Basic Sourdough Bread

This is the rough recipe I’ve been using since I first started making sourdough after watching Paul Ryan’s Sourdough Masterclass youtube video, so it’s probably quite similar to what he says. If you haven’t watched it yet, and are just getting into bread, it is a great place to start and I highly recommend! The only real big alteration I’ve made is that I’ve begun to let the flour and water autolyse first. To do so, I just mix the flour and salt and water together and then let it sit for an hour before I add the starter/knead. I used to skip that step because my bread was coming out delightful without it and I didn’t want to add another step of waiting unnecessarily. However, I’ve found that the dough comes together much easier and the kneading process goes by a lot quicker.

So, here goes. I’m starting at the VERY beginning of the process because timing was a big learning curve for me.

Starter has more than doubled in size, ready to use! (Rubber band marks initial level)

Step 1: Feed your starter. I usually store my starter in the fridge, since I have a full time job and cannot bake all day every day. I usually take my starter out of the fridge and try to let it warm to room temperature for 30 min-1 hour before feeding it. Sometimes I don’t have that kind of time, and it still works perfectly well but I do feel like it needs to warm up before it can totally start eating at full capacity. When I feed it, I use my baker’s scale. I first usually have to discard some of my starter, although not always. I like to have about an inch or two of starter in the jar before feeding it….I’ve had a couple of overflow disasters when it rises too much if I start with much more starter in the jar. After discarding, I feed it about 75 grams flour and about 80 grams of water. Theoretically, it should be equal, but I’ve found that my starter behaves better with a touch more water than flour. Every starter is different though, so take some time to figure out what your’s likes. If you don’t have a scale, or don’t want to get it out for feeding time, the general rule of 1:1:1 of starter:flour:water in volume works pretty good. Just be sure you have enough room in the container for it to double or triple in size. Then, you wait. My starter typically takes 4-5 hours to reach peak activity, depending on the room temperature that day or if its in the sun, near a draft, etc. These are living communities and they have preferences! You’ll be able to tell its at peak activity when it has doubles (or tripled, depending on how alive its feeling that day) and the bubbles are booming. After peak activity, it should start to droop a little, the the surface will become a little concave rather than convex. It is perfectly okay to use your starter a little bit past peak activity, it might actually help make your bread a little extra sour!

Step 2: Autolyse your dough! And by that I mean mix up flour, water, and salt. As a typical rule, I will do about 500 grams of flour, 10 grams of salt (mix that together before adding water), and 350 grams of water. This makes the bread 70% hydration (you’ll see a lot of bread blogs/recipes referring to percentages, and this is talking about the ratio of water to flour in your bread.) Higher hydration makes a lighter bread but can more difficult to work with/get the dough the right consistency, so you’ll want to figure out a comfortable percentage for yourself. I leave this in a bowl with a towel on top for 30 min to an hour.

Smooth and shiny surface! One indicator that bread may be done kneading…

Step 3: Make the dough! This is when you add your starter and knead that baby into a nice boule (boule meaning a round bouncy ball of dough…you’ll understand when you see it). To the mix of flour and water, I add any special ingredients that I want for this loaf. I used to try to stick to 100 grams of goodies, but lately have just been adding however much I want to eat later and it seems to work out. Herbs, garlic, olives, nuts, seeds, or whatever your heart desires. Or nothing, you can’t go wrong with a classic sourdough. Then I add anywhere between 100-150 grams of starter. I use a range simply because it can be hard to be exact, and sometimes I have more or less starter to work with. Typically though, I’ll add about 130 grams. Using my hands, I mix it all up while still in the bowl until it feels nice and combined. Then I plop it onto the counter to knead. There is no specific amount of time you need to knead bread, its need varies based on the dough and how strong you are feeling that day. Knowing myself, I try to knead for 15-20 minutes. This is the part where you need to stick with it. It can be tempting to feel like its done after 5 minutes. It’s not. You’ll be able to feel how the dough transforms beneath your fingers, becoming soft and bouncy but holding together. Your work surface may start out messy, but as your dough comes together, it should pull dough off of the counter and off of your hands, becoming one cohesive mass. My technique of kneading includes pushing the heel of my hand into the dough and stretching it away from me, then grabbing the dough and pulling it back in. Rotate the ball of dough, and continue. I also try to keep bringing it back into the form of a ball, to encourage its shape. Eventually, the surface of the dough will feel smooth and if you grab it by its edges, it should stretch apart, letting light through but not ripping. That is called the windowpane test, and helps indicate that your bread is done being kneaded. At this point, plop the dough in a bowl and cover it with a towel. It is now entering the bulk fermentation phase.

