I have been asked to share my sourdough bread recipe.
The Starter
I use a very simple starter. Put a couple spoons of flour in a glass mason
jar. Trickle water into the jar and stir
until the mixture resembles thick pancake batter. Add a spoonful of flour and a trickle of
water every morning and evening until it starts to bubble and smell yeasty. The longer you have the starter, the more
stable it will become. An even easier
method is to ask a friend to give you a small amount of their already-potent
starter.
I improvise a breathable cap by discarding the round lid insert and
screwing the lid ring over a paper towel (you could also use
cheesecloth for something more durable).
I put the starter on my counter where I will see it and remember to
feed it twice a day.
Because my starter only grows by 2 spoonfuls of flour a day,
it is very simple to maintain. When I
use my starter, I only use ½ at a time, which is easy to replenish over the
course of a couple days. If you have a
recipe that requires more starter, you can build it up by feeding it more for a
day or two before you bake. My starter
is pretty hardy, so if I miss 1-2 feedings it will be OK. But if I will be gone for a longer period of
time, I put it in the fridge, in which case it slows down and won’t need to eat
for about a week.
The Recipe
My starter makes an excellent hearty, free-form artisan
loaf. I do not have a good recipe for
soft, sandwich-type loaves or rolls yet.
That is still in research and development.
Equipment:
Large bowl (I use a stainless steel bowl)
Dry and liquid measuring cups
Rubber spatula
Plastic shower cap (they have food-grade versions next to
the plastic wrap in the grocery store)
Pizza paddle or baking sheet without a rim
Pizza or baking stone for the oven
Lid to large roaster pan (foil turkey pan would probably
work)
Long serrated bread knife
Dry Ingredients:
1 Cup unbleached white all-purpose flour
1 Cup whole wheat flour
¼ Cup old fashioned rolled oats (for more chewy texture) OR ¼
Cup cornmeal (for more crunchy texture)
½ Tablespoon coarse salt
½ - 1 Tablespoon sugar (you can use honey or maple syrup
instead and add to liquid ingredients)
1 Tablespoon seeds (you can use chia, flax, or even quinoa)
– optional, for texture
Cornmeal for sprinkling on pizza paddle
Wet Ingredients:
½ Cup “wet” starter – I add water to my mason jar of starter
until it is the consistency of thin pancake or crepe batter, pour ½ Cup into a
liquid measuring cup, and then feed my remaining starter a spoon or two of
flour to get it back to its resting consistency (thick pancake batter).
1 egg (optional)
Water – to make a total of 1 ¼ - 1 ½ Cups liquid
½ Tablespoon olive oil or melted butter (keep in reserve)
Instructions:
1.
Mix dry
ingredients together in a bowl.
2.
Mix
liquid ingredients except oil / butter in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough water to the liquid ingredients to
make a total of 1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups liquid.
More liquid will make the dough stickier and floppier but you will get a
more dramatic rise and bigger holes in the bread. Less liquid will make the dough easier to
handle but the texture will be finer. I
try for something middle of the road.
3.
Use a rubber spatula to mix liquids into dry
ingredients. Stir with the spatula until
the dough starts to come together into a sticky ball (it will be sticky, that’s
why I use a spatula to stir and scrape the sides).
4.
Once the dough has come together, pour the oil
or melted butter into the bowl and turn the dough ball with the spatula a
couple times so that it is well coated (no need to stir the oil into the dough
itself).
5.
Cover the dough with a plastic shower cap and
let it sit out overnight.
6.
In the morning, sprinkle a pizza paddle or
similar flat surface with cornmeal.
7.
Use your hands to scrape the risen dough ball
out of the bowl and make a rough, round loaf shape. This takes some practice, especially if your
dough is super sticky. You can wet,
grease or flour your hands so they don’t stick as bad. Place the loaf on the pizza paddle covered
with cornmeal (so it doesn’t stick to the paddle).
8.
Put a baking stone in the bottom of your oven
and preheat to 450 degrees. This will
take a while, so your dough will have a nice rest during this time.
9.
When the oven is ready, carefully slide your
dough off the pizza paddle and onto the hot baking stone. Cover immediately with the lid to the large
roaster (I like to use that because it has a handle).
10.
After about 15 minutes, remove the roaster
lid. Keep an eye on the dough as it
bakes. You should remove after another
10-15 minutes when it is toasty golden brown all over (wait for the rich
color). You can remove the loaf by using
a metal spatula to slide it back onto the pizza paddle.
11.
Let sit as long as you can stand it, so that the
interior finishes baking and isn’t gummy.
Cut with a long serrated knife.
Store cut-side down on the pizza paddle at room temperature.
Variations:
My kids prefer the plain version (picture above) or the cheesy version. But I personally like the festive versions with nuts and fruit.
Add 1 Cup grated cheese + 1 thin sliced green onion to dry
ingredients for cheesy bread.
Add 1 – 2 Cups nuts or dried fruit to dry ingredients and
sprinkle with sparking sugar right before baking for festive bread.
Add ¼ Cup pumpkin puree to liquid ingredients (before adding
water) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar right before baking for pumpkin
bread. This version is also nice with
dried cranberries added to the dry ingredients (picture below).
