Cornelius the Sourdough

A collection of my tips, tricks, and recipes for the legendary starter himself. Scroll down for a beginner's guide of tools and terminology! 

[corneliusthesourdough]

A rising passion: sourdough makes a resurgence during pandemic

Over the past few weeks you may have noticed the dramatic rise of a very old baking tradition steeped in culture. If it wasn't clear from the puns, sourdough bread is enjoying a renaissance right now.

Our beloved Cornelius made the front page!!! “Over the past few weeks you may have noticed the dramatic rise of a very old baking tradition steeped in culture.

If it wasn't clear from the puns, sourdough bread is enjoying a renaissance right now. While it's natural, during an anxious period of isolation, to give in to the gravitational pull of comforting, homespun activities such as baking, sourdough seems to be its own thing. The #sourdough hashtag on Instagram brings up almost three million posts. Sourdough groups on Facebook have seen an influx of eager new members. People are making, sharing and naming sourdough starters — those prized, bubbling, fermented mixtures of flour and water (and micro-organisms including wild yeast and lactobacilli) from which all those gorgeous artisanal loaves must spring. So why sourdough, and why now? "It's so soothing," says Winnipeg's Lisa Sylvestre. "A loaf of fresh bread sets the world right."Sylvestre's obsession (her word) with baking sourdough predates the pandemic. It began when she met Cornelius, her 150-year-old starter that originally hails from the Basque region of Spain. It was brought home to Winnipeg from Sweden by her good friend Maria Setterborn. For a sesquetenarian, Cornelius sure gets around. "I had baked since I was a little girl and I could make a loaf of bread with my eyes closed, but sourdough is, like, the final frontier for bread bakers," says Sylvestre, 52. That's true: sourdough is an artform. "So, (Maria) gave me this gift of Cornelius." Fast forward to a few weeks ago: Sylvestre, a history teacher, was watching as the pandemic made its way to North America. "I thought, 'People might need Cornelius; they just don't know it yet,'" she says with a laugh. "I made sure I had all the stuff to feed him and keep him super active and get him really, really big. "Giving one's starter a name is a long — and fitting — tradition. Starters are living things one must feed, take care of and get to know. Sylvestre has split Cornelius into two: Fridge Cornelius and Counter Cornelius. Fridge Cornelius is fed 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 ml) of white, unbleached bread flour and an equal amount of water, once a week. "Counter Cornelius has a varied diet," she says with a laugh. "He gets rye. I use bee pollen powder. Sometimes he'll get some raw honey. Then he's super funky and bubbly. I have to tone down rising times now because he's out of control." Originally, Sylvestre's idea was to bake for people, to offer a bit of comfort during this challenging time. "But no, people wanted to bake themselves and wanted a piece of Cornelius."She's happy to oblige. Sylvestre's colleague, Chris Buffie, now also owns a piece of Cornelius — which happens to be his great-grandfather's name. His inaugural loaves turned out beautifully. "I could not be more proud," Sylvestre says. "I mean it. I felt like a parent. Those loaves are gorgeous, and that was his first shot." ... For Sylvestre, baking sourdough bread is a link to the past. After all, that simple combination of flour, water, yeast and salt has sustained people for generations. "Bread is love," Sylvestre says. "I have an old recipe I use with yeast, and it was my grandmother's recipe. It's a deep connection for me to all the people who have come before me baking bread. Sourdough's the same thing. It's so old that I feel a real connection to people who have survived using it. It's like reaffirming life. "It's mind-boggling, too, to consider how many loaves of bread have come from Cornelius alone. "He's got a lot of babies out there," she says with a laugh.”

[corneliusthesourdough]

Grananna & Cornelius’ Master Guide to Sourdough Bread

Congratulations on your new pet! This starter’s name is Cornelius, and he has been thriving for over 150 years! He comes from Basque and has travelled all over the world. He is a bubbly character and is quite forgiving. All he asks is to be fed every now and then and to be showered with love. If you share your creations online, his hashtag is #corneliusthesourdough

If you’re new to sourdough, don’t be intimidated! There are countless ways to explore this ancient baking method, especially online! Some bakers are quite strict with their methods, rules, and tools. But there are just as many who take a very relaxed approach to their craft. With patience practice, you will quickly find what works for you! I’m very new to the whole thing myself. There are a few special tools that are helpful for baking sourdough, but don’t worry if you don’t have any! You can improvise pretty much all of them.

