Sourdough
You know what the internet needs? ANOTHER BREAD RECIPE! Am I right?
This recipe is stolen from 'Feasting at Home' and 'Bake with Jack'. I suggest watching the whole Bake with Jack 28 minute video about sourdough. I don't stick to it exactly but it's excellent. https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos/2019/6/6/bread-tip-101-beginners-sourdough-loaf-start-to-finish?rq=sourdough%20101
SOURDOUGH
Equipment:
Dutch oven
Electric Scales
Bowl
Spatula
Tea Towel
Stanley Knife
Ingredients
Sourdough starter
550 g bread flour
10g salt
STEP 1: Feed your sourdough starter . Time this feeding so that it is at peak around the time you want to mix your dough. For me this is 2 - 3 hours before I want to mix my dough in summer, and around 8 hours in winter.
STEP 2: Mix 520g bread flour and 2 tsp salt in a pretty big bowl. I use about 150g wholemeal + 370g white bread flour OR 120g rye + 400g white.
STEP 3: In a separate bowl or jug, mix 100g of the “fed” starter with 385 g water using a spatula. It will look like cloudy water. (If I’m using rye I use 120g starter.)
STEP 4: Combine both and stir, using a spatula, into a thick dough. Mix the dough for one minute to incorporate all the bread flour. No need to knead. It will look a little shaggy and be hard to mix. If using more whole wheat flour or rye, sometimes it can be thirstier than white flour so you may need a little more water, a tablespoon at a time. It will loosen up as it rests and proofs.
STEP 5: Let the dough rest for 1/2 an hour then do your first 'stretch and fold' . Watch this lovely young man do his stretch and folds at 6.42 https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos/2019/6/6/bread-tip-101-beginners-sourdough-loaf-start-to-finish?rq=sourdough%20101. This whole video is long but terrific.
STEP 6: Do 2 more stretch and folds, 1/2 an hour apart, but time, it's less stretching and folding. Check out how he does it at 8.27. https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos/2019/6/6/bread-tip-101-beginners-sourdough-loaf-start-to-finish?rq=sourdough%20101 He says do it all 2 hours apart but that means you have to be home all day, which I'm not, so I do them all 1/2 an hour apart. But he knows more than I do!
STEP 7: Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let it rise on the kitchen counter overnight.
In the morning, the dough should be slightly domed, springy, bouncy, almost doubled. Carefully poke it with a floured finger, if the indention remains slightly, this is a good sign it has risen enough. If it looks flat, lifeless, and feels liquidy or loose- it may be over-proofed. You can still bake it but will not rise as much in the oven and will be harder to handle.
Apparently, you can slow this process down and extend the rising time by putting it in the fridge which will give also give a more sour taste but I haven’t tried this.
STEP 8 – FRIDGE REST: do another stretch and fold and then place your rested dough in the fridge for an hour. Heat the oven to 250 and put your dutch oven in the oven with the lid on.
STEP 9: FINAL SHAPE: After an hour, loosen the dough from the edges of a bowl with a wet spatula or wet plastic dough scraper, sliding it down the sides of the bowl, then flip upside down onto the counter, so the top of the dough is on the counter, and the sticky side of the dough is up. Do the final shape just like dear Jack does at 14.44. https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos/2019/6/6/bread-tip-101-beginners-sourdough-loaf-start-to-finish?rq=sourdough%20101
STEP 9 – DUTCH OVEN TIME Pull out your dutch oven. Obviously, it’s bloody boiling. Sprinkle in some polenta. Put your shaped dough into the dutch oven, smooth side up.
STEP 10: SCORE & BAKE. Using a Stanley knife or razor blade, score your dough quickly and deeply. You can do one simple slash, a crescent, crisscross, or whatever you like.
Quickly put the lid back on and place in the lowest 1/3 of the oven. I bake for 60 mins in the dutch oven, but my oven is really old. If you like, take the lid off after 50 mins and bake uncovered to get a really dark crust. Knock on the bottom of the loaf. It should sound kinda hollow.
ENJOY x
sourdough Starter
This one's stolen mainly from 'The Clever Carrot'
DAY 1
In a bowl, combine:
50g flour (white, wholeweat or a combination)
50 g water (around 80F/26C)
Use a spatula or whisk to completely blend into a thick paste, making sure there are no flour clumps. Cover loosely with a lid, plastic wrap or a towel. If your kitchen is cool, you can place it in the oven or micro with the heat off, light on. You want the temperature of your starter to stay around 20 - 25 degrees. Let it rest for 24 hours.
