Sourdough

Hello, Head Chef here!

That can only mean one thing - it's bread week! This week we are talking all things sourdough. 

It turns out, sourdough is hard! It took over three weeks and two starters to get to the finished product but it was well worth it. As we mentioned in our welcome blog, my grandfather was a baker and so we have decided to name our starter Wilfred, after him. 

This recipe is courtesy of BBC Good Food - a brilliant website for any recipes from sweets to savouries. A top tip we have found is to use proving baskets that have liners with them (you can buy the baskets with fitted liners), as this makes the turnout on the third day a lot easier. 

For the starter:

Ingredients:

250g Strong White Bread Flour 

Method:

Day 1 - To begin your starter, mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water in a jar, or better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 2 - Mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 3 - Mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 4 - You should start seeing some activity in the mixture by now; there should be some bubbles forming and bubbling on top. Mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 5 - The mixture should be very active now and ready for making your levain (starter). If it's not bubbling, continue to feed it on a daily basis until it does. When it is ready, it should smell like yoghurt.You now have a starter which is the base to the bread. Keep it in the fridge, where it will stay dormant until you are ready to use it. 

For the Bread:

Ingredients:

1tbsp Sourdough Starter

1.2kg Strong White Bread Flour 

20g Fine Sea Salt 

Method: 

1. First you need to activate your dormant starter - we will call this new mixture the levain. In a new bowl, mix 1tbsp of starter with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave for 8hrs at room temperature until it becomes active. When ready, a teaspoonful of the mixture should float in warm water. 

2. Meanwhile, pour away half of your original starter. Mix 100g flour and 100g water into what's left of your original starter and leave, semi-covered at room temperature for 24hrs before placing back in the fridge ready for the next time you want to use it.  

3. Pour 600g tepid water into the levain (the starter you activated last night). Stir with a rubber spatula to mix together - don't worry if there are unmixed bits of levain. Tip in 1kg of flour and mix everything together with a rubber spatula to make a rough dough, ensuring all the flour is incorporated evenly and that there are no dry bits up the side of the bowl. Cover and leave somewhere warm for at least 30 mins, or up to 4 hrs. 

4. Sprinkle over the salt and add 50g water to the dough. Pinch and scrunch the salt and water through the dough with your hands. If the dough goes stringy (like old chewing gum), just keep working it until it's one smooth texture. Leave for another 15 mins. 

5. Wet your hands, grab the dough from one side and stretch it up and over itself, then repeat with the other side. This stretching technique helps develop the gluten. Pick the dough up and curl it around onto itself, then cover and leave for another 20-30 mins. Repeat this process two more times (three in total), then leave the dough for another 2-3hrs until it's risen by about 30% and looks bubbly and soft. 

 

6. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and split in two. Fold each piece onto itself to create a ball, then leave uncovered for 30 mins. The dough balls will spread during this time. 

7. Dust two bread-proving baskets generously with flour. Scrape one of the balls of dough off the work surface, then fold it onto itself to create a tight ball that's trapped in all the air. Lift the ball into a basket, seam-side up, then transfer to the fridge to chill overnight, or for up to 18hrs. Repeat with the other dough ball. 

8. Heat the oven to 240C/220C Fan/Gas 9  and put a lidded casserole dish in the oven to heat. Cut a sheet of baking parchment into a square slightly larger than the base of one of the loaves. Carefully remove the hot casserole dish from the oven and remove the lid. Invert one loaf onto the baking parchment, then, working quickly, score at the top at an angle. Use the corners of the parchment to lift the loaf into the casserole dish. Cover with the lid and bake for 30 mins then carefully uncover and continue to bake for another 10 mins (or longer for a darker finish.) Carefully lift the bread out of the dish using a spatula, transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool to room temperature before slicing. Repeat with the second loaf. 

This recipe is really time consuming, and you must plan ahead if you want to make it. We learnt the hard way that this isn't a recipe that you can just decide you want to make in the morning, and whip up in a day, so take this into consideration before you begin. However, the end result is definitely worth it. 

Once you have made this recipe a few times, it becomes much easier and streamlined. We definitely recommend giving it a go as the bread is so tasty!

We can't wait to hear what you name your starters, so tag us @rousties on instagram!

Until next time, 

Head Chef x