A very basic guide for feeding Cornelius is as follows: If not baking, he can live in a jar in the fridge. Feed about once a week with equal parts in WEIGHT of flour and water. If you don’t have a scale, that’s about 1-part water, 2-parts flour. Because your starter is constantly growing, you may have to throw away (or “discard” as it’s called) some of the starter. When I want my starter to get really active, I weigh equal parts starter to flour and water, and he usually triples in size on the counter.

Sourdoughs prefer unbleached flours, but it’s not essential. All-purpose flour has kept him going for years. After feeding, make sure he has the space to triple in size and cover loosely so air can escape. After that, back in the fridge he goes!

If you’re getting ready to bake, a more active culture is preferable. Wake Cornelius up by feeding and then keep him on the counter. Using warmer water and keeping the starter in at least room temperature (somewhere between 20-27 ˚C) helps him get going. If you wake him up the night before, keep things cooler so he’s still active in the morning. A warm and happy Cornelius fed unbleached flour usually doubles or triples in size in about 4-8 hours.

[corneliusthesourdough]

Master Recipe

This recipe is very similar to the master recipe on foodbodsourdough.com, but with some added helpful tips from my gracious Mother, who has been my sourdough guide through this entire journey. I have had nothing but success with this process, but I am in no way an expert. I recommend checking out other recipes and resources for more inspiration and guidance!

Total time is about 24 hours (or longer depending on how long you cold-ferment) from start to finish but requires very little time hands-on. Makes one big loaf.

When starter is at its most active, weigh 50g starter into a bowl and add 350g water. Mix them with hands until starter is mostly dissolved.

In another larger bowl, weigh 500g unbleached flour and 11g salt. Combine well.

Pour the liquid starter into the flour and fold/smush together in the bowl until all the flour is mostly combined. The dough will be ragged (shaggy) and a bit wet. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, a plastic bag, or shower cap. Let sit for about an hour.

After an hour, and while still working in the bowl, go ahead and do a fair amount of stretch-and-folds (I haven’t counted, but something like 20-30). You don’t need to get it super tight, just until you’ve got a smooth-ish ball of dough. For the next 2-4 hours, come back to your dough every 30-60 minutes and do a few stretch-and-folds. After the first round, you will only need to do a few stretch-and-folds each time (I do about 4-6 per round). There’s no golden rule for time in between or amount of folds, but the more the merrier! Cover and leave on counter between rounds.

Now your dough is ready to be covered again and bulk-ferment. At room temperature, this takes about 8-12 hours. Warmer goes faster, colder goes slower. I usually put it somewhere colder overnight and then bring it to room-temp or warmer at the end. You’re looking for your dough to at least double in size and be nice and jiggly. Its fun to ferment in a glass bowl to see the bubbles!

I test it by poking a hole with a wet finger and looking for it to spring back at least halfway, leaving just a little divot. If you made a double recipe, you should divide your dough into loaves after this fermentation.

Now you do a final round of stretch and folds, either in the bowl or on the counter is fine. You don’t want to overwork the dough at this point in order to preserve the air pockets and bounciness. After that round, I plop it on the counter to develop the skin. You can either dust the counter with flour or wet it. Both prevent sticking, but I find that a little bit of stickiness helps push the dough together, so don’t keep adding flour. I find my scraper works great for this process by pushing under the edge of the dough towards the center while turning it gently against my hand. You can also just use your hands, which may work better in a bowl. You’re trying to stretch the top of the dough outwards and down to get a tight skin and a more spherical shape. Basically, the goal is to create tension in the dough for it to rise into. If bubbles form near the surface, just gently pinch them. I do this skin-tightening until it’s a great little bouncy ball, then let it sit for 20-60 minutes, then repeat once more. I’m sure you could get away with just one round though.  Now your dough is ready to go in its proofing basket (banneton)! Lift it gently and place it in the rice-floured banneton/basket with the nice skin facing down, lumpy bottom facing up. You can dust with some more rice flour to make sure nothing sticks. Cover and pop it in the fridge.

If you want to roll your dough in seeds, do this before it goes in the banneton. (Wet the top of the dough and roll in seeds before placing seed-side down.)

