Basic Sourdough Bread

So you’ve spent a week making a sourdough starter (if not, check out my sourdough starter guide). You have flour, salt, and water and you’re ready to go. But what tools do I need? How much salt and water do you need? Why does that amount of water looks like a lot of water? What is this stretch and fold thing? Calm down, sourdough is only scary if you make it scary.

Tools

You do not need fancy things to make sourdough. Some fancy things do make life easier. A basic, you need some bowls, a sharp knife, plastic wrap, and some cloth towels. Because you can make the dough by hand so you don’t need a mixer.

Some items that would make your life easier:

• Danish bread whisk
• Dough scraper or large clean putty knife
• Proofing basket – two would be ideal
• Proofing bags – save your produce bags
• Cast iron dutch oven or cast iron combo cooker
• Lame

Stretch and Fold

Instead of kneading the dough in the traditional sense you have to stretch the dough, and fold it over. Wetting your hand, run it between the dough and the side of the bowl, scraping the bottom of the bowl. Then Pull the dough across to the other side of the bowl. Do this 4 or 5 times around the side of the bowl. This stretch and fold process creates gluten. The gluten is what will later help our bread hold shape.

This process is done 6 times spaced apart. For the first hour, stretch and fold every 15 minutes. Each set of stretch and folds will help the dough develop gluten and air pockets. Set a timer on your phone so you do not forget!

Mixing by Hand or Mixing by Stand Mixer?

Everyone loves to say their method of mixing bread dough is the best method. There are breads that I mix by hand, others that I use a stand mixer for, and some that I use a Danish Bread Whisk for. This seriously comes down to personal preference. And there is no shame in mixing bread with your stand mixer. Today’s bread was mixed together with my Kitchenaid Mixer. Use what you’re comfortable with.

If you use a stand mixer, please do the window pain method to check gluten development before deciding how many times you need to stretch and fold. You might only need 2-3 before your dough is beautifully smooth and you can leave it to rest.

Let dough rest for 3-6 hours. If you are letting it rest in a proofing box, or oven on the proof setting you will not need the whole time. Check your dough after 2 hours. Give your dough space to proof, you are aiming for just under double in size. Also make sure that you cover the bowl with cling wrap or a skin will form on your dough.

Shaping and Overnight Proof

When you are ready to shape and divide your dough, pay attention to how your dough is reacting. If it does not want to hold shape at all, you might have left it to proof too long in the first stage. This happens, its a learning game. As you make more bread, you’ll learn how the hydration levels react.

Using a dough scraper divide your dough into two sections and work with one at a time. Side Note: as I learned from Julia Child in the French Chef, a clean putting knife, between 6 and 10 inches, will also work for this. The dough is sticky so you will want to use the scraper to fold and shape the dough into a ball. Lightly flour your hands, place them behind the dough ball, drag the ball across the counter towards you. Rotate the ball so the top remains on top- you are aiming to create surface tension across the top and a seam on the bottom.

Place top side down in a proofing basket that has been liberally dusted with rice flour. If you do not have proofing baskets you can use a basket or a bowl with a tea towel dusted with rice flour in it. Rice flour is used because it prevents sticking, regular flour would work too.

Put the basket in a proofing bag and let it rest in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. I usually save fruit bags from the supermarket but today crockpot liners will do. Additionally, I have used zip lock bags for this, due to the size of my proofing baskets, I needed 2 bags per loaf. If you are aiming to bake today, leave in a warm place for 2 hours.

Baking:

One hour before you are ready to bake, preheat your oven as hot as possible with a cast iron dutch oven already inside with the lid on. This creates a super hot spot in your oven for your bread to go into.

Slowly and gently pour your loaf onto a sheet of parchment paper. Dust with flour. With a super sharp knife or lame, score the top of the loaf. The scores will allow for steam to leave loaf as it bakes in the dutch oven. To score, slice into the top of the loaf cutting about 1/3 of an inch down.

Carefully, place the loaf in the dutch oven. Put the lid on and let it bake for 20 minutes. Inside the dutch oven, the loaf is steaming and cooking. This is the part of the bake that creates the oven rise and the crust. Remove the lid of the dutch oven and let it bake for another 25 to 30 minutes. Sourdough loaves should be baked to a dark golden. This is not a blonde loaf.

For more bread recipes check out my other recipes here!

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