Day 2
Are there any tiny bubbles on top of your starter? Bubbles indicate fermentation, which is what we want. Don't worry if they're not there yet though.
Discard half of your starter into the bin (never put it in your sink as it will clog your drain). Put the remaining starter in a bowl and then add:
50g flour (white, wholeweat or a combination)
50 g water (around 80F/26C)
Use a spatula to completely blend into a thick paste, making sure there are no flour clumps. While your fed starter sits in the bowl, clean out your glass starter jar. Put starter back into the clean jar, cover loosely with a lid, plastic wrap or a towel. If your kitchen is cool, you can place it in the oven or micro with the heat off, light on. You want the temperature of your starter to stay around 20 - 25 degrees. Rest for another 24 hours.
Day 3
On this day you may start to see some bubbles. Woohoo! Start evaluating the health of your starter based on look and smell:
Ideally, you want your healthy, mature starter to have lots of bubbles, big and small.
You want it to at least double in size between feedings (use that rubber band on your jar to gauge growth).
Lastly, you want it to smell fresh a sourdough bread-like smell.
Keep an eye on these characteristics when you evaluate your starter daily. It will not be there yet, but you will start to see these elements more and more every day, with each feeding.
Today we’re going to do two feeds as it really helps increase the vitality of your starter. Feed it once in the morning and then again at night, before bedtime. Try to space your feeds so that they are 12 hours apart.
In both the AM and the PM, do the following:
Discard half of your starter. Put the remaining starter in a bowl and then add:
50g flour (white, wholeweat or a combination)
50 g water (around 80F/26C)
Use a spatula to completely blend into a thick paste, making sure there are no flour clumps. While your fed starter sits in the bowl, clean out your glass starter jar. Put back into the clean jar, cover loosely with a lid, plastic wrap or a towel. If your kitchen is cool, you can place it in the oven or micro with the heat off, light on. You want the temperature of your starter to stay around 20 - 25 degrees.
Use a rubber band around the jar to indicate the top of your starter so you can see if it rises above that.
Days 4 & 5
How does your starter look today? More bubbles? More growth? Can you see that it grew overnight and then fell? On these two days, continue with two feeds. Feed it once in the morning and then again at night, before bedtime. Try to space your feeds so that they are 12 hours apart.
In both the AM and the PM, do the following:
Discard half of your starter. Put the remaining starter in a bowl and then add:
50g flour (white, wholeweat or a combination)
50 g water (around 80F/26C)
Use a spatula to completely blend into a thick paste, making sure there are no flour clumps. While your fed starter sits in the bowl, clean out your glass starter jar. Put back into the clean jar, cover loosely with a lid, plastic wrap or a towel. If your kitchen is cool, you can place it in the oven or micro with the heat off, light on. You want the temperature of your starter to stay around 20 - 25 degrees.
Use a rubber band around the jar to indicate the top of your starter so you can see if it rises above that.
Days 6 & 7
If your starter is active and bubbly, has a delicious aroma and is predictably rising and falling at this point, you can go to once-daily feeding (see below). Monitor how it behaves once you do this. Is it still happy? If it becomes sluggish, return back to the AM/PM feedings for several more days before going back to once-a-day feedings again. If your starter is not full of bubbles on Day Six, then continue with twice daily feedings for several more days. A robust mature starter can take up to ten days…so don’t fret if it’s taking a bit longer to get going.
BEYOND THE FIRST WEEK
FEEDING AND STORAGE:
Once you have a robust sourdough starter going, you can start doing once-daily feedings, as noted above. Pick what works for you, day or night, and stick with it and feed your starter at roughly the same time every day.
STANDARD FEEDING
Discard half of your starter. Put the remaining starter in a bowl and then add:
50g flour (white, wholeweat or a combination)
50 g water (around 80F/26C)
Use a spatula to completely blend into a thick paste, making sure there are no flour clumps. While your fed starter sits in the bowl, clean out your glass starter jar.
Use a rubber band around the jar to indicate the top of your starter so you can see if it rises above that.
Once you're happy with your starter, you begin baking with what you were previously discarding, so you use some of it to make your dough, instead of chucking it in the bin. Far more enjoyable. When you use some starter, just feed the rest as normal.