This part is the final proof or cold-ferment, where the dough develops its signature flavour and stability. I’ve heard minimum is 3 hours, but I usually aim for 10 hours. If I’m not super confident in my dough, I let it sit for closer to 24 hours in order to develop more stability. You’re ready to bake! A good trick to keep the bottom of the dough from burning is to preheat the oven to 500˚F and reduce it to 450˚F when the dough goes in. This is so the bottom element of the oven won’t come on for a long time. I also pop a baking pan on the rack below to protect it from direct heat.

I preheat the roasting pan as well, but many bakers don’t. Enamel pans heat up and cool down very quickly, so it doesn’t make as much of a difference as with cast-iron.

From your banneton, place a sheet of parchment paper overtop and then a cutting board or plate. Flip the whole thing over so your dough is right-side-up, on the parchment paper. Another dusting of flour (can be wheat flour) will make your score-patterns stand out more for purely aesthetic reasons.

Now you need to score your dough to allow it to open up and expand! Don’t be shy and cut deep, at least ¼ inch. You’ll want to do at least one big score that is surprisingly deep so it has lots of space to grow. My personal favourite is three big scores towards the middle, but I’m getting bolder with more intricate patterns now. After the big scores, feel free to get creative with designs such as leaves (which are just tiny little scores). Look up examples of patterns!

Now, without burning your knuckles, lift the parchment paper and drop it in the roaster. I like to pop a couple ice cubes between the parchment and the roaster to keep it moist. Lid (or tinfoil tent) on, and in the oven she goes!

Now for the hardest part… No peaking!!! You want to maintain moisture and even temperature. You do get to open the oven once, after 30-35 minutes, to take the lid off and let it brown. Once the lid is off, it should take about 25-30 minutes to finish baking. If you have a proper thermometer, the internal temperature should be 205-210˚F, but I have never had to bake it longer.

Carefully lift the parchment paper and place on a cooling rack, then slide the paper out from underneath.

Okay I lied. This my be the hardest part! Do not slice too early! Seriously, it will likely be gluey and sad. I would say wait for absolutely a minimum of 2 hours, but I usually leave it overnight. Once it has cooled a bit, wrap in a clean tea-towel and let it finish cooling all the way. To store bread, I keep mine on a cutting board under a glass bowl for the sole purpose of displaying it to myself. After a few days of this I put it in a bread-bag before it gets too dry.

Congratulations! You did it! A long, but incredibly rewarding process of love, patience, creativity, and confidence. Keep sharing Cornelius with the world! Find recipes for things other than loaves of bread like pizza crust, cinnamon buns, pancakes, focaccia, etc.! Go explore the internet, ask friends and family, find inspiration everywhere! Sourdough Facebook groups have tons of inspiration, tips, and can answer any other questions. Tag your creations with Cornelius’ hasthag #corneliusthesourdough and check out his other babies around the world! Cheers to you both!

[corneliusthesourdough]

Tools, Terminology, & Ingredients

Scale: A cooking scale is probably the most helpful tool for baking and maintaining starter, but if you don’t have one the internet will help you convert weight to volume measurements. Remember, flour is measured at its fluffiest (so whisk or sift it etc.)

Roasting Pan: Sourdough needs moisture for part of its baking, so a lid is helpful. It is also baked in a very hot oven, so you need a pan that can withstand 450-500˚F. I use a classic, cheap enamel roaster with a lid, while some use Dutch ovens or cast-iron skillets of some kind. If you’re unsure if your pan can take the heat, try searching the brand online. If you don’t have one with a lid, you can fashion one with tinfoil!

Proofing Basket: Also known as a banneton, this is basically just a non-airtight, non-stick dish for your bread to proof in. I use a colander/shallow bowl lined with a clean, lint-free towel. I dust the towel with rice flour to make sure it doesn’t stick and mark the skin of my dough. To loosely cover, I use shower caps (they are literally perfect for this) but clean plastic bags are just fine!

Rice Flour: Super helpful because it doesn’t make a glue when wet. If you don’t have any, just throw some uncooked rice in some sort of blender/food processor and zap it into a fine powder! Don’t feel like doing any of this? Totally cool! Regular flour works too. For dusting, I use a tea-strainer to get an even coating.

