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Sourdough Bread

Author: Zoë François

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 50 g active sourdough starter* see notes
  • 450 g King Arthur Bread Flour** see notes
  • 375 g filtered water see notes
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Mixing

  • In a large bowl, using a dough whisk or your hand, mix together all of the ingredients until just uniformly mixed. The dough will be scraggly and not smooth, no need to knead.
  • Cover the bowl with a wet towel and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Folding

  • Using a plastic dough scraper, fold the dough by running the scraper down the side of the bowl, lifting the side of the dough and folding it into the center. Repeat this several times rotating the bowl until you end up where you began.
  • Cover the bowl with the wet towel and allow to rest at room temperature for another 30 minutes. Repeat this process of folding the dough and resting two more times.
  • After the third fold, cover the bowl with the wet towel and allow the dough to rest and rise for 8 to 12 hours or until the dough is quite puffy and nearly doubled in size.
    (Pro tip) Check the towel frequently to make sure it is still damp. Covering the bowl and towel with a plastic cutting board will help keep the towel from drying out.

Gluten Cloak

  • Lightly flour your work surface. Use the plastic bowl scraper to ease the dough out of the bowl onto the prepared surface. Dust your hands with flour to prevent them from sticking to the dough and fold the corners of the dough into the center, pinching the ends together to form a ball. Scrape the flour away from the surface and use the side of your hand to pull a tight skin on the dough and create a ball shape.
    (Pro tip) The dough should stick to the surface enough to pull gently at the surface of the dough but not so much that it can’t move, and pulls the ball out of shape. Use enough flour on your hands to prevent it from sticking.

Shaping with Basket

  • Once the dough is in a smooth ball let it sit while you prepare the proofing basket.
    (Pro tip) giving the dough several minutes to dry out while you prepare the basket will help it develop a skin and prevent it from sticking to the basket. It can sit for up to 20 minutes.
  • Use a tea ball or fine mesh sieve to generously dust an 8-inch proofing basket (aka, banneton or brotform).
    (Pro tip) the basket needs to be well covered with no bald spots or the wet dough will stick to the basket and distort the shape of your loaf.
  • Lift the dough from the surface and turn it upside down in your hands. Pinch together the bottom and place it smooth side down in the basket. The pinched side will be facing up. Place the basket with dough inside a clean 3 gallon-sized plastic bag (I use an unused compost bag or small kitchen garbage bag). Blow some air into the bag so it won’t tough the surface of the dough while it is rising. Clip it shut and allow the loaf to sit on the counter at room temperature for about 2 hours.
  • After the 2 hours, place the bagged basket in the refrigerator to rest for 8 to 12 hours.
    (Pro tip) the slow, chilled rise the dough gets in the refrigerator will help the loaf develop more flavor. Allowing the dough to set at room temperature would go faster but your finished bread will have less flavor, so don’t rush it.
  • Preheat oven to 475°F: Having a hot oven is key to the rise of the bread. Be sure to preheat the oven and baking vessel for at least 30+ minutes before you are baking in. See Baking vessels to decide which is best for you.

Scoring

  • Remove the dough from the bag. Place a sheet of parchment paper (it needs to be large enough to fit the loaf and have extra space to act as a sling getting it into the baking vessel) onto the surface of the dough and invert the basket. Place the parchment onto the counter and ease the basket away from the dough.
  • If the dough is sticking in places very gently reach under the basket and ease the dough away with your fingers.
  • Once the dough is released, use a lame or straight razor to score (or slash) the dough. You can do a simple side to side cut or create an art piece. The cuts should be about ½-inch deep.
    (Pro tip) if you don’t cut the dough at all or not deep enough it will crack open in any way it can. The scoring is pretty but also helps the dough rise by giving the dough somewhere to go.

Baking

  • Immediately place the scored loaf in the vessel* you are baking in, put on the lid and bake for 25 minutes.
    (Pro tip) baking with the lid on traps the steam coming from the moisture in the dough. This steam helps the loaf to rise and gives the bread a shiny crust.
  • After the 25 minutes remove the lid and allow the bread to continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes to get a dark caramel, brown color. The crust may even have some deep brown, almost black tips to it.

Cooling

  • Remove the loaf from the vessel, peel away the parchment paper and place on a cooling rack. Allow the bread to cool to room temperature, about an hour.
    (Pro tip) it is hard to wait for the loaf to cool completely but this is part of the baking process, and your bread will be gummy and seem under baked if you cut it while it is still warm.

Slicing

  • Use a very sharp serrated bread knife to cut the loaf.

Storing

  • After you cut into the loaf, store it cut side down on the cutting board. You want to prevent the end from drying out. Cover the loaf with a clean, dry kitchen towel.
    (Pro tip) DO NOT COVER A CRUSTY LOAF IN PLASTIC! Plastic will trap steam and make the crust soggy. The only time to use plastic is if you are freezing the loaf.

Video

Notes

*Sourdough starter

  • You will need an active starter. If your starter doesn't float when you drop a spoonful in water (see my sourdough YouTube videos) then you will need to feed it and get it activated before you start to mix your bread.
  • If you don't have a starter at all, that's where you need to begin, and can follow my sourdough starter recipe. 

**Flour Substitutions

  • Other Bread Flour Brands: If you don’t have King Arthur Bread flour, you can use any brand of bread flour that has a similar protein count of 12.7-13%. You can often go to the website of the brand and find out the % of protein. The reason this matters is that the amount of protein in the flour will determine how much water it absorbs. If you use a flour that is lower in protein, it will take less water than the recipe suggests. More water for a higher protein count. If you are new to baking sourdough, then I suggest you stick with an equivalent bread flour. Lots of experimenting will follow as you get more and more comfortable with this process.
  • All-purpose flour: You can also use 450g all-purpose flour + 1 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten powder (VWG), which is powdered wheat protein that creates gluten when added to water. You need to whisk it well into your all-purpose flour so that it creates a strong dough but doesn’t turn into dumplings. This is a common product used in professional bakeries and is readily available in many co-ops and online. People baking at high altitude who need extra strength in the dough can add a teaspoon to their dough, just be sure to also add another Tbsp. or 2 of water.
  • Warning about other flours: For this starter loaf I suggest you stick with the bread flour or the white all-purpose + VWG and not venture into whole wheat loaves. Whole wheat will produce a denser loaf. The same is true for adding rye or other whole grain flours. Those are flours to be experimented with once you have the basic techniques down.
  • Gluten-Free Flours: I have never baked a sourdough loaf with gluten-free flour but know that it can be done. I trust Cannelle et Vanilla BAKES SIMPLE for a sourdough recipe. 

Water Amounts

  • The amount of water will vary depending on the flour you use (including the brand). If your dough feels exceedingly wet and sticky so that you are struggling to form it into a ball, then reduce the water by 25 to 50g in your next loaf. The wet dough produces a wonderful loaf of bread but if it is too frustrating to work with, reduce the water until you're more comfortable working with a slack dough. This should be fun and not frustrating.
  • I use filtered water because some tap water has chemicals added to it and they can prohibit yeast growth.