Sourdough Bread
Once you have an active starter it is time to begin using it, and where better to use it first than in a loaf of bread? There are about a million ways to make sourdough bread today I am going to share with you the most simple version that yields great and consistent results.
Before using your starter, ensure it is well-fed and active. You should see lots of big bubbles and it should grow significantly after feeding. Don’t be discouraged if you guess wrong and end up with a flat loaf of bread the first time you try it. When I first began baking bread I was so excited to use my starter that I used it a little prematurely and ended up with some pretty frisbee-like loaves, but practice makes (maybe not perfect) but at least better, much better. When that starter has hit its stride, I promise you will know it.
So 1) active starter, 2) a dutch oven. This is really important to me, you can try to simulate the same effects of the steam by adding water to a pan in your oven while the bread is baking but at home, a dutch oven is really what you are looking for. The reason is simple, the crust. To achieve that crispy golden crust you want all that steam that comes out of the bread when it hits the hot oven to shoot up at the top of the dutch oven, hit the surface, and come right back down. It also helps your bread cook more evenly since you are essentially baking it in an oven, within an oven.
Now that we have all the tools, lets make bread. This recipe will walk you through a single large loaf of sourdough that will fit in just about any dutch oven.
Start with 150g of that active starter. To that, you will want to add 350g of room-temperature water and mix it around to break up the starter. Add 500g of flour, you are looking for an all-purpose flour here, preferably a higher gluten one if you can find it. King Arthur makes an amazing bread flour but their AP flour works will too. We are going to add 12 grams of salt to this, I like to use fine-grind sea salt. The best way to dive into this mix is hands first, you want to fully incorporate all our your ingredients, I prefer to mix using “the pincher method” which is when you squeeze the dough between your thumb and fingers. You don’t want to overwork the dough but at the same time, there should be no pockets of any ingredients, especially flour. Once it is fully mixed you have some options, you can top it off and leave it to sit for 12ish hours or you can wait 30 minutes and fold it over. The folds will give you a slightly chewier texture. Either way when you are done you want to cover it up and leave at room temperature to sit overnight or all day depending on when you are planning to bake.
Your bread should be very bubbly and much larger when you are ready to shape it. Dump the whole bucket onto a floured surface and gently pinch it into a ball shape, similar to the way you would make a dumpling, pulling the edges of the bread to the center until there is a crease on one side and a smooth surface on the top. Now you will want to take a banneton basket sprinkle it with flour and gently place the dough, smooth side down into the basket. Allow that to rise for about 45 minutes, at which time you can preheat your oven and the dutch oven to 425 degrees. The bread should be puffing out a bit of the basket and you are ready to score and bake.
Gently flip the dough onto a floured surface and brush off the excess flour from the bread. With a very sharp knife or preferably a razor blade make several deep cuts across the surface of the bread. If you aren’t sure how to cut it, a simple hashtag is a great place to start. Make sure you cut deep enough, this is a common mistake, you want your cuts to be at least 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch deep. Now you need to gently and carefully move the dough to the dutch oven, we love to use round or square parchment to do this, it makes the process a little easier, but it isn’t necessary. You want to bake the bread in the preheated over for 30 mins with the cover on, then 10 - 15 mins with the cover off until it reaches your preferred level of crispy and has an internal temperature of 200 degrees. Remove it from the oven and the pot and DO NOT cut into it. You want to wait at least 30 mins because that bread is still cooking and cutting too early will result in a doughy center.
SO one more time…
150g starter
350g room temp water
500g flour
12g salt
That’s it! A super simple sourdough that contains approximately 100 less ingredients than anything you can get in the store!
Happy Baking!
