Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- Digital Kitchen Scale
- Heavy Dutch Oven
- Parchment Paper
- Sharp Knife or Razor
1. WEIGHT BOWL, THEN ZERO OUR SCALE AFTER EACH ADDITION
- 227 grams Starter
- 18 g salt-
- 425 g water- (use warm water)
- 600 g BREAD flour
- OPTIONAL 1 t honey
2. Mix till just combined – if it looks too dry. add a bit of water
- Let rest for 10 minutes then stretch and fold 4 times
- Repeat every 10 minutes up to 3 times
- Rest the dough for 2-4 hours, until you see some bubbling and it rises about a third.
3. Heat the oven to 475° with the Dutch oven inside it so both the oven and Dutch oven are very hot. Take preheated Dutch oven out and line it with parchment paper to prevent bread from getting too brown (use a spatula so you don’t burn your fingers)
- Score top with a razor or sharp knife.
- Put your bread in the Dutch oven with the lid on and bake for about 20 minutes, and check it.
- If it is not starting to brown after 20 minutes, leave it for an additional five minutes.
- When it starts to brown, take the lid off and put the bread back in for another 10 or 15 minutes.
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ALSO: If you don’t bake right away – put in a clean oiled bowl and cover. It can sit in fridge a few days and it will get more sour.
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ALSO: Day before option:
- FEED the starter in the early AM.
- MIX the dough that EVENING.
- STRETCH and fold 3 times.
- COVER with plastic and let rest overnight.
- SHAPE and cover for 1 hr in the AM, preheat oven and bake
- 20 min. covered, 20 min. uncovered.
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FEED STARTER WEEKLY OR SO – However many grams you have of starter, you add exactly that amount of water and flour. 1:1 ratio.
Allow the starter to rest at room for 2 to 4 hours until it shows signs of life; this gives the yeast a chance to warm up and get feeding. Once it’s started to bubble, refrigerate it.
Starter can also be dried, crushed, and frozen.
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Store the bread at room temperature, in a bread bag, wrapped in a kitchen towel or beeswax wrap for up to 3 days.
You can also store the bread, cut-side down, on a cutting board with a cake-stand top covering the bread.
Do not refrigerate because the bread will become hard.