I started making sourdough bread in 2022, nearly 3 years ago. I can’t say that I’ve learned everything there is to know about the art of sourdough bread making. But over these past three years I have learned an awful lot. I make sourdough bread every Sunday for my family. I make two loaves, one for us to enjoy right away and the other one I put in the freezer for us to eat later in the week. I hardly ever buy bread from the grocery store now, this bread is pretty much the only bread my family eats, and I have to say I’ve noticed the difference in our health and wellbeing. Three simple ingredients are all you need to have wonderful bread every day.
Ingredients:
250g sourdough starter
735g filtered water
1,000g all-purpose flour
25g salt
50g filtered water
Method:
In a large bowl, mix the starter and water together until it looks milky. Next, add the flour and mix until the flour looks well hydrated and a shaggy dough forms. Cover and set aside for two hours.
Next, add the salt and 50g of filtered water. Using your hands pinch the salt in and do one set of stretch and folds. Cover and allow the dough to rest for four hours.
On a well flowered surface, turn your dough out and cut it in half. Working with the first half of dough, flatten it out and do a letter fold then roll the dough up like a jelly roll and begin to push it away from you and pull it toward you using the palm of your hand. (Watch my video to see how I do this.) Add more flour to your board if it becomes too sticky to work with. The idea is to create a tight ball of dough, set it aside and do the same thing with the other half of your dough. Cover and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. Once the dough has rested, repeat the same process, a bit more gently this time, flatten the dough out do a letter fold and push it away from you and pull it towards you until a nice tight loaf forms. Do the same thing with the other half, place both loaves in a well-floured proofing baskets and put them in the fridge for at least three hours or overnight.
Once your loves have had their cold proof, preheat the oven to 450° with the Dutch oven inside. Once the oven has reached its temperature, allow the Dutch oven to preheat for another 30 minutes. Take the first loaf of bread out of the refrigerator and turn it out onto two pieces of parchment paper or if you have a silicone mat, like I do, you can use that as well. Score the top of the loaf and place it in the preheated Dutch oven along with 1/4 cup of filtered water. Put the lid back on and bake for 35 minutes.
Once the 35 minutes is up, take the lid off and bake the bread for another 15 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Remove from the pot and allow the sourdough bread to rest on a wire rack until completely cool. Enjoy with butter, honey, peanut butter and a drizzle of maple syrup, a sprinkling of salt, with a sunny side up egg on top or any other way you enjoy sourdough bread.
My two-year-old son was begging for a slice of bread as soon as it came out of the oven this morning. Don’t be intimidated of making sourdough bread. Like everything else, there is a learning curve, but I promise, once you start to understand it, sourdough bread making is really very simple.
A Few Tips:
1: The quality of your flour matters. I’ve used everything from generic target brand flour to King Arthur and let me tell you I’ve had the best results with a higher quality flour. Currently, I am using the Kirkland all-purpose flour in the green bag and it’s working really well.
2: Shape your loaves of bread on a surface that is not too slick. I like to use my large wooden cutting board because I find that having a bit of grip on the dough really helps me to get a tight loaf of bread.
3: If you’re going to start making sourdough bread, I recommend getting an all-cast-iron Dutch oven. I used the porcelain Dutch ovens before, and I had two of them crack because of the cold water I put in while the loaf is baking.
It's the New Year; this is the perfect time to start your sourdough bread journey! Let's pop some champagne and give a toast to the New Year! May you all find joy, peace and a lot of adventure in the year 2025! If you want to stay in the loop and never miss another blog post, subscribe to my blog here.
Commentaires