Sourdough Bread

As promised, a post on sourdough bread. Last week I shared my take on the sourdough starter, and today, I’m telling you all about creating that dough, getting the rise, and baking the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.

Sourdough bread doesn’t use yeast, well not added yeast. It gets its rise from the natural yeast that is in the air. Weird, I know. But it does, and it works, that’s like the craziest part! So I told you all about that science stuff last post, so here we go on the in lab aka kitchen, hands on experiment aka baking of the bread.

The hardest part of this portion of the bread making is the rise time. Have mercy! The first rise was somewhere around 8 to 10 hours. It was crazy. I was pretty sure my bread was going to be a dud, but, it wasn’t! My sourdough guru, Jill @theprairiehomestead says she likes to make her dough in the evening and let it rise overnight while sleeping then she gets up does the things and bakes the bread. Well, I couldn’t get that to work out for me, every night I was so tired when it was time to make the bread I put it off until the next night. So after 3 nights, and keeping that starter alive, I decided just to do it early in the morning when I got up.

I started with combining my starter with some water, added flour, salt and mix it up, creating your dough. Since Sourdough is a no-knead style bread (which I call artisan bread) you just mix it up and then let it have a rest for about 30 minutes. Once that is complete, you stretch and roll the dough a couple times and form a ball. You cover this and let rise in a warm place overnight, for a few hours or until doubled in size, mine took about 10 hours.

Once this has happened, you put your dough out onto a floured surface and fold it a few times shaping into a tight ball, let it rest for 15 minutes or so. After your rest is complete, shape the dough again, ensuring you ball is smooth and well tucked and place into a floured proofing basket.

Cover and allow to rise again, 2-3 hours….at this point, I was pretty sure the ladies of old did all the rest and rise so they could rest their tired arms and feet! While the final hour of this rise is on, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and prepare your dutch oven by sprinkling the bottom with corn meal (this prevents sticking).

Tip the contents of you proofing basket onto a piece of parchment paper and place it down into the Dutch oven. Put that lid on and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 30 minutes or until deep brown and crispy. If you don’t want a crisp dark crust, keep the lid in place during baking. Move your loaf to a cooling rack and let it cool completely.

This is some seriously delicious bread. I made mine with the crispy crust and it was, in deed, crispy. This type of bread is best served with soup our something with juices to sop up so it will soften that crust. The inner meat of the bread was perfect! Tender and a little chewy but delish!

What’s my final verdict on the process of making sourdough bread? It’s a long process, probably not one of my most favorites. And it uses a LOT of flour, so I’m not sure if I will be doing it often, just because of the time issues, but it was a lot of fun to try and I feel accomplished because I did it and I’m glad that I now have this skill in my baking arsenal. I’m ready for the Pioneer days!

Sourdough Bread, yield 1 loaf

• 1/2 cup active sourdough starter
• 1 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt

• In a large bowl, combine the starter and water.
• Stir in the flour, and then add the salt.
• Use a fork to mix everything together until it becomes stiff – then switch to your hands to bring the dough together in a rough ball (Remember: don’t overtax! This is supposed to be a no-knead-style wet dough).
• Keep the rough dough in the bowl, cover it, and let sit for 30 minutes.
• After this resting time is complete, stretch and fold the dough a few times to for it into a ball.
• Cover the dough with a clean dish towel and let it rise in a warm place overnight or until doubled in size (or about 8 hours).
• After 8 hours turn the dough out on your counter. Fold it over a couple of times to tighten it into a ball, then let sit for 15 minutes.
• After this resting period is complete, gently shape the dough into a ball once more place into a well floured proofing basket or a bowl lined with a well-floured dish towel. Remember: don’t add too much flour and do not knead the dough.
• Cover and rise for 2-3 hours, or until doubled.
• preheat the oven to 450 F
• Sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal in the bottom of a Dutch oven (optional, but this helps the bottom not to scorch).
• Tip the loaf out of the proofing basket onto a sheet of parchment. Lower the parchment into the Dutch oven.
• Place the lid on the pot and bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove the lid and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the loaf is deeply browned and crispy on top. (For a less crusty finish, bake for entire time with the lid on).
• Move to a cooling rack and allow the loaf to cool completely before slicing it.
• (recipe from Jill Winger at The Prairie Homestead, click for link to her blog)

I hope you enjoy! If you want more info on Sourdough and all the directions check out Jill’s blog or YouTube, it’s fantastic! Have a great one friends!