A basic recipe that will have you coming back to bake more......and more!
Sourdough Bread - basic recipe
Baker's percentages:
(starter weight: dough weight : water weight)
(0.2: 1: 0.7)
Ingredients:
320 White Bread Flour
80 g Whole Wheat bread flour
80g Sourdough Starter
280g Water
8g salt (or more or less as required) (2.1%)
Method:
1. Autolyse the bread flours by mixing them with water roughly and leave for 2 hours or more in a warm place about 25 Deg C, e.g. in the oven with the light on during winter.
Tip:Check for window pane in the dough when dough is ready.
2. Add in starter when it’s at its peak (i.e. risen more than double and do the *float test) and mix well into the dough by hand for 5 mins. Check by stretching dough that there is no tearing. Rest for 30 mins.
3. Add in the salt and if the dough is not so extensible, add a little water. Round off the dough in the bowl and rest 30 mins.
Stretch & Fold’s
4. Perform 3-4 sets of Stretch and fold (S&F) at intervals of 30-45 mins during the bulk fermentation of between 3-5 hours.
(Tip: Wet your hands to prevent sticking each time before doing S&F). See video in Instagram.
Coil Folds
5. Do 3-4 sets of coil fold (CF) after your S&F’s at intervals of 30-45 mins during the bulk fermentation. If dough is still weak and spreading, do an additional CF. See video in Instagram.
(Tip: Wet your hands & scraper to prevent sticking each time before doing CF.)
5. Rest for at least 6 hours till dough becomes billowy and jiggly, it’ll be ready for shaping.[See the jiggly dance video on my Instagram Stories]
SHAPING
6. Pour the dough onto a floured surface. Wet your hands to prevent sticking. Do a folding action starting from East-West and roll South up tightly and pinch the seams on both sides of roll. Flip it over and round it off with your scraper to create tension.
7. Flour the dough top with some WBF and your banneton and lift the dough with your scraper and flip it top down into the banneton. Pinch the seams at top of dough to create tension and put some flour on top to prevent sticking. [You don’t always need a banneton; any kind of container will do.]
8. Cover with cloth and put in the fridge overnight for 12-16 hours. (this is called ‘Cold Retard’ – no rise in dough is expected; it develops the flavour overnight)
9. After the cold retard, by now, the dough would have risen and looks billowy.
Tip: Do the ‘Poke’ test on your dough and if it springs back slowly, it is ready to be scored and baked! [Check out my Instagram Story]
10. ‘Bench rest’ - leave the dough outside on the counter for 20 mins.
11. ‘Scoring’ - Put a piece of greaseproof paper on top of dough and turn it upside down. Get your knive or lame ready to score. [You don’t always need to get a lame.]
12. Scoring helps the loaf to release the trapped air as it expands. Slash the dough in a curve line across the middle from top to bottom.
13. Place in Dutch Oven or tray which has been preheated.
10. Bake in 250C covered for 20 mins and uncovered for 20 mins at 230C. [You don’t always need a Dutch Oven; just use an oven tray and cover with foil or another tray.]
11. After baking, you should get a great crust with soft inside. Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing into the bread to prevent a gummy inside. Patience! The bread is still cooking inside when freshly baked.
12. After slicing, enjoy them fresh or freeze them in freezer bags as necessary and enjoy as toasts on another day. ENJOY!
*Float test – drop a little ball of starter into a jar of water and if it floats, it’s ready to use. However, having said so, many bakers said they’d still use the starter anyway as long as they’re active and have risen more than double within the 3-4 hours.
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NOTE:
1. There are alternative ways to bake bread definitely and it's a case of 'to each his own'. However this is the usual technique in use by many bakers which perhaps you may already know. I am using another laissez-faire or free-n-easy technique which would be provided in another post and does not encompass many such steps like Stretch & Fold's and/or there are no constraint of time intervals to do them. Great for very busy or lazy bakers! At the end of the day, whichever technique you choose to use, you will still get a great tasty loaf, never mind the outer appearance (LOL); that's the wonders of Sourdough bread baking!
[Tip: For beginners, try a lower hydration rate of 65% instead of 70% as most start with the basic White Bread Flour from supermarkets which contains lower protein levels and hence affects the absorbing rate]
2. Now there are many variables that would affect your dough e.g. starter quality, type of flour, hydration, temperature during bulk fermentation etc. (These will be in another post/s later.) So if at first, you find that the dough is weak and spreading, don't despair. You need to experience and learn about dough handling,dough structure etc. etc.; it's all part of the learning journey. At the end of the day, sourdough bread baking is so forgiving....you'll still get a super delicious loaf come what may. :)
3. For beginners, it may be difficult to grasp the terminology at first e.g. Stretch & Fold's, Coil Fold's etc. A video for beginners showing each of the steps are posted on my Instagram account.
