Sourdough
Sourdough is one of my favourite things to bake. There’s very little that can beat freshly baked homemade bread!
Ingredients:
275g water
~6g honey/maple syrup/barley malt syrup
~100g active sourdough starter
420g bread flour (I often do a mix of flour blends!)
13g salt
Method:
Whisk the water, honey and starter together until combined. Tip in the flour and mix by hand until roughly combined. Tip out onto a clean work surface and sretch and fold the dough for at least 5mins until it becomes smooth. Form into a smooth ball and place back in the bowl, cover with a showercap/linen bowl cover/damp cloth and leave in a warm place to autolyse for around 1hr 15mins.
Then sprinkle the salt and ~2tsp water over the dough and pull the dough up and over four times around the circumference of the bowl (stretch and fold) to incorporate the salt. Tip out onto a clean work surface and sretch and fold the dough until all the salt is incorporated and there are no ‘slimy bits’. Place back in the bowl, cover and leave to rest for ~30mins.
Perform another 4 sets of stretch and folds at ~30min intervals. Then shape (by whatever method you prefer). Place in a lined banneton and rest at room temperature for 2-3hrs before placing in the fridge overnight.
The next morning:
The next day, preheat the oven to 250C (or max temp) for ~30mins with your Dutch oven (this is mine) in the oven. If you’re planning an intricate scoring pattern, it can help to pop the dough - still in the banneton - into the freezer while your oven heats up.
Once the oven has preheated, turn the dough out onto a silicone bread mat (I use this one) or just sheet of baking paper.
Score however you like. If you don’t have bread lame you can use a very sharp knife.
This is my favourite lame - my dad made it for me.
I have a few others that I use as well: one from @wiremonkeyshop and two beautiful handmade ones gifted to me from @grenyadors.carlosqueralt
Place into the dutch oven using the mat/baking paper to lift it and bake for 25mins with the lid on and ~12-15mins with the lid off and the temperature reduced by 20C.
*If you don’t own a Dutch oven or large pot you can use a standard baking tray or pizza stone. The most important thing that a Dutch oven gives you is steam. The steam means that the outer layer of your bread - what becomes the crispy crust - stays flexible, allowing the bread to expand nicely. To try and mimic this if you’re baking on a pizza stone or baking tray, you can preheat a smaller tray in the oven and when you are just about to put your scored dough in the oven, through a handful of ice cubes into the heated tray and put it in the bottom of the oven under your bread. If you use this method, just be careful to keep the oven closed until the first 25mins are over to keep the steam in. If you’re worried about the bread getting too dark, you can place a sheet of tinfoil just over the top to reflect some of the heat.
You can have a lot of fun with loaf shapes and scoring. Even the simplest sourdough will always look gorgeous, but this is a great opportunity to let your creativity shine!
*A note on slicing: as hard as it may be to resist the temptation, it’s quite important that you left the loaf cool for at least 30mins before slicing to give the crumb structure a chance to set fully. Equally important is a good, sharp bread knife! I have this one courtesy of my lovely husband, and it is amazing!
