Making sourdough bread using your starter!
Now that your starter is ready to go (recipe last week blog post), here is the basic bread recipe with some variations included for you to experiment!
Remove starter from fridge and rest on bench until it comes to room temperature, feed with 100g flour and 100g warm water, stir and rest until doubled in volume.
380ml warm water
Add about half of bubbly active starter and whisk gently (150g approximately), put remainder back in the fridge to use in the future
Add 500g flour, you can use all strong white bread flour or a blend of 300g white/200g rye or wholemeal. White flour will rise more quickly. If desired you can also add a handful or two of sesame seeds, LSA, linseeds, sunflower seeds or pepitas! plenty of options! You may need a little more water but usually not.
8-10g fine salt
Combine above mix using a fork or bread whisk or your hands until well mixed, and rest for 1 hour in a warm spot. Dampen hands with water and gently lift and stretch the dough (leaving it in the bowl) by pulling it up and folding it over, do this on four sides, this is called ‘stretch and fold’ and helps develop the dough. Do this 2-3 more times about 30 minutes apart. Cover loosely with a saucepan lid, damp cloth or some Gladwrap and rest until doubled in size. This may take a few hours.
When doubled, gently remove from bowl on a very lightly floured bench, and shape but pulling the dough along the surface to create some tension and tightness to the dough. It should resemble a firm and even bowling ball, you may even see some bubble on the surface. Place upside down in a floured proofing basket or clean bowl, and allow to proof for several hours. You can also cover with a clean bag and place in the fridge to proof overnight with great success!
The proving stage does take some patience!
When you are near to the end of proving, or first thing the next morning, place your large pot with lid or baking stone in a cold oven and heat the oven to very hot (maximum or 240 degrees) for about 1 hour.
Gently tip the dough on to a lightly floured piece of baking paper and let settle for a minute. Lift into the hot pot and score with a very sharp blade to allow the bread to rise.
Spray or sprinkle with a little water to create some steam and put the lid on the pot and put it in the oven. Set your timer to cook for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and turn the oven down to 220 degrees. Cook for a further 15-20 minutes until browned and cooked. Turn oven off and leave rest in oven for 30 minutes, before popping on a wire rack to cool. Do not cut for at least an hour after baking as it will make the bread doughy if cut too soon.
Enjoy! My next challenge will be a fruit bread.