Sourdough Bread Recipe

Posted on May 23rd, 2021

Sourdough Bread is the healthiest option you can choose when making bread.

It has a delicious tangy flavour and an open crumb and, is easier to digest than yeasted bread. Sourdough is a wild yeasted slow fermented bread.

The microbes gobble up the starches and sugars and produce lactic acid and carbon dioxide, which leavens the dough.

I find it a magical process, making bread from flour water and salt. The gut bacteria produced, is good for your immune system. It also assimilates the gluten, making your bread easier to digest.

How to Make Sourdough Bread

There are three stages to making Sourdough Bread:

1. Making and maintaining the Starter . This takes 5-7 days initially and, with care can last for a long time.

2. Creating the Sourdough Sponge with the starter.

3. Using the sponge to create the Sourdough Bread.

Soudough Bread

Sourdough favoured recipe

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Prep Time 9

Cook Time 50

rest time 5 25

Total Time 15

Ingredients

Prepare Starter (leaven)

30 g Starter
20 g White Strong Flour
20 g Whole Grain Rye Flour

Sourdough Bread Ingredients

452 g Flour
8 g Salt
285 g Water
90 g Sponge

Instructions

Prepare the Starter (leaven) by mixing all ingredients together the night before you intend to bake and leave it on a kitchen counter covered with kitchen paper.
Now, if you prepared your starter, have fed it correctly and have your sponge (dough), you are ready to start baking Sourdough Bread.
Using a mixing bowl add Flour, Water and your Sponge, omitting the salt. Leave it for 1 hour to fully hydrate (Autolyse).
Now, add the Salt and mix it with the dough - this will dehydrate the mixture.
Work the dough in the bowl. If it needs more flour or water, now is the time to adjust it: your mixture should be sticky and loose enough for you to pull it from the bowl.
Now, you start stretching it and tucking it under while rotating the bowl. Do this 5 times, turning the bowl.
Then, cover your bowl with a damp cloth and leave it to rest for approx. 45 minutes. Repeat the process 5 to 7 times. This is called bulk proofing.
The dough will change it’s characteristics and become manageable, silky and smooth.
After this stage, cover your bowl and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, shape your dough by folding it in the middle and rolling it to create tension, then put it in a well-floured proving basket.
Cover it and leave it to rise for at least 4 hours (or overnight in the refrigerator).
Turn it out of the bowl onto a non-stick baking paper and score the surface of the dough.
Lift it with the paper and put it into a heated baking stone or cast iron dish/casserole and spray with water.
Cover with a lid (if using a casserole) and cook your bread in a pre-heated oven at 230 degrees for 20 minutes. Then, take off the lid and cook it for another 20 minutes until golden and sounding hollow when tapped.
You should now have a delicious sourdough loaf.