Step 4: Bulk ferment. This should take about 4 hours in room temperature, the dough covered by a towel. I once didn’t have a towel, and figured it would be no big deal, but the surface of the dough got crusty and dry, so I highly recommend always using a towel. I used to put the dough in a towel covered bowl, but have since discovered it is way easier to lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in there, and then drape a towel over it. When it' is done fermenting, the dough should be very springy. If you gently poke the surface, it should bounce back immediately. A semi-optional step during the bulk ferment is to perform a few “tuck and folds.” Basically, while it’s in the bowl, take hold of an edge, stretch it out, then fold it back into the middle. Do this on all sides, and then flip the dough over so the smooth stretched out side is on top. You can do this periodically throughout the bulk ferment, maybe every 30 min to an hour. I’ve also not done this step, and the bread turns out fine. The purpose is to help form the protein strands that make the gluten stick together and hold bubbles of air, but if you are overwhelmed by how intensive the bread making process is, this is a fine step to leave out.

Step 5: Shaping! This step shouldn’t take too long. You just want to give the dough one last encouraging push to rise in your desired shape. There are a few different ways to do this, depending on what shape you want your bread to bake in (round, oval, baguette-ish, etc.) The classic way, and best if you will let its second rise occur in a bowl, is a round boule. To do this, place the dough on your counter and gently pull it towards yourself. It should lightly tuck under itself and stretch its surface taught. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat. Continue until you have made a nice tight ball shape. Place a well-floured tea towel in a clean bowl to put your dough. Fold the towel over itself so that the dough is covered. I always feel like I’m tucking it in for the night in a cozy cradle.

Step 6: Second proof. Either 3-4 hours in room temp or overnight in the fridge. The chill air in the fridge slows down fermentation enough to let it sit there for 8-12 hours without rising too much. Once you take it out of the fridge, I’d recommend letting it warm to room temp for an hour or so before baking. You’ll know it’s ready when you poke it and it bounces back halfway quickly, and then slowly finishes the bounce. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees while you let it come to room temp, or if you let it prove at room temp, estimate about 30 min to an hour before you think it will be ready.

The whole loaf was covered in cornmeal before I baked it, so you can really see how it rose and expanded in the places where I cut/scored it!

Step 7: Score and bake! Wait what is scoring? Just a cut, don’t worry! Before you pop your bread into the oven, give it a nice deep cut on the top with a sharp knife or razor blade. This will give the bread some direction when it finishes its rise in the oven. You can really fancy with scoring designs to make your bread artsy as fuck, but just one deep good one will also get the job done. I heard somewhere too that back in the day when villages only had one oven that belonged to the baker, each family had a different score design so that when it came out of the communal oven they could tell which loaf belonged to who. Another tip for beautiful scoring is to lightly coat the top of the loaf with flour before scoring. This will make small shapes of white flour on your crust in between your cuts. Then, pop that bad boy in the oven and bake! Dutch ovens are ideal for baking bread, but definitely not necessary. If you are baking in a dutch oven, preheat the oven with your dutchy inside so that its nice and hot and ready for the bread. Bake the bread for the first 20 minutes with the lid on, then take the lid off and turn the heat down to 450. The dutch oven traps moisture released from the bread and keeps it soft for its first 20 minute rise, letting the bread stretch and grow. If you aren’t baking with a dutch oven, you just need to proved the moisture yourself. Place a dish of water in the oven as you preheat and leave it in there the whole time you bake it. If you have a spray bottle at hand, you can also spritz your loaf with water right before you pop it in and again after maybe 15 minutes. Your bread will be ready when the crust is golden brown all over, usually it takes a total of 45 minutes for me.

Pancakes!