Today is a bread making day. It's not quite ready yet. It's harder to make Sourdough in the winter, it's not quite warm enough to get a really good rise. Typically I whip my ingredients together in the evening and then bake in the morning. My dough didn't get quite high enough over night. So I'm cheating. I turned my oven on to 350F and left my rising dough on the cooktop for 20 minutes. I'll begin the process of baking in half an hour or so. Though I cheat today, it's just because my day is fully scheduled. I need to bake now, or I run out of time. The nicest part of sourdough is sometimes you do run out of time and you really can just leave it lying on a counter to rise a little more. The bread will wait and you should too. Making a beautiful loaf is an exercise in patience. This exercise will be rewarded with the most wonderful gift, a slice of fresh, warm bread.
I make sourdough bread a few times a week. There are very few ingredients in sourdough and it's extremely good for your stomach. Sourdough has no manufactured yeast. You trap yeast from the air in a sourdough starter. Making a sourdough starter is actually a super fun experiment. I made mine last spring with my son as a kitchen science experiment. Follow the link below, if you're interested in making your own starter here.
I found that my starter actually took a bit longer to become active than the article expresses. That may be related to climate or time of year. My recommendation is to be patient. Continue feeding and don't waste your time baking until your starter passes the "Float Test." The float test brought me a serious amount of joy. You can check daily, as you are feeding your starter to see if your starter is ready to leven your bread. If it's ready to leven, a teaspoon of starter will float on the top of a glass of water. If it's not ready, it sinks to the bottom.
If you happen to know someone that has a starter, ask them for a cup of it! You can feed it at home and start baking your own bread. Anyone that has a starter, will be happy to share.
So...I just said you need to feed your starter. Freaky right? Having a starter is like having a pet. A really giving, delicious pet. Mine is called Ramona. Isn't she beautiful?
She pretty much looks like a bubbly pancake batter and she smells kind of sour. Not overwhelmingly sour but if you lean in close and take a whiff, you can't miss her familiar stench. She needs to be fed daily. Equal parts of Unbleached flour and filtered water. I typically do 1/2 cup of each but if I'm planning on doing a lot of baking, I increase to a full cup of filtered water and flour. This may sound like a lot of work but it's not, honestly and if you do find you don't have enough time to maintain your starter, put it in the fridge. Take it out, warm it up, scoop off the separated top and feed it once a week. After it's fed, put it back in the fridge if you don't have time to bake. It's a good pet.
If you do have time, make this recipe. It makes two beautiful loaves. Which you can eat fresh as soon as they're cooled, or toasted with breakfast, or thinly sliced on a charcuterie board. You can also freeze the loaves in a large bread bag tied off with a twist tie and save them for later!
Sourdough Loaves
In the evening or first thing in the morning, combine these following ingredients in a glass bowl. (Sourdough hates stainless steel. A glass bowl is important).
2 cups of Sourdough Starter
7 cups of Unbleached Flour
2 and 1/3 cups of Filtered Water (Brita is fine)
3 tsps of Granulated Sea Salt
1 tsp of Granulated Sugar (totally optional but my kids like the bread better if it's present).
In a Glass Bowl, mix all ingredients by hand. They should come together quite quickly. I use my bare hands to fully blend ingredients. Once combined, set a timer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, knead the dough inside the bowl for 1-2 minutes. Cover with Saran Wrap and leave it in a warm place for 8-12 hours.
8-12 hours later, typically when I wake up for the day, your dough should look something like this...
Remove from your bowl to a floured surface, to begin processing. Remove gently, you want to keep as much air as possible inside your dough. It should look something like this...
Next, you need to stretch the dough out into a rectangle. Then, fold one side into the centre and repeat the process on the other side.
After your dough has been folded, cut into two separate loaves. Shape, gently with your hands.
Place inside parchment paper lined casserole dishes or Dutch Ovens. Allow 30 minutes to rise.
Before placing in a 450 F preheated oven, score the top of your bread. I love this snowflake pattern. Next, wet the inside of the lids and cover for the first portion of baking.
The loaves need to bake for 30 minutes, covered in the 450 F oven.
After 30 minutes, remove the lids and continue baking for 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 425 F, for the final portion of baking.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for half an hour on a wire rack. The cooling process is very important. Your bread is going to smell great. Resist the temptation to cut into it! The 30 minutes of cooling is actually part of the baking process. It is going to guarantee you a chewy inside and a crispy crust.
If you enjoyed this article, have any questions or you just liked this big idea, please comment below! Thanks for reading!
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