Keths Basic Sourdough Bread Recipes

Steps:

• See the videos and photos above for target dough consistency, expansion during the rising periods, and shaping and scoring techniques.
• Early in the day, build 100g sourdough starter by feeding 30g starter with 35g flour and 35g water. Allow this to ripen over the next 3-6 hours. When the starter is at least double in size, it is ready to use in your dough.
• Mix the dough ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover, let the dough sit for about 15 minutes, and then stretch and fold the dough, forming it into a smooth ball.
• Cover the dough and let it rise (bulk ferment) until it has almost doubled in size. At warm temps (low 80s) my dough doubled in 4 hours. Colder dough may need twice or more that time.
• Flour your work surface and scrape your dough out of the bowl and onto the flour.
• Shape your dough into a boule, sandwich loaf, or whatever shape you prefer.
• While the dough rests on it's seam for a minute or so, flour your proofing basket. If you don't have a proofing basket, you can use a colander or bowl lined with a well-floured tea towel. If using a loaf pan, oil it or line it with parchment paper.
• Place the dough in your proofing basket seam-side up, or in your loaf pan seam-side down.
• Cover and let the dough rise again (final proof) for about 30 minutes at room temperature and then refrigerate the dough overnight (8-16 hours). You can also leave the dough at room temperature for longer (1-2 hours) and then bake it without the refrigeration stage. For baking in a loaf pan, let the dough rise almost completely before refrigerating it (1-2 hours) or bake it same-day.
• Artisan Style Bread Baking Instructions
• Preheat your oven and baking vessel at 500F for 30 minutes.
• Flip the dough out of the proofing basket and onto a sheet of parchment paper or the base of your hot baking vessel, score, cover, and return the vessel to the oven.
• If your baking vessel is a ceramic cloche, bake at:
• 500°F for 20 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 5 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 5-10 minutes, lid off
• If your baking vessel is cast iron, bake at:
• 500°F for 15 minutes lid on and then place a baking sheet under the cast iron on the same shelf
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 5-10 minutes, lid off
• When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature of at least 205F and it should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf.
• Loaf Pan Baking Instructions
• Preheat your oven to 375F for about 15 minutes.
• Brush the top of the dough with water and place it in the oven on the middle shelf.
• Bake for 50-60 minutes, turning the pan halfway if the bread is browning unevenly. To firm up the bottom and sides of the loaf, take it out of the loaf pan for the last 5-10 minutes.
• When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature of at least 200F.
• Brush the still-warm crust with butter or oil to keep it soft.
• Ideally, these loaves should cool for about 2 hours before slicing but I completely understand if you want to dive right into your steaming bread.

Steps:

• Sponge: Mix together the starter, the water, and 1 1/2 cups flour in a reasonably sized bowl. A slightly bigger bowl is always better. After all, this sponge is supposed to rise, and much as you want it to rise well, you don't want it to rise out of the bowl! (This is also something to watch out for when you feed your sourdough starter.)
• Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. If the cloth is dry, then the top of the sponge will dry out slightly as it ferments. Let it sit until foamy. The time of this is bound to vary considerably, depending on the starter. With my starter, it usually takes about 15 hours to get it really foamy. However long it takes, don't let it sit for too long. Too many cookbooks say to let it sit for a time that's too long, and by then the yeast's activity is way down, and the lactobacilli damage the gluten. If that happens, the bread almost certainly won't rise, at least not as much.
• Dough: Add the salt and the rest of the flour. Knead well. In the middle of kneading, wash out the bowl. This gives the gluten in the dough a chance to relax, and will make kneading it easier. Let rise in a greased bowl, covered by a damp dishtowel. When it's finished rising, punch it down. How long it takes for the dough to rise depends on your sourdough starter. Test the dough to see if it's done by prodding it with a finger. If your finger hardly dents it, it isn't done. If it leaves a depression that doesn't start filling in, the dough is ready for the next step.
• Lightly grease a baking sheet, or sprinkle it with cornmeal. (I prefer the texture of the bottom crust with the cornmeal. Also, the baking sheet is much easier to clean.) Shape, place on the baking sheet, and let rise again, still covered. Just before putting it in the oven, slash the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. This is more than just decorative; it allows the bread to rise better. If you don't slash it, the upper crust could lift off the bread (called a "flying crust"). (It does take some practice to slash the bread well.)
• Bake in a 425 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Let cool on a rack before cutting, or the bread won't be fully cooked inside.
• Variations:.
• Egg-Onion Sourdough: Before you add the salt to the sponge, mix in 2 eggs and 4 tbs. dried minced onion. This recipe produces a much larger loaf than the basic one, so you may want to divide it into two loaves.
• Oatmeal Sourdough: Replace the water you add to the sponge with 3/4 cups rolled oats cooked in 1 cup water. The oats don't make the loaf heavier than usual. This bread has an interesting taste, but it doesn't have a strong oatmeal flavor. The crust is wonderful, dark and crisp. The oats aren't very visible in the final product.
• Cheese-Pepper Sourdough: Add two oz. shredded gruyere and ½ teaspoons ground black pepper to the dough, just before you add the salt. (I've always used processed gruyere. Unprocessed would work too, but it might not blend into the bread's crumb as well. The crust is the best part, so this recipe would be very good as breadsticks.) I bet cheddar or parmesan would be good, too.