I always use this recipe when baking and I have mastered it now without any fuss. You need a scale when baking sourdough. I keep my starter in the fridge and bake once a week. I feed it once a week, the day before baking (when I leave it at room temperature over night) so it is active the following day in the morning. Then in the morning I begin to bake and feed the starter again, I move it back to the fridge. The most my starter as gone without feeding has been 12 days in the fridge, and it was totally fine.
Sourdough Feed
30g starter
60g (boiled beforehand) room temp water
60g organic flour ( I often feed 30g rye flour and 30g all purpose flour)
What materials I use when baking
Bread baking Le Creuset
Scale
bread proofing basket
A large glass bowl/kitchen towel/ clingfilm
dough scraper/ wooden spoon
Ingredients (1 medium/large loaf)
100 g active sourdough starter
390 g room temperature filtered water
475 g all-purpose organic wheat flour
10 g salt
Instructions
1. Mix the active starter, water, and flours in a large glass bowl & leave to rest for an hour.
Mix it so that all the ingredients incorporate together but you do not need to knead. The reason why I use a glass bowl, is that you can see how it develops during bulk fermentation. A ready dough is airy, with bubbles and doubled in size that slides easily away from the bowl onto a surface.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let it rest at room temperature ( or slightly warmer- I place it on that bathroom floor with underground heating) for one hour. During this time, the yeasts in the dough will activate, and the dough will become more elastic.
2. Begin your stretch and folds or coil folds after the hour has passed: You do stretch and folds every 30 minutes. Repeat process 3 or 4 times. After this, leave the dough to rest and double in size.
First salt the dough: Begin the process by sprinkling the salt on top of the dough and fold the dough until it feels springy. You can either use a method of stretch and folds or coil folds, which ever suits you. It is important here that the dough does not rip once you are stretching and folding. I usually do my first round doing stretch and folds and the remaining 2 times, using the coil fold method.
How to stretch and fold: dip your fingers in water, slide them under the dough with your thumbs on top, loosen the dough from the bottom of the bowl, grab an edge, stretch it, and fold the stretched part over the top of the dough.
Rotate the bowl clockwise and repeat around the dough until it feels elastic. Do this about 3 times around the bowl. Cover with clingfilm and a cloth and place it back into a warm place. Repeat this process every 30 minutes for 3 or 4 times. You can, for example, set a timer for every 30 minutes to remind you to fold the dough.
After the stretch and folds are completed, let the dough rest and double in size at room temperature for at least four hours in total. This is called bulk fermentation. There is a fine line to see when the dough is ready and when it has risen too much. You want to make sure that the double has air bubbles in it and that it has basically doubled in size. if you let it rest too long, it becomes hard to shape. The temperature/ environment has an effect on this, so the hours can vary in different households. You will learn this naturally once you get the hang of doing sourdoughs. My bulk fermentation has been between 4-8 hours in total. You count the hours from when you begin the stretch and folds.
3. Turn the dough out onto the table after the dough as doubled in size.
There are many methods of doing this, but the genereal idea is to shape it into a ball and place it, into a basket that is then transfered into the fridge before baking. Sometimes it also depends on how easy/hard your dough is to work with. For higher hydration breads, the dough is more difficult to shape.
I generally follow this: Pour out the dough on to a floured surface. Then tighten the dough by gently shaping it (in a circle motion) from both sides with floured hands until the surface becomes more tight. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before shaping. Gently stretch the dough with floured fingers into a rectangle as large as it will stretch without tearing. Fold it in thirds in one direction, then again in thirds in the other direction, so you get a rectangle-shaped package.
Roll the rectangle dough into a rough ball and make sure it does not ripe. You can gently roll the ball towards you in your shaping process, so it becomes more tight. (This may sound very confusing, but it is easy when you watch a couple of videos and get the hang of it)
5. Flour a proofing basket and place the dough seam side up on the towel so the smooth side is against the fabric. Stitch any of the dough together to create a tighter ball. Put the basket and dough inside a plastic bag or cloth.
6. Move the dough to the refrigerator for a cold rest until the next day or at least 4 hours. This is called cold proofing.
7. Preheat the oven to 250°C (480°F). I use a dutch oven for baking.
8. Take out the bread dough. Flip the basket upside down on top of the parchment paper so the dough falls out.
If desired, score the top of the bread with a razor blade or sharp knife.
9. Place into a oven 250°C for 15 minutes and then drop the temperature to 225°C for a remaining 25 minutes. For the last 15 minutes, bake the bread without a lid so it gets. a lovely golden colour on top.
10. Take it out of the oven to cool and let it cool completely before cutting into it.
Time to shape the dough and place into fridge after
Here is a quick recap of everything
Feed the starter the night before and leave it at room temp
In the morning, mix the active starter, flour and water together. leave for 1 hour (remember at this point to re-feed your starter in a new clean jar and move it back into the fridge)
Salt the dough and begin your stretch and folds
Repeat this process 3 or 4 times.
Leave the dough to rest and double in size
Move the dough to fridge
Bake
I HAVE MADE A REELS VIDEO ON INSTAGRAM THAT MAYBE CAN HELP YOU ALSO.
