For about 4 years I have been maintaining a sourdough starter. I have kept the starter in a jar in the fridge. Every week or two I make something with the starter using up about a third or half of the starter. I replenish the starter by adding equal parts flour and water leaving out the starter for a few hours to get bubbly. When the starter looks good and I am not going to use I move it to the fridge. Bread is a common use of the starter but I also make pretzels, rolls, biscuits, even crackers with the sourdough.
For the bread the night before making I take about 100g of the starter mixing with 80g flour, 100g water cover with plastic wrap in a bowl. I think the initial dough is called poolish. The next morning I mix the remaining ingredients and knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes.
The remaining ingredients are instant yeast, salt, wheat flour, white flour and water. I like to add some instant yeast even though the sourdough has natural yeast. Probably would take much longer to rise without the instant yeast. In a bowl I add the wheat, white flour, salt, yeast, and water in a bowl. I slowly add the water and mix with a wooden spoon to look for a texture good for kneading as in making sure the dough is not too sticky but still forms a ball. I carefully flour my hands and the counter. As I knead I keep adding flour so the dough does not get too sticky. After about 10 minutes the dough should feel more elastic.
I put a small amount of canola oil and wipe the oil around the bowl so help the dough from sticking to the sides as it rises. I cover the bowl with plastic wrap and when it doubles or triples in size I punch down the dough and knead for a few seconds then put on a baking sheet. The dough tends to spread out instead of rising up. I have tried to use a spring form to make the dough rise up. I hope to get a proofing basket to help give the bread a better shape.
After 1-2 hours when the dough rises on the sheet I preheat the oven to 425. You can make some slits in the dough carefully so when the bread cooks cracks do not form as the bread rises and hardens. After 15 minutes I lower the temperature to 400 and remove the springform if used. It takes about 30 minutes longer for the bread to bake. You can check the temperature to be about 200 degrees C when ready. The bread should also sound hollow when you tap it.
Should let the bread cool for about 30 minutes before cutting. I usually keep the sliced end of the bread on a cutting board and cover with a towl to help keep the bread fresh. The bread is best 1 or 2 days then starts to get stale.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
- 400g all purpose flour
- 80g wheat flour (or can use all purpose)
- 350g water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp oil for oiling bowl
Steps
Night before make poolish (starter)
- in bowl
- mix 100g sourdough starter from fridge
- mix 80g all purpose flour
- mix 100g water
- stir with wooden spoon until mixed
- cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight on counter
Knead dough
- add 80g wheat flour to bowl
- add 300g all purpose flour
- add 1 tsp salt
- add 1 tsp instant yeast
- add 200g water to bowl
- stir with wooden spoon
- add more water slowly while mixing until dough is ready for kneading
- put handful flour on counter or cutting board
- flour your hands
- knead dough for 10m keep adding flour to keep dough from being sticky
- add oil to bowl, add dough, cover with plastic wrap
First rise
- leave bowl with dough in warm place
- watch for double to triple in size about 1-2 hours
Second rise
- prepare baking sheet
- can use spring form
- knead dough for a few seconds
- place dough on baking sheet
- cover with wrap, can oil wrap to avoid sticking
Baking
- preheat oven to 425 when dough has almost risen
- after 1-2 hours bread should rise to fill spring form or double to triple on baking sheet
- add scores to bread with a sharp knife
- bake for 15m
- reduce temp to 400, remove spring form in used
- let bread bake for 30-35 additional minutes until starts to darken
- bread inside temp should read 200 deg C
- when tapping bread should sound hollow
- remove bread and let rest 20-30m or longer before slicing
