Culture Care

Sourdough bread recipe

This is my goto loaf! It's adapted from the Tartine country loaf recipe. It has a bit of rye flour for texture and flavor. You can use whole wheat flour, or forgo it entirely if you only have bread flour. Note: you can click on ingredients or steps to cross them out if you want to mark your progress :)

Ingredients

Bread flour

450g

Rye Flour (or whole wheat)

50g

Water @ 80°

350g

Salt

10g

Water to mix w/ salt

25g

leaven

50/50 White and Wheat mix

50g

Water @ 80°

50g

Supplies

large mixing bowl

2

Cloth or clean dish towel

bench knife or large putty knife

Razor blade, sharp knife, or lame

Scale

Rice flour, potato starch, or in a pinch corn starch

Dutch oven with oven safe lid

Cornmeal (optional)

Thick oven mitts

Steps:

1. The first step to baking is to build the leaven around ~8hrs before you want to bake. A leaven is basically a bigger version of your starter that you assemble to seed the bread with active yeast when you're ready to start forming your loaf : )
   
   To make the leaven assemble the above ingredients in the leaven grid with the proportions above and then add a dollop of starter, mix together and set aside to get bubbly.
2. After ~8hrs or when the leaven is bubbly you're ready to start mixing the loaf! You can double check the leaven is ready by preforming the float test: take a small amount of leaven out and put it in a glass of water, if it floats, it's sufficiently bubbly and ready to bake with : )
3. To begin, mix the measured out bread flour (450g) and rye or wheat flour (50g) together in a big bowl.
4. Heat filtered or shelf dechlorinated water to 80°. If you don't have a thermometer it should feel nearly body temp when touched. The temp isn't super critical, but could effect the timing slightly. Make sure it isn't warm/hot to touch, that would mean it's over 80° and might kill the yeast!
5. Measure out with a scale 350g of the heated water into a large mixing bowl.
6. Add the leaven to the water. It should be mostly floating and not sink to the bottom, as checked by the float test.
7. Gently break up the leaven some by pinching it between your fingers like a claw machine grasping at an unobtainable stuffed animal.
8. Pour the measured and mixed flours into the bowl containing the water and leaven mix. Mix this slurry together. I like to pretend my hand is like a dough hook by forming a sort of paddle with my fingers all together and swirl in a circular motion.
9. Mix until well incorporated. The loaf should be shaggy and sticky. Let this rest for 🕐 45 minutes. This step is called the autolyse which provides time for the flours to hydrate, gluten bonds to form, and flour enzymes to begin breaking down proteins.
10. Now that our dough is rested, it's time to add the 25g water and 10g salt mixture to the loaf and again incorporate. I like to fold it over itself and press down with my knuckles forming a fist repeatedly. The loaf should be feeling smoother and less sticky now. Form it into a smooth ball and move it to a clean bowl to rest.
11. We've now entered the bulk fermentation phase! This is where a lot of the flavor and gluten structure is formed. We'll be using the fold and rest technique. This spreads out the gluten forming period over time instead of maybe a more familiar bread technique which is the kneading step to form gluten. Instead we'll fold our dough over itself progressively over a couple hours. This again allows the natural fermentation to progress and build flavor.
    
    Set a timer for 🕐 30 minutes.
12. After 30 minutes wet your hand with some water and scoop down along the side of the bowl and grab a section of the dough. Pull the section of dough up and out of the bowl and stretch it out. Then fold it over itself and repeat with the 3 other sides, rotating the bowl. Like this.
    
    Our first fold is complete. Set a timer for 🕐 30 minutes again.
13. Complete another series of folds like the previous step, rotating the bowl to fold each side.
    
    Set a timer for 🕐 30 minutes again.
14. Repeat the above folding step two more times, completing 4 folds over 2 hours in 30 minute intervals.
    
    After the 4th fold, set your timer to 🕐 1 hour.
15. After the hour is up, preform a fold like before, but now being a bit more gentle with the dough so as not to knock out the air that should begin building up. The dough should feel lighter and springier.
    
    Set your timer to 🕐 1 hour.
16. We've now been bulk fermenting for 4 hours. This is where some of the feel and experience will come in play. Depending on the conditions of your room (temperature, humidity, etc) your bread might be ready to progress now or need another hour of bulk.
    
    In my experience this time is usually enough and your bread should be ready. It should feel airy. If your bowl is clear you should be able to see lots of bubbles forming on the sides.
    
    Preform a gentle fold like we've done in previous steps, but on the last turn after folding it over, gently tip the bowl over and guide out the dough onto a clean counter.
17. We're going to pre-shape our dough. Wet your bench knife and then slide it under the loaf, pushing it gently to encourage the loaf to tighten up and form a ball like this.
    
    Set a timer for 🕐 30 minutes. This is called the bench rest.
18. After the 30 minutes it's time to shape our loaf! This is also a point where you can determine whether your dough is ready yet. If you bend down and look at it from the side, you should see taut edges or at least a slight curve of the edge forming from the bottom of the loaf leading up. If it has "pancaked" or if the edges are perpendicular with the counter, this is a sign your loaf needs more time. Preform another pre-shape and let rest for another 🕐 30 minutes.
    
