Start Autumn with Sourdough
Posted on August 31st, 2017
Summer is almost over, and the healthy lifestyle bug can start to give way to autumn and winter comfort eating. But here at Canterbury Baking School, we don’t think there’s a reason to abandon healthy eating through the colder months! For us, the autumn-winter diet starts with sourdough.
Let’s give ourselves a quick reminder of the benefits of sourdough bread. Not only is sourdough more digestible and nutritious than many other breads, it also has a low GI content, making it perfect for slow-release energy. The lactic acids present in sourdough make minerals such as iron, magnesium, and potassium more available to the body. Some sourdough can even be easier to eat for those who have gluten problems!
A great way to keep your bread choices healthy, especially if you’re trying to lose weight, is to use wholegrain wherever possible. We mill our own heritage wholegrains to make our sourdough bread.
Making sourdough bread is the perfect way to keep healthy living going into autumn!
With all that in mind, we thought we’d share our sourdough bread recipe to pair with your warm autumn dishes! (For tips on making your sourdough starters, read our introductory sourdough post here!)
Our Simple Sourdough recipe
Ingredients
300g sourdough starter
250ml water
500g flour
10g salt
Method
1 – Add some flour and water to your starter until it has the consistency of pancake batter.
2 – Leave the starter out overnight, covered.
3 – In the morning, add more flour and water to the starter.
4 – Mix together and form into a loose ball (without salt), or alternatively put the dough in a mixer for ten minutes or so.
5 – Cover with a wet tea towel and leave to rest for 2 1/2 hours.
6 – Uncover the dough, mix your salt with a little water then stretch and fold the mix into the dough.
7 – Lift, fold and rotate in the bowl about three times. Repeat every 30 minutes, recovering with a damp tea towel in between.
8 – Place your dough on an oiled surface, and oil or dust your hands. Pull out, fold in, roll, and tuck.
9 – Flour both your baton and dough and place in the prover, covering with a damp tea towel and leaving overnight.
10 – In the morning, heat your oven to 220 degrees (approx. Gas mark 7). When hot, place your dough on a floured stone to stop it spreading. Score, spray with water and place in the oven.
11 – Bake for 10-15 minutes on 220, then turn down to 190 (approx Gas mark 5) for half an hour, or when the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow.
Follow our recipe for the perfect sourdough loaf!
A perfect sourdough like this is a fantastic complement to an autumn soup, used as toast for a comforting breakfast with some scrambled egg, or as the basis for a hearty sandwich! It tastes superb! So why not take your sourdough knowledge to the next level and sign up for one of our sourdough courses? Book your place here!
As always, we welcome your comments and feedback!
