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There are only four ingredients in Classic Sourdough Bread, so this is all about the process. How does it work? More importantly, how do you make it work into your schedule?
Contents
What's So Special?
Rose Levy Beranbaum, the author of The Bread Bible, calls sourdough “the final frontier, the Zen of bread making.” The King Arthur Baking School says that sourdough “conjures up an almost mythical quest … and it can become a lifelong journey.”
How is Sourdough Different?
Sourdough baking does not use commercial yeast; it uses a starter made from flour and water that is aged to activate the naturally occurring yeast in the air. Starters can last indefinitely, be dormant, and be reactivated over time through the “feeding” process.
Read more about the Benefits of Sourdough at WebMD.
What is the Feeding Process?
Before baking, the starter is divided, and half is discarded or saved for another use, while the other half is used to activate for baking. To feed the starter, you add equal parts by weight of the old starter, flour, and water. The amount you use depends on how much baking you are planning.
When you first start, you are feeding your starter once or twice a day and end up with a lot of discard. So, it’s good to have recipes to use the excess.
Ingredients and Substitutions
There are only four ingredients in Classic Sourdough Bread: the starter, bread flour, water, and salt. So, it is all about the ratios and the processes.
70% Hydration Ratio
This is the traditional bread math for a loaf of sourdough
- 500 grams of bread flour, like King Arthur, for artisan loaves with add-in flavors; for artisan loaves with add-in flavors, I use 450 grams of bread flour and 50 grams of whole wheat flour.
- 350 grams of filtered water, warm, not hot
- 100 grams of active starter
- 10 grams of salt, table salt, nothing fancy
Sourdough Baking Day!
The first thing you do is place the Dutch Oven into the oven and preheat to 450° for 45 minutes.
At the end of the preheating time, take a piece of parchment paper and crinkle it up to make it easier to shape around the loaf, and it will reduce the number of creases.
Scoring the Loaf
Take the loaf out of the fridge at the last possible minute, as it will be easier to score when it is cold. Turn it out onto the parchment paper. Then take a razor blade and slice right down the center; the loaf will begin to open. Then take the razor and undercut the opening so the crust will curl up on itself. You can get very fancy with the scoring, if you choose. This is a traditional, simple scoring technique.
Baking
To get the crunchy crust, you bake the loaf in a Dutch oven, covered, for 20 minutes, allowing steam to cook the loaf. Then you take off the lid and cook for another 20 minutes to brown the loaf. The internal temperature should be about 205°.
Serving and Cutting Classic Sourdough Bread
Sourdough loaves are much easier to cut if you wait for them to cool first, but what fun is that? There is nothing better than bread, fresh from the oven, topped with butter.
To make cutting a little easier, cut the loaf down the middle, place the inside on the cutting board, then cut the slices. It helps the bread keep its shape.
Classic Sourdough Bread
There are only four ingredients in Classic Sourdough Bread, so this is all about the process. How does it work? How do you work it into your schedule?
Ingredients
500 grams of bread flour, like King Arthur
350 grams of filtered water, warm, not hot
100 grams of active starter – how to make a Sourdough Starter
10 grams of salt, table salt, nothing fancy
parchment paper
Instructions
Day 1 – Feed the Starters, 10 minutes
Remove the starter from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature. Before you go to bed, feed the starter equal parts flour and water, in a 1:1:1 ratio. I use filtered water and a 50/50 ratio of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. What if you forget this step? You can wake up very early in the morning, feed the starters, and put them in the oven with a cup of boiling water. Leave the oven light off because it can make the oven too hot. This will accelerate the process. Learn all about Caring for Your Starter
Day 2 – Lots of Steps, but less than 1 hour of active time
Form the Dough, 1 hour 15 min, 15 min active time
- Hydrate the Flour. Mix the flour and water in the stand mixer with the paddle attachment until thoroughly combined, then cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Form the dough. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Then add the starter and the salt and mix until the dough comes together. Do not overmix. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch and Folds, 2 hours, 15 min active time
The gluttons in the dough is developed through this process. It replaces kneading. Dampen your hands with warm water, grab the dough from the side, and pull it up and over itself. Turn the bowl 90° and repeat the process four times. Imagine a compass, and you are pulling from all four directions. This is one round. Cover and rest for 30 minutes. Here is a video for reference.
How do you know when the dough is ready for the first rise? It will be a mass, and you may see bubbles forming.
First Rise, 4-8 hours, no active time
Turn the dough out into the proofing container and cover with plastic wrap. Changing the container is optional, but using a straight-sided bowl with measurements makes it easier to gauge progress. You are going to leave the dough to rise for 4-8 hours, depending on the environment. You want a warm place, but the oven light gets too hot if you leave the dough in the oven for hours, so a laundry room or a sunny window.
When is it done? The dough will have almost doubled in size and will have bubbles – don’t pop them!
Shaping, 30 minutes, 15 min active time
- Form a Round. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a dough scraper, tuck the dough under and turn 90°, repeating until the top of the dough is rounded and taut. Leave the round on the board uncovered for 15 minutes until a skin forms on the top.
- Shape the Loaf. Flip the round upside down so that the skin side is down, and pull it into a rectangle. Then fold the bottom third up and the top third down, like an envelope. Now roll from one of the short ends, not tightly, but firmly, and create a log shape. Line a banneton basket or bowl with a lightly floured cotton cloth, then place the loaf in the basket, seam side up. Pinch the seam closed.
Second Rise, 8-24 hours, no active time
Cover the loaf in the basket and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. This is very forgiving and makes the recipe easy to adjust to your timing.
Day 3 – Baking Day, 1.5 hours, 10 minutes of active time
- Preheat the Oven. Put the Dutch oven or Bread Oven in the oven at 450° to preheat for 45 minutes
- Prepare the Parchment. When the oven is ready, take a piece of parchment paper and crumple it up like yesterday’s newspaper, then unfold and smooth it out. This makes the paper more pliable and leaves fewer creases.
- Score the Loaf. Take the loaf out of the fridge and turn it out onto the parchment paper for scoring. Make a decisive slice down the center with a razor blade, then undercut the slice on both sides so that the edges will curl open and form an “ear”. You can get creative with the scoring if you so choose. This is just the traditional cut.
- Bake. Put the loaf on the parchment into the oven and cook for 20 minutes with the cover on, then another 20 minutes with the cover off.
- Cool and Slice. Or if you can’t wait, eat it warm from the oven with salted butter.
Trial and Error
I have been reading books and trying different processes. Not all of the tests have gone well, but we learn more from the failures, do we not?
What if you don’t ‘Stretch and Fold’?
I found a baker who posted a recipe with a traditional rise, no stretching and folding. It sounded easier, so I tried it, making two loaves, one with and one without. This is the one without stretch and folding. It didn’t form the crunchy crust, and the scoring didn’t penetrate to create the split. It tasted okay, but the loaf looked a little gray.
