Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
For the Levain:
- 25 g sourdough starter bubbly
- 70 g purified / spring water
- 70 g all-purpose flour organic
Build the Dough:
- 725 + 50 g purified / spring water
- 150 g levain (see above)
- 200 g whole wheat flour organic
- 800 g all-purpose flour organic, divided
- 25 g sea salt Celtic, or Himalayan pink salt
Stretching, Folding and Bulk Fermentation:
- white flour organic, for dusting
- about 60g rice flour for dusting bowls
EASY SOURDOUGH STARTER
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour organic
- all-purpose flour organic
- water
- glass jar or sourdough crock
- a spoon and fork
- clean cloth
- kitchen scale
Instructions
For the Levain:
- The evening before you make bread, mix together 25 grams starter, 70 grams water, and 70 grams flour in a 16oz mason jar or small bowl with straight sides. Mark the level with tape or a rubber band. Cover the mixture with a clean towel and leave on the counter at room temperature. The mixture will be ready in 10-12 hours and will double or even triple in volume.
- Note: During hot months, this can take 6-8 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen. You can use ice water to slow this process in the summer. Using water that is 130ºF will speed this process into 4-5 hours, but for the best flavor, I recommend allowing for a longer ferment time.
Build the Dough:
- Pour 725 grams of water into a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Drop a tablespoon of levain into the bowl and see if it floats. If it floats, add the rest of the levian to the water and whisk to combine. If it doesn’t float, wait another hour and try again. Add 200 grams of whole wheat flour and 300 grams of organic all-purpose flour to the water mixture and combine with a dough whisk. Add the remaining 500 grams of all-purpose flour and mix with your hands, making sure there are no dry clumps of flour.
- Note: The temperature of your water in relation to your ambient room temperature is very important. In the wintertime, it’s helpful to use warmer water and in the hottest months, ice water would be appropriate.
- Cover and autolyse (let sit) for 30 minutes.
- Add 25 grams Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt and 50 grams of water and mix by hand until incorporated. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.
Stretching, Folding and Bulk Fermentation:
- Stretch and fold the dough four times (watch the video above and start at the 1:02 minute mark). Place a clean cloth over the dough and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then, stretch and fold the dough again, place a clean cloth over the dough, and let sit for another 30 minutes. Repeat two more times for a total of four times.
- During the second fold, herbs, olives, nuts, etc. can be added. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and allow it to rest for an hour.
- Lightly dust a wooden board or a clean countertop with flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface. The dough will be sticky, so it helps to have wet hands. Using a bench knife or a large chef’s knife, cut the dough in half and make two rounds of dough. Cover with a clean cloth and let sit for another hour.
- Dust two brotforms with flour. If you don't have a brotform, you can use a basket lined with a dishtowel (if doing this, make sure the dust the dishtowel with flour). Don’t skimp on the flour or your loaves will become difficult to remove when it’s time to bake them.
- Now it’s time to shape the dough into a boule. You will do a series of four folds: bottom to top, top to bottom, left to right and right to left, before flipping over and shaping into a round. Then, gather the ball and place it upside down in a brotform (seam side up). (Watch this video and start at minute 1:16).
For the Final Rise:
- Cover the dough loosely with a clean dish towel and allow to sit at room temp for another hour, then lightly tuck the dish towel on top of the dough and place in the refrigerator.
- After the dough has been in the fridge for 12 hours (or the next morning), place each of the bowls with the dough in a large plastic bag (I use plastic bags that you can bake turkeys in ) to keep the dough from drying out and absorbing flavors from your refrigerator. After placing the loaves in the large plastic bags the loaves will remain in the fridge for another 24 hours for a total of 36-40 hours.
For the Bake:
- Place a Dutch Oven with a lid in a cold oven. Preheat the oven to 500ºF with your pot inside for one hour. Pull a loaf out from the refrigerator. Lightly dust the top (which is actually the bottom) with rice flour. Flip the loaf out onto a small cutting board. You can now score the top with a razor or lame if desired. Carefully remove the hot pot from the oven, slide the loaf into the pot, place the lid back onto the pot, and place it in the oven. Be very careful. The pot is very hot!
- Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the lid (again, be careful because it’s very hot), reduce the temperature to 465ºF, and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the bread is golden brown on top. You can also test for doneness with an instant-read thermometer. If you put the thermometer in the middle of the loaf and it reads 190º-210ºF then it’s fully cooked.
- Remove the loaf of bread from the pot and allow the bread to cool for at least one hour. The bread will continue baking during this time.
