My First Sourdough!!

My first Sourdough Loaf

I've been making my own Artisan Bread for about a year now, but this is my first loaf of Sourdough… isn't she pretty??

I had found a Sourdough Starter recipe on Pinterest that didn't use any pre-prepared yeast, but rather relied on more natural processes to get yeast started, I like that.  You can find the recipe for that starter here.  I have since varied the starter a bit, and occasionally add a bit of local honey to spunk it up... once you get started you can try your own variations.  That said, I suggest you just start off with a basic starter.

I mentioned I’ve been making Artisan Bread for a while, I got started using Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio, but have since diverged into my own way of doing things (I can never just leave things alone).  If you’re new to bread making I suggest this book as a starting point, he gives excellent information and advice.

My Sourdough Bread:

In the bowl of a stand mixer (instructions based on my Kitchenaid model) place:

  1 cup of Sourdough Starter

  16 oz (by weight) of Bread Flour

  8 oz (by measure) of warm water

Put the stirring paddle attachment on the mixer and briefly mix the ingredients together on the lowest setting (mine says “Stir”), just long enough to blend (at most a minute).

Remove the stirring paddle, cover the bowl with a towel, and let sit 1/2 hour.

Put the dough hook attachment on the mixer, then add to the bowl:

  2 tsp salt

Knead for 3 minutes on a low setting (I use “2”).

Turn the dough into a bowl sprayed with Olive Oil (see my Toys tab for information about the Misto oil sprayer), spray the dough lightly with Olive Oil, cover with a towel and allow to rest for about 2 hours in a warm (about 72 degrees F) location.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board, gently press & fold it a bit, then form it into a loaf, once formed place the dough on parchment paper (for easier transfer later), cover with a towel and allow to rest for about 2 hours more in a warm location.

At this point I decided I wanted to give my bread a chance to develop a bit more, so I covered it with plastic wrap & refrigerated overnight, the next morning I took it out and set it in a warm location for about 2 hours.

About 45 minutes before baking I placed a cooking stone in my oven in the center rack, and a cast iron pan on the rack below the stone.  Set the oven to 425 F and let everything heat up nicely.

Baking: move the loaf onto the stone (this is where the parchment paper comes in real handy) by simply sliding the loaf with its parchment paper onto the stone.  Put 1 cup of water into the cast iron pan (adds steam to the oven) and close the oven.  Bake for 10 minutes then lower the temp (leave the door closed) to 375 F, bake for an additional 25 minutes.

This yields a large heavy, dense loaf of bread.

Update on 4/2/12:  I tried this again last week, allowing the dough to develop overnight again… but this time after allowing the dough to come up to room temperature it needed to be re-formed… I re-formed (gently) & let the loaf rest for another hour.  Then I cooked the loaf at 375 for the entire time, extending the total time to 40 minutes (original was 35)… this resulted in a loaf that had a much lighter texture.


Update on 4/10/12: I did a 1/2 loaf this time, allowing the dough to have its 2nd rise & to develop overnight while in a stoneware loaf pan.  After allowing the loaf to come back up to room temperature (I gave it 3 hours) I baked it for 40 minutes in at 375 - again a nice texture.  I could probably have done the full recipe this way… though I'm guessing I'd have had to extend the time a bit.


Update on 4/21/12:  A full loaf in a stoneware loaf pan worked well… isn't she pretty (inside & out)??