Razor Blade: Known as a lame, a super sharp razor blade is extremely helpful for making proper, pretty scores in your loaf. If you don’t have one that’s super sharp, pop your dough (in its proofing basket) in the freezer for 10ish minutes so the skin is easier to slice

Flour: There are countless types of flours and grains you can use! Online you will see lots of talk about brands of flour, bread flour vs. all purpose (AP) etc. Elsewhere in the world, AP flour has a low gluten-protein content, which isn’t ideal for sourdough. But Canadian flour is almost always about 13% protein, so don’t worry about that. The one thing sourdough really does prefer is to have unbleached flour. After I started feeding unbleached bread flour, my starter changed completely. Many folks swear by rye flours, whole wheat, etc. You’ll find what works for you/what you have available. I’ve also had better crumb (amount of air-bubbles inside the loaf, basically its density and texture) with unbleached bread flour. But again, don’t feel like you can’t bake great bread without it. Search online, ask around, experiment!

Scraper: This doesn’t come up in a lot of recipes, but I LOVE mine. Its just a piece of plastic that’s curved on one side to scrape bowls. This is great for when you’re first working your dough and its sticking, for transferring between bowls, and for scraping up dough off the counter. Not essential, but I find it helpful.

Plumbing: Okay this one only really matters if you’re going to be baking A LOT. Your pipes can only handle so much flour going through them. When I’m feeding my starter a lot and baking frequently, I really limit the amount I’m pouring down the sink, and when I do pour it down, I make sure its with plenty of water to flush it through. I usually have a big jar of water out to keep my utensils in by the sink and only empty it every few days. Otherwise if you can let bits of dough dry and throw them out, that’s ideal. Using gloves when the dough is really sticky helps so you don’t wash a bunch off your hands down the drain. I also like to discard my excess starter into a big container and throw it out when it fills up.

Temperature: “The warmer things are, the faster they go!” In a hurry? Use warm water to feed your starter and make your dough in a warm bowl. To speed the first round of bulk fermentation, I turn the light on in my oven which brings it up to about 27˚C, but MANY ovens will go much warmer than this so BE CAREFUL. This is when a thermometer may be crucial. To prolong the fermentation, (usually so I can sleep in) I put it in the basement where its about 15˚C.

Stretch-and-Fold: Sourdough doesn’t require kneading, but to be stretched and folded over itself. Basically, you’re pulling the dough to stretch and develop the strings of gluten, then folding them over the center. Get a good grip on one side of the dough, and slowly but firmly pull upwards. I open my fingers a bit to open it up widthwise. It’s a lot of fun watching the gluten fibers do their thing! Then you simply fold the dough over to the opposite side from where it was pulled. Lightly tuck it down, rotate the bowl slightly, and repeat. What’s neat about this process is you’ll find the more you work it, the tighter it becomes, until it rests for a while. Each time you return to your dough, the first pull will be a lot easier than the 3rd-4th!

Check out some youtube videos of this technique!

[corneliusthesourdough]

Grananna & Cornelius’ Master Guide to Sourdough Bread

Congratulations on your new pet! This starter’s name is Cornelius, and he has been thriving for over 150 years! He comes from Basque and has travelled all over the world. He is a bubbly character and is quite forgiving. All he asks is to be fed every now and then and to be showered with love. If you share your creations online, his hashtag is #corneliusthesourdough

If you’re new to sourdough, don’t be intimidated! There are countless ways to explore this ancient baking method, especially online! Some bakers are quite strict with their methods, rules, and tools. But there are just as many who take a very relaxed approach to their craft. With patience practice, you will quickly find what works for you! I’m very new to the whole thing myself. There are a few special tools that are helpful for baking sourdough, but don’t worry if you don’t have any! You can improvise pretty much all of them.

A very basic guide for feeding Cornelius is as follows: If not baking, he can live in a jar in the fridge. Feed about once a week with equal parts in WEIGHT of flour and water. If you don’t have a scale, that’s about 1-part water, 2-parts flour. Because your starter is constantly growing, you may have to throw away (or “discard” as it’s called) some of the starter. When I want my starter to get really active, I weigh equal parts starter to flour and water, and he usually triples in size on the counter.

Sourdoughs prefer unbleached flours, but it’s not essential. All-purpose flour has kept him going for years. After feeding, make sure he has the space to triple in size and cover loosely so air can escape. After that, back in the fridge he goes!

If you’re getting ready to bake, a more active culture is preferable. Wake Cornelius up by feeding and then keep him on the counter. Using warmer water and keeping the starter in at least room temperature (somewhere between 20-27 ˚C) helps him get going. If you wake him up the night before, keep things cooler so he’s still active in the morning. A warm and happy Cornelius fed unbleached flour usually doubles or triples in size in about 4-8 hours.