Every time I post a picture of a freshly baked sourdough loaf on social media, someone asks “Is the recipe on your blog?” Before I bake this weekend (that’s how I party) and post pics, I thought I better post the recipe here.
On Twitter, I follow Joe Fitzmaurice, an Irish baker, who recently used a hashtag that sums up what I have written here: #EasyWhenYouKnowHow. I constantly refer to my blog
. I forget them all. This one I have memorized, however. I could make it in my sleep. Sometimes at 5am, I do make it in my sleep. Although I list 27 steps down below, you can lump them together into a mere seven:
Real Bread...this Is Exactly Why We Love What We Do. Remember,
Before you make your sourdough bread, you’ll need a starter. I have written posts on that here, here and here. For answers to the most frequently asked sourdough starter questions, go here.
I hate to tell people to buy more stuff. You may find some of these items at yard sales or secondhand stores. I saw piles of Dutch ovens at a huge antiques fair recently. You don’t need all (or really any) of this BUT I find using the proper equipment results in better loaves. I’ve included some basic items here for those of you with no baking experience.
Really help you along BUT the recipe spans about 26 pages (and you thought my post was long!). Michael Pollan’s is about four pages.
The Beginner's Guide To Baking Gluten Free Sourdough Bread
Also offers many delicious variations, such as the coriander raisin bread pictured below. (Oops, I accidentally used cardamom in these loaves, which tasted great.)
I often grind fresh flour for my bread. I use only about 20 percent freshly ground as it tends to make a dense loaf. If you use freshly ground flour, grind it immediately before using as the oils in the grain turn rancid quickly. That’s a blog post for another day…
1. Begin with active, fed sourdough starter. I usually feed mine twice before I bake, once first thing in the morning and later in the early afternoon. I then start my bread in the evening with my active starter. (Sometimes I will only feed the starter once before starting the bread.)
Baking By Feel The Old School Way
2. The night before you make your bread, in a glass or ceramic bowl, make a leaven (basically a giant starter). Combine 100 grams whole wheat flour, 100 grams white flour, 200 grams warm water and 35 grams fresh starter. Cover with a plate to prevent crust from forming on top and place in a warm spot.
3. Soak the flours for the dough at the same time as you make your leaven. In a large glass, ceramic or wooden bowl, combine 600 grams whole wheat flour, 200 grams white flour, 200 grams rye or spelt flour and 750 grams warm water. Cover tightly with a plate to prevent a crust from forming on top. (You don’t need to place this in a warm spot as with the leaven and it may dry out if you do.)
Pollan’s recipe calls for more water in this step—850 grams. I would suggest you start off with less and work your way up to more as you get more experienced at baking this. Even with the smaller amount of 750 grams of water, the very wet dough can freak new bakers out.
Sourdough For Cheaters
4. In the morning, combine 1/2 the leaven with the soaked grains. I use my hands to work everything in together. The remaining leaven is your new sourdough starter. The starter that you made your leaven with now goes into your discard jar along with all the other excess starter left over from feedings.
6. Wait 20 minutes. Add salty water to dough and thoroughly mix it in with your hands. The bulk fermentation begins now so note the time.
7. Wait another 20 minutes. Turn the dough for the first time. Wet your hand, reach under to the bottom of the dough, pull it up and fold it over on itself. Turn the bowl 1/4 of a turn and repeat for a total of at least 4 turns.
Artisan Bread For The Amateur Baker
Seeds: Fennel, sesame, sunflower and flax seeds are good choices. I use about 1 ½ cups total. Toast for 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, soak the seeds in about 1 cup warm water for 30 minutes before adding to dough. The seeds will absorb this water. If there is any remaining water, strain it out. Soaking plumps these up. They taste so good. Skip this step if you prefer though.
Nuts: Toast as with seeds until fragrant. You don’t need to soak nuts after toasting but chop whole ones into small pieces.
9. End the bulk fermentation after 4 or 5 hours. My dough begins to break down around 5 hours so I rarely go past 4 1/2 hours. Your bulk fermentation may require more or less time, depending on your kitchen environment.
Sourdough: The King Of All Bread
12. Sprinkle with flour and with your hands, rotate each blob gently while pushing the sides toward the bottom of the blob. Don’t work the dough any more than you need to in order to achieve this.
14. Sprinkle your work surface with more flour. With your dough scraper, flip a blob over. You’ll now shape your loaves. Pull gently on one end of the dough to form a rectangle. Fold the dough in half. Pull gently on the ends (i.e., not the folded side) to form a rectangle again. Fold over again. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this folding. Now turn the dough diagonally. Make a rectangle, fold it. Make a rectangle in the opposite direction, fold it. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this folding.
You have folded the dough a total of eight times. This creates a tight loaf and helps create a better rise. But be gentle! Don’t pop any air pockets. These are gold! The dough gets more difficult to fold as you continue to fold it. This is the trickiest part. Don’t worry, your bread will taste great 🙂
How To Make Homemade Sourdough Bread
15. Sprinkle banneton baskets or cloth-lined bowls generously with flour. Place formed loaves in baskets, top side facing down. When you drop the loaf into the Dutch oven, the smooth side will face up. Cover the loaves with a cloth.
16. Proof the shaped loaves. I get the best results from an overnight cold proof in the refrigerator. This overnight proof gives you a break BUT you can proof now for two hours at room temperature and then bake as outlined in the next steps.
17. After proofing the loaves, place the Dutch oven in the oven and heat at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. If you have refrigerated your loaves, remove the first one from the fridge before you turn on the oven. My Dutch oven is very large—6 1/2 quarts. A smaller one will do.
Super Soft Homemade Bread Recipe
18. Pull the Dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Hold the basket above the pot. Drop in the loaf being careful not to burn yourself.
19. Score the loaf using a razor blade on a stick or a store-bought lame. I prefer the razor-blade-stick combo as the blade on the lame is not usually replaceable. Put the lid back on. Return the Dutch oven to the oven.
21. After baking for 20 minutes, remove the lid. This is the moment of truth. Hopefully your dough has risen nicely. Before I peer inside, I ALWAYS feel a little anxious! I doubt this will go away…
Tbf (first Time Baker)
27. Devour bread after it has cooled. Resist the temptation to tear into it. The bread continues to bake after you remove it from the oven.
0 Komentar