How I Sourdough

Like the rest of the world right now, I have a sourdough starter going. My yeast chose the most inopportune time ever to pass from the risen world, so…starter it is. I have done the sourdough thing a few times before so have some experience, but never kept it up.

Because, and there is no way around it, sourdough takes a lot of time and work. Yes, once you get the routine down, you can do it in fairly short chunks through the day…but it is going to need you to be home and checking in and folding at different parts and if you want to do something more complicated that takes more time…

The first week I spent a minimum of an hour, up to 4 hours, every day working on sourdough.

I’m not saying all this to turn you off. This is a chance to test out making sourdough bread, if you have time. And flour. The only problem is that, because we have a limited supply of flour and getting more is much more effort than in other moments, if it is available at all (all my local stores were out of bread flour this week), messing up a batch seems like a much bigger deal.

To that end: after a few rounds of trial and error, here is what I have found to work for me for making sourdough starter. My number one tip is to read THE WHOLE DAMN RECIPE, including instructions and any linked pages, before starting. You need to understand why sourdough works, so you know what steps you need and which you can shortcut on days you run low on time.

STEP ONE: MAKE A STARTER

I use this process: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337

I use 120 grams flour/120 grams water for starting and every feeding thereafter. After 5 days rather than discarding half, I split the starter into two. That allows me to always have one that I am using, and another that I am feeding to build back up, then switch. It lets wonderful flavors develop over time.

STEP TWO: MAKE BREAD

This is modified from (I think, it has been awhile) the King Arthur version. I find that it is a very easy recipe, and if you miss something (a fold, an hour, forget entirely about it and leave it on the counter overnight…) you can recover by just going back to the folding and proofing step.

In bowl stir together:
300 g. starter
500 g. 110 degree water
50 g. olive oil (or other vegetable oil, I like the flavor of olive oil)
20 g. kosher salt

Add in:
1000 g. bread or all purpose flour, or mix of both

Stir with a spatula, then use your hands to knead in the bowl until you have a shaggy dough. Cover with a clean towel, then let proof at room temperature for 3-5 hours. Rest for the first hour entirely. Then, once in awhile – every hour or so – with clean hands do a fold. This means you grab the dough and pull it over itself towards yourself, then turn the bowl 90 degrees and do it again…do this 5 times in total.

Once your dough has puffed to about double, and is springy to the touch, it is ready to divide. Use a pastry cutter, dough scraper, knife, whatever to divide the dough into two halves. With clean hands, smooth the dough into a ball. Part of what you are doing here is using your hands to create surface tension in the crust. This takes trial and error to get a feel for how the dough should…feel. But it should feel almost dry to the touch. Turn into a banneton basket (more on that later) or a deep rounded bowl lined with a clean kitchen towel. Either way, make sure the liner is well-floured.

Proof again for 2-3 hours or in the fridge overnight, covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel. The bread should be just filling the banneton basket, or about half risen again, and spring back to the touch.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees WITH YOUR BAKING CONTAINER INSIDE. A dutch oven works best, but not all of us have one or two of these lying about. I use a dutch oven and a large sauce pot so I can bake both at the same time, but you can do one after the other. Once it is well-preheated, carefully take out the pot, remove the lid, turn the basket over to lightly drop the bread in, slash with a lame or very sharp knife, put the lid back on, and return to the oven.

OPTIONAL: Once you put the bread in but before slashing, quickly brush plain water over the top and add a topping to the bread. I like sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake WITH THE LIDS ON for 20-25 minutes, then another 15-20 minutes with the lids off. My oven tends to run low, so if you are finding this is too much, lower the heat to 450 degrees once you take the lids off. You need that long bake time though to get the rise and crust. Take out once the crust is a deep golden brown and the bread is 205 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Transfer to a heatproof surface.

REST FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES, but better for an hour. Otherwise the bread will not finish baking. However, unless I bake this after bedtime for everyone, including adults, it usually gets cut while still piping hot and slather in butter then dusted with lava salt. I have to admit, it is very tasty this way too. But if you want that open, sliceable, holey texture, let it sit.