- For your second loaf, you will return the pot to the hot oven and raise the temperature back up to 500º and let it heat up for 15 minutes before removing your second loaf from the refrigerator and repeating the process.
- Note: Because all ovens vary, you will definitely want to purchase an inexpensive oven thermometer and place it in the back to make sure that your oven temperature is consistent and accurate.
Easy Sourdough Starter
- Day One: Place 60g whole wheat flour and 60g water in a mason jar and stir with a fork to combine. Place a towel over the jar and leave it out at room temperature (around 72-82 degrees F) for 24 hours.
- Day Two: Check the starter to see how it’s doing. You might see a few bubbles, but you might not. No need to worry! If there is any liquid on top, simply pour it off and then place the cloth back on the jar and let it sit for another 24 hours.
- Day Three: Remove 1/2 of the starter from the jar and add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Four: At this point, you should start to see some bubbles. This is good! It means the fermentation process has begun. And, if you don’t see many at this point, it’s ok. The bubbles will come!
- Remove half of the starter, add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter and stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Five: Remove half of the starter, add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter, and stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Six: Remove half of the starter (about a 1/4 cup at this point), add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter, and stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day 7: At this point, there should be lots of bubbles and the texture will be spongy and/or fluffy. It should have a pleasant aroma. If you see all of these things, your starter is ready to use.
- If your starter isn’t ready yet, don’t worry, just continue to feed the starter (60g of flour and 60g of water) each day until you see these signs. It could take a week or two longer.
- And, as I mention in the video, it’s important to not let your starter get larger than 2 cups in volume. When it gets to about 2 cups, remove half of the starter, and then feed with your usual 60g flour and 60g water. You can give some of the discarded starter to a friend who wants to make some sourdough bread or use it in a sourdough recipe.
Notes
Fermented Sourdough Bread
I’ve wanted to share a fermented sourdough bread recipe for a very long time, so I’m thrilled to write this post for you!
Making a sourdough starter and then a fermented bread can often seem incredibly intimidating, so I hope I can take the fear out of it for you.
To make sourdough bread, you’ll need a sourdough starter. I personally used the Culture’s for Health Sourdough Starter and just followed the directions in the box. It’s easy to do, but you can also make the starter with just flour and water.
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Ingredients
EASY SOURDOUGH STARTER
Keep in mind -
If you accidentally add a gram or two of excess water, just add an additional 1-2g of flour to even things out. Getting off by a gram or so every once in a while won't ruin your starter.
Day One:-
- 60 grams whole wheat flour
- 60 grams of water
Day Two:-
- No ingredients are needed
Day Three:-
- 60 grams all-purpose flour
- 60 grams of water
Day Four and Beyond:- 60 grams all-purpose flour
- 60 grams of water
Day One: Place the flour and water in a mason jar and stir with a fork to combine. Place a towel over the jar and leave it out at room temperature (around 72-82 degrees F) for 24 hours.- Day Two: Check the starter to see how it's doing. You might see a few bubbles, but you might not. No need to worry! If there is any liquid on top, simply pour it off and then place the cloth back on the jar and let it sit for another 24 hours.
- Day Three: Remove 1/2 of the starter from the jar and add 60g of all-purpose flour and 60g of water to the starter. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Four: At this point, you should start to see some bubbles. This is good! It means the fermentation process has begun. And, if you don't see many at this point, it's ok. The bubbles will come! Remove half of the starter in the jar and add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Five: Remove half of the starter in the jar and add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Six: Remove half of the starter (about a 1/4 cup at this point in the jar and add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Stir it with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Seven: At this point, there should be lots of bubbles and the texture will be spongy and/or fluffy. It should have a pleasant aroma. If you see all of these things, your starter is ready to use. If your starter isn't ready yet, don't worry, just continue to feed the starter (60g of flour and 60g of water) each day until you see these signs. It could take a week or two longer.
- After the starter is ready to use, continue to feed your starter each day, cover with a cloth, and leave at room temp until it's time to feed the next day. When the starter gets to be about 2 cups, it's a good idea to remove half of the starter from the jar (you can use this in a sourdough recipe, give it to a friend who wants to start baking sourdough or discard). Then, simply feed your starter with the regular 60g of flour and water.
- If you need to leave town, or you don't want to use the starter for a while, loosely screw a lid on the jar and place it in the fridge. It's a good idea to feed the starter once every other week when it's not in use. Then, when you're ready to use the starter again, remove it from the fridge and feed the starter for 2 days before using it. If it has liquid on top, just discard the liquid and feed the starter again
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