**Warning: I ended up splitting this into a couple of posts. Sourdough is complicated, but SO worth it.**
Since I started practicing breadmaking about 2 months ago, I've had more success than I'd ever dreamed. It's been so exciting and has inspired me to get more adventurous. Which is what led me to want to try Sourdough. Not just baking the bread, but creating my own Starter!
Last night I prepared the Levain and now today, I'm making my first loaf of Sourdough bread!
I'm a researcher at heart, so I've been reading information and recipes all over the place. Currently, I'm focusing on Sourdough Bread from The Kitchn but I'm sure over time I'll develop more of my own style. But my general practice when learning anything new (not just baking), is to start with what someone else has perfected, determine what I like and don't like about the result, and make adjustments as necessary.
Sourdough was daunting to learn. There was a TON of information to process and understand and "unpack" for a casual, beginning baker. And it's quite possible that some of this is wrong or at least not complete. I'll learn and we'll learn together.
The super-high-level overview of making a sourdough loaf is this:
- Starter
- This is simply flour and water, left out to capture wild yeast.
- This part takes the place of packaged yeast.
- You can purchase it online, or get it from a friend, or make your own! I made my own which meant I started this bread over a week ago. Now that I have a starter, I will be able to make this whenever I want, provided I take good care of my starter. It's a bit like a pet - and a lot of baker's name their starters.
- Levain
- This step combines a small amount of the starter with some of the flour and water for the full recipe and sits overnight (or for 8-12 hours).
- Because of the nature of wild yeast, it takes longer to work. Active Dry yeast and Instant yeast from the store are designed to work quickly, while this process is letting things happen naturally. No rushing this bread, really.
- I put mine together last night.
- Prepping the dough: proofing, kneading, and forming
- There are many methods here. I've chosen a variation of the "no knead" idea which includes:
- Autolyse - This step lets the flour hydrate and glutens develop without getting cut up by the salt. At this point, all the ingredients except the salt and a small amount of water are in the bowl.
- Stretch & Fold - Instead of kneading in a traditional sense, the dough is gently stretched and folded back onto itself in order to develop the gluten gently and not overwork the dough. It takes TIME - 2.5 hours for this stage alone!
- Proofing baskets/bowls - Because the dough tends to be more sticky/wet than a traditional bread dough, it needs a little help staying put while rising. It also takes a lot longer to rise, so can lose the shape you spent time creating. Using bowls, or baskets (bannetons) helps control this stage.
- Baking
- There are lots of ways to do this. Each baker I read had differing opinions... it was complicated.
- I decided to stick with what I could do with the equipment I have on hand and that has a chance at producing a loaf I'll enjoy. If this becomes something I do regularly, I'll invest in a couple of dutch ovens, probably.
- Lots of people use dutch ovens or other covered bakeware. I happen to have an enamel pot with a lid that is able to be used for this kind of baking (I checked). For this first attempt, I'll bake it in this. I might do the second loaf freeform on a sheet pan, since I don't have 2 pots. Or maybe turn it into a bunch of small mini-loafs or rolls. We'll see. Still several hours to go before that decision needs to be made.
So that's the background to what's happening in my kitchen as I type this. At least one more post tonight, possibly two. It'll depend on how long it ends up being with the full recipe, instructions, and pictures! Thanks for hanging out with me in my kitchen while I practice what I'm learning to love!
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| Current state of my dough, almost done with the S&F phase |
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