    Before shaping, prepare another bowl with a towel inside it or proofing basket. Sprinkle a generous amount of rice flour, potato starch, corn starch or if you don't have any of those things, flour. Knock it around a bit to integrate it with the cloth. This will prevent your loaf from sticking after the final proof.
    
    To shape: dust a surface lightly with flour. Take some flour in your hand and flick it so as to create a thin layer of flour dust on the surface. Less flour on the counter is better than more, so use restraint. Coat your hands and the bench knife with flour. Scoop the loaf up from where it's been resting and gently plop it upside down onto the dusted surface. Fold up the edges like an envelope. Pull the side closest to you towards your body and then fold over. Then grab the two sides, draw them out some and then fold them over. Then grab the top, extend slightly, and then fold again toward the center. After this fold, grab the part closest to you and gently roll the whole thing over so that the folds are now beneath the loaf and the round taut surface is facing up.
    
    This example shows the envelope technique. He preforms some extra steps, but you can start with the four main folds and then roll it over.
19. The dough surface should be taut and relatively round. You can further shape the dough by taking two floured hands, forming a wall, and gently pulling the dough towards you, tightening the surface tension. Do this and rotate to maintain the round form.
    
    Once shaped, slide the bench knife below the loaf, scoop it up and place it upside down (folds facing up, smooth side down) in the prepared bowl or proofing basket.
20. Now we're starting the final proof! This stage allows the yeast to rebuild air bubbles ahead of baking. There are two ways to handle the final proof:
    • Place the dough to rest on the counter for two to three hours, depending on room temperature. The best way to determine when the dough is ready to bake is to lightly press a finger into the dough. If it springs back, it needs more time. If the indentation lasts or slowly springs back, it's likely ready. Kind of like a memory foam mattress.. this method isn't foolproof.
    • Wrap the dough in a bag or container and place in the fridge, retarding it over night for 8-14 hours. I like this method because it provides some flexibility for when you bake and allows more flavor to develop. I often plan my process so that I'll end at the proofing step towards the end of the night, place the loaf in the fridge and bake in the morning~ : )
21. To prepare to bake, preheat the oven to 500° with the dutch oven inside at least 30 minutes before you plan to bake. If you're proofing on the counter, timing can be a bit tricky.
22. Once your loaf is proofed and your oven preheated, pull out the dutch oven. Sprinkle a bit of cornflour on the bottom of the dutch oven (if you have any) and gently turn out the loaf by tipping it upside down into the dutch oven. If you're using a standard high wall dutch oven, this can take some practice to not burn yourself! I like to use the Lodge double Dutch oven for this reason, using the lid as the base and putting the large bottom on top as a lid. Took quite a few burns to give up and go this route ; )
23. The last step before placing the lid on and moving to the oven is to score the dough. This allows for the bread to rise evenly and relieve pressure from the loaf expanding. It's honestly the most nerve racking part! Take a razor blade, sharp knife, or lame if you've invested in one, and make a quick decisive slice across the top of the loaf. You can experiment with patterns in the future, but a 4-6" long 1/4 - 1/2" deep slice should do the trick. The key is to be confident, go quick, and don't overthink it... lol.
24. Now that you totally didn't panic and mess up your score, it's time to put the lid on and place in the oven! The reason we use a dutch oven with a lid is because for the first part of the bake, the dough needs to be in a moist environment to allow the loaf to rise before the sides cook and set. Commercial ovens inject steam, but we can't do that at home, so a dutch oven is next best thing.
    
    Drop the oven temp to 450° and set a timer for 🕐 20 minutes.
25. After the 20 minutes are up, remove the lid and set a timer for 🕐 10 minutes. This is the best part.. the big reveal to see how your score turned out and how much oven spring you got.
26. After the 10 minutes are up, rotate the dutch oven 180° to ensure an even cook, and set another timer for 🕐 10 minutes
27. At this point your loaf should be close to done! Oven temps can vary a bit so you might need somewhere between 🕐 5 - 10 minutes more. The classic way to determine whether a loaf is done is to tip it out and whack the bottom with your thumb like you would strike a drum. It should make a relatively hollow thud if it's done.
28. Tip the loaf onto a wire rack if you have one and let cool at least 10 minutes or preferably an hour or two (if you can wait that long).

notes:

• Be mindful of drafts in your workspace. They can dry out the loaf and cause a skin to form. If there is a draft you can't control, drape a floured towel over your loaf to prevent it from drying out.
• Make sure your dutch oven's lid is rated for 500°
• Your first couple loaves will inevitably be a bit ugly or not meet expectations, but it should still taste great. Mine certainly weren't beautiful. You'll get better quick with a few under your belt!
• Generally speaking handling a wetter dough like this takes quick confident moves. It comes with practice!