Back in January 2020, I started baking sourdough bread. I had no specific reason beyond resuming a hobby from the 1990's in Westford, a suburb of Boston. We had returned from a trip to France where the bread is universally excellent. It is so good that bread is not some mere addition to a meal but an element of the meal just like the meat, the spices, and the vegetables. I thought I would try to recreate the crusty, chewy, holey bread of France. A lofty goal, but maybe I could get close enough for daily use. This was before the Time of COVID. We heard odd snippets of reports out of Wuhan, but surely we would be protected by modern medicine.
In resuming my bread-making, I used a simple method to start the sourdough starter using cultured yeast and then let it go wild on the kitchen counter. Many recipes are available and I started with a simple one. A cup of flour, a cup of water, a tablespoon of sugar, a packet or two of dry yeast, and some vigorous stiring. Put the mixture in a Tupperware pitcher and let it sit, open-topped, on the kitchen counter for a few days. Stir periodically, maybe twice a day. The flour is unbleached and organic; in Westford, I used King Arthur's all-purpose but the Redmond Costco provides a flour sourced from Utah that works well. Let the culture bubble and rise a bit as the yeast devours the sugar and starts to work on the flour. Microbes in the kitchen air will join the mix. We hope that these will provide the "sour" portions of the flavor profile while the yeast remains the worker to lift and stretch the gluten formed in the flour. Eventually, the starter will settle down and the morning will bring a layered product at rest. This happens more quickly in warm climates and in the summer, more slowly in cooler climates and in the winter - anything from one to three days. My Tupperware pitcher is translucent, so I can clearly see a white (lightly tan-colored) layer on the bottom and a darker but clear "liquor" on the top with a slightly sourish aroma. Note that my food has an aroma rather than a "smell". I feed the sourdough culture with a cup of flour and a cup of fresh water, then let it sit overnight one more time. The pitcher comes with a close-fitting lid. It is not air- or water-tight, but it protects the starter by limiting evaporation. And it prevents against odd things that might otherwise fall in.
Digression on history. The western pioneers (often seeking gold) carried their sourdough starter in a doughier, drier form. They simply used less water so that the sourdough starter was more like a ball of dough than a liquid. This ball of dough went in the flour barrel and rested on top. Closing the barrel protected the contents from animals. These pioneers took the name "sourdoughs" from the bread that formed a major part of their diets.
Digression on flour measurements. I have always used measuring cups to measure flour in my recipes. I have seen the videos and read the articles about how important it is to weigh flour. I have received all the lectures on packing flour and how the volumetric measurements can vary while weight measurements stay true. I even started to believe this so I bought a scale. I argue that bread is a product of feel, and so weight or volume are simply a starting point that does not require accuracy. Let me repeat that: a scale is not necessary for home baking. As the dough develops, an observant baker will add a little water or or a little flour to adjust the texture to obtain the desired results. Consistency is important, so if you, as a baker, cannot measure flour consistently, you might want to consider a different hobby. So please do not whine at me about grams or weight. Measure your ingredients carefully, volume or weight, and adjust.
To make my bread, I started with the King Arthur Flour recipe and adapted it. I put a cup of my sourdough starter, well stirred, in a mixing bowl and add three cups of flour and 1-1/2 cups of water. I mix this up and loosely cover it to rest overnight. I feed my starter with one cup of flour and one cup of water. When the starter starts to bubble again, I put the lid on the pitcher and return it to the refrigerator after a good stir.
A note on maintaining the starter. When I pull the starter out the refrigerator where it is stored, the starter has settled into two layers. The bottom layer is pretty solid, almost like a potter's clay, and the upper layer is a dark liquid. After pulling the starter from the refrigerator, I stir it to mix the two layers. It takes a minute or two to stir the layers together, but keep mixing until the starter is uniform. Then I feed the starter as noted above. This regular feeding makes more volune than the one cup of starter that I withdrew for the bread, so I periodically skip a feeding or go to half-and-half on the flour and water so that the level of the starter does not overflow the container. After feeding, I let the starter sit overnight, then store it in the refrigerator for up to three weeks before feeding again. If you need to go longer than three weeks between feedings, either dry out some starter or freeze some. I think the starter can go months in the refrigerator between feedings, but having a backup is prudent.
Let the starter-flour-water mix sit overnight, covered loosely, to develop. By the next day, the "slack" dough should be showing a lot of bubbles. This is the risk of sourdough - sometimes the yeast just does not want to work, but this is extremely rare and often indicates some mishandling (e.g., a too cold kitchen). A "slack" dough is simply a dough that has a lot of water in it, it is very pourable. To the dough, add a cup of flour. On the flour, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar and a half tablespoon of salt. The sugar is to feed the yeast and the salt is mainly for flavor. Common advice is that you do not want the sugar or salt to touch the dough directly, thus the comment about "on the flour". (I made a salt-free bread, but the flavor is not right. That said, if no-salt is required, leave it out.) Add a second cup of flour on top of the sugar and salt. Start mixing. I like to use a rubber spatula (probably one made from silicone, but I still call it a rubber spatula). You want a generally uniform mix, but you do not have to be a perfectionist. It is too easy to leave unmixed flour on the bottom, so keep mixing and