Sourdough

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This may be the longest explanation about a recipe. I will also say, It's a lot less complicated than people make it out to be. The most important thing to know about making sourdough is learning your starter! Everyone's experience is going to be different because starter responds to its environment.

A cold environment or adding cold water will slow the development of the started and dough. Vice versa with warm water/environment. It also depends on how frequently you feed the starter, if it's coming right out of the fridge, and the ratio you use.

I like a 1:1:1 ratio, normally 65g each (so I can have extra after) for my starter. If it's been in the fridge, I like to feed it once before I do the feed to start my dough. If it's been on the counter, I feed it in the morning and start my dough when I get home from work, since it's normally doubled by then. I mark the starter with a rubber band. If I start the dough on a Sunday, I'll use warmer (not hot - this will kill the good bacteria in the starter) so it grows faster, closer to 6 hours opposed to 8 hours. I mix until there are no spots of flou, scrape the sides, pop the little chef hat on, and call it a day

To start the actual bread, you'll need 100g of started at peak rise. Once added to a large bowl, add 350g of lukewarm water. Same rule applies here - warm will help it rise faster and cooler will produce a slower rise. Mix the water and starter together. Some people prefer to mix the flour and water first and rest for 30-60 minutes, which is called "Autolyse" I don't do this since I make the bread frequently and like to keep things as simple as possible.

Next, I add 500g of bread flour. I do prefer King Arthur brand but store brand is completely fine. At the same time, I add 12g of salt. The recipe I follow calls for 10g but I find that when I add more salt, the bread ends up being softer to cut. If you prefer a crunchier crust, I suggest adding less salt. Mix with a bread whisk until everything feels combined and let rest for 30 minutes.

Even if it doesn't feel as completely mixed as possible, it's probably fine. With the stretch and folds, you'll get rid of any smaller clumps of flour. If there's more flour that's not being absorbed by the dough, add a couple drops of water - a little goes a long way! Sometimes even if there is flour left, I just leave it because the stretch and folds will pick it up at some point. You can add more water, but you can't take it away.

For the stretch and folds, I let the dough rest for 30 minutes in between rounds and end up doing 3-4 rounds depending on what my dough allows. Truth be told, I typically forget about the dough at this point and have it resting for much longer than 30 minutes. Only once, the bread was mostly air. Besides that, theres a larger air pocket or two but still amazing bread. All this does is help build structure in the dough which results in a better rise and crumb (amount of air bubbles and how far they are.

Use your bowl scraper to gather one side of the dough, pull it up, and fold it over. Don't overthink it! It's self explanatory. Turn the bowl 90º, and stretch then fold again. Do this until you've made it all the way around the bowl, add the resting hat, and let it sit by itself for around 30 minutes. Sometimes once I get to my third round of these, there's not much stretching happening anymore so I let it be. If I can get a fourth stretch and fold in, I try but sometimes I will give up half way through because of the lack of stretching.

Once you've gotten as much stretch out of your dough as you're going to, you'll need to let it rest. This portion is called the "bulk ferment." This again, depends on your environment. It takes around 3-5 hours until the dough looks like it's doubled. Some people prefer to use transparent, square, food prep containers so it's easy to tell once the dough has doubled. Again, I have glass bowls so that's what I use. Simple is better.

Once the dough has doubled (or something like that), It's time to shape. This is the part that looks like what you would think making bread looks like. You'll need to plop the dough onto a clean counter top. From there, pull it into a horizontal rectangle but don't force it. Try to do so as much as you can without ripping it. You'll then fold one third into the middle from one side then do the same with another. Think about it like folding a piece of paper into folds.

This is also a great time to add inclusions, especially if you want the swirl pattern in the bread. Once the dough has been folded, it's time to roll it up into a ball. I find the easiest way to do this is to start at the side closest to you, and fold forward, rolling one side to the other to make sure the ends are tucked in. It will start off as a longer stretch of dough , so imagine taking the piece closest to you, pushing it forward, while also rolling the right side to the left. I'll include a video so you can see it's more simple than it sounds.

Next, you'll need to roll the dough. Do this by pushing the dough away to twist the dough ball, then pull it closer to tuck the bottom in. This will continue to form the correct shape for your sourdough loaf. Do this around eight times while trying not to rip the top of the dough. Let it rest on the counter, then do it all over again. Flip the dough ball over before stretching it into a rectangle, then do everything exactly the same as the first time.

At this point, get your seasoned banneton out and plop your shaped dough into the basket before letting it rest for around an hour. I start to heat the oven and dutch oven to 450º once the bread has been resting for 45 minutes. Once it's been successfully preheated, move ypur dough to the sling or a piece of parchment paper. I was kindly gifted a sourdough set that included a sling and I love it, but if you don't have one, use parchment paper!

This is when you score your sourdough. Truthfully, I have not gotten this completely down. I like to do one large score on the side and then a little wheat stock decoration on the other side. Pop the bread into the heated dutch over (carefully), add the lid, and place back in the over. You'll bake the bread in total for 45 minutes, first 30 minutes with the lid, then 15 minutes without. Once the bread is done, take it out and let it cool on a rack for one hour. If you wanted, obviously you can slice it before but it does mess up the texture of the bread. You'll be able to tell it's been baked correctly if you know on the bottom and it sounds hollow.

The only time I can get this done in one day is by feeding the starter on a Saturday night, and making the bread all day Sunday. Besides that, I'll do it during the week. This looks like breaking it up a lot more. Some people swear by extending at least one fermentation by putting the dough in the fridge but I've never noticed a difference in taste. When making sourdough during the week, I'll feed the starter in the morning before work, then start the dough immediately when I get home. I suggest doing all stretch and folds together before putting the dough in the fridge but if there's one thing I've learned, the dough is adaptable and can be rescued.

My favorite two-day method would be to start the dough after work, get done the stretch and folds, bulk fermentation, and if possible, the shaping as well. That way when I get home from work the next day I can immediately pop it in the oven and have fresh bread with dinner if I wanted. You can also put the bread in the fridge after stretch and folds if it's getting too late and do the shapings the next day.

This is the video that introduced me to making sourdough and where most of my method comes from.

Viola! Homemade sourdough! Enjoy the recipe below.

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Ingredients:

• 100 g of starter at peak rise

• 350 g of lukewarm water

• 500 g of bread flour

• 12 g of salt

Directions:

1. add starter and water then mix until combined. Once mixed, add flour and salt then again whisk until combined. Let rest for 30 minutes.

2. Complete 3-4 sets of stretch and folds, resting for around 30 minutes in between.

   1. use a bowl scraper to pull one end of the dough up, then fold it ontop of itself. rotate the bowl 90º, then repeat until you get back to the beginning.

3. bulk ferment for 3-4 hours.

4. pull into a rectangle, fold by thirds, roll, then shape. Rest for 30 minutes then shape again.

   1. to shape, you'll pull the dough on the counter towards you by tucking the top under. You'll then push the dough away and rotate it, then pull it towards you again.

   2. Do this around 8 times. If the top starts to rip, stop shaping.

5. Add the dough to the banneton and let rest for an hour.

6. Heat the oven and the dutch oven to 450º

7. Once the rough has rested for an hour and the oven is ready, take the dough out of banneton and flip onto parchment paper or a sourdough sling. You'll then score it, and add to the dutch oven.

8. Put the lid back on the dutch oven and place in oven for 30 minutes

9. Take the lid off and keep in oven for 15 more minutes.

10. Let cool on a rack for 1 hour then try your bread!