Sourdough Bread
Sourdough, you pesky thing. For nearly a year, I’ve played around with different sourdough recipes, fours, bulk ferment times, retard times, temperatures, etc — some have turned out okay, others terribly not so. I promise, I’ve exhausted so many recipes and techniques. I’ve tried every recipe on the first 4 pages of Google for “Sourdough Bread,” tested FullProof Baking’s lamination method, ThatIMade’s freeform, King Arthur’s envelope folds vs. the 360º cinching method, dutch oven vs. baking stone and mist, whole wheat vs. rye vs. spelt vs. einkorn flour ratios… the list goes on. However, this recipe, generously adapted from Baking with Babish and Joshua Weissman has succeeded the most times for me since I tried it and began adapting it. Among the changes, I increased the proportions of levain used, the autolyzation times, and salt content.
With so many steps that can go awry, the excitement lies most in scoring the bread. The dough is truly a blank canvas with many tricks for those who learn and adapt: from blossoming wheat sheaves to a pronounced ear, each loaf invites a fresh design to be drawn. Recently, I’ve gotten very into leaves: skinny tendrils that are almost zebra-like and fat, elephant-ear leaves.
This sourdough base also serves as a versatile foundation for any add-ins: dried cranberries and walnuts (shown below), sesame and poppy seeds, or sun-dried tomatoes. For additional ingredients, incorporate them into the dough during the 4th set of coil and folds.
Sourdough’s capability for customization extends beyond add-ins. Fruits, fresh and freeze-dried into powder, and spices lend natural dye. Ears and scoring aside, loosely tying strings around loaves can yield surprising loaves. In spirit of fall and Halloween, I made a pumpkin loaf, colored with 1.5% tumeric and bound with four strings.
Now, for logistical stuff: use a shower cap! I know it sounds weird and most recipes call for plastic wrap, but, through practice, I’ve found the natural doming of a shower cap prevents the dough from sticking to the plastic during bulk fermentation. So, ditch your plastic wrap for a clean cap, and you won’t have dough tearing each step of the way.
Ingredients:
Levain:
35g whole wheat flour
35g bread flour
35g mature stater
70g filtered water (90º F)
Dough:
405g bread flour
45g whole wheat flour
340g filtered water (90º F)
10g fine sea salt
Additional:
shower cap (preferably clear so you can see the dough), or plastic wrap
Steps:
Thoroughly mix all levain ingredients together in clean bowl. Cover and let sit in warm area (75-80º F) for around 5-8 hours. Depending on how strong your starter is, you may want to shorten or extend the time until you see air pockets and bubbles on top and throughout the levain.
About an hour before your levain is done, mix the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and 290g of water until a dough forms and no pockets of dry flour are leftover. Cover with shower cap and autolyze dough (aka let dough sit) next to your levain for two hours.
Spread 87g of your levain onto the dough (there will be some leftover levain — tips on how to use this up in the Additional Information section below). Dipping your fingers into leftover water, press the levain into the dough. Pull one side of the dough up and fold into the center, making quarter turns with each stretch and fold. Continue until levain is fully incorporated. Cover bowl with shower cap and rest for 25 minutes.
Sprinkle the sea salt and remaining water across the surface of the dough. Slap and fold for around 4 minutes or until the dough is smooth and salt is fully incorporated. Cover bowl with shower cap and let rest for 15 minutes.
Perform six sets of coil and folds, with the first three sets spaced out 15 minutes apart and the last three 30 minutes apart. Make sure to cover bowl with shower cap and let rest in the warm area between each set.
Let dough bulk ferment for 2-3 hours at warm room temperature.
Lightly flour a work surface and dump out dough. Preshape into a boule (I like the envelope method), using a bench scraper to push at the bottoms of the boule and tightening into a taut ball.
Flour a round banneton with rice flour and place boule into it. Seal off the boule by gently folding up the edge of one side and tightly pinching it with the opposite edges together in the center. This last sealing process will further tighten the boule, helping create tension in the dough and letting it rise further in the oven. Dust the top with rice flour again.
Chill in the fridge for 12-14 hours.
Preheat oven to 500ºF for regular ovens, 475ºF for countertop ovens and place dutch oven into oven.
Criss-cross two long pieces of parchment paper. Dust the center with semolina flour or corn meal. Flip the dough onto the dusted parchment. Dust top of loaf with all purpose flour. Using a bed lame, make one long slit at a 45º angle. Alternatively, look up scoring patterns.
Using oven mitts, pull out your dutch oven. Grabbing the ends of your bottom parchment, place dough into dutch oven and place the lid over the dutch oven. Bake the dough for 25 minutes for a harder crust, 15 minutes for a thinner crust.
Take off lid and lower temperature down to 430ºF. Bake for an additional 15 minutes until the loaf is a golden or deep brown.
Remove and cool on a wire wrack for at least 1.5 hrs until room temperature.
Sample Baking Schedule:
Day 1
8:00am start levain
3:00pm autolyze dough
5:00pm mix levain and dough
5:30pm add salt
5:45pm coil/fold set 1
6:00pm coil/fold set 2
6:15pm coil/fold set 3
6:45pm coil/fold set 4
7:15pm coil/fold set 5
7:45pm coil/fold set 6
10:00pm preshape and fridge
Day 2
11:00am bake
Additional Notes:
For a more open, wider crumb, autolyze the dough for 5-6 hours instead of 2.
If you don’t have a dutch oven, I have used a deep metal pot and a baking tray (as a lid) as an apt replacement.
With the leftover levain, I make discard crackers (seen below). Simply dilute the levain with 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 tsp water until thin and runny. Throw in any spices or add-ins you desire: I love harissa, smoked paprika, and black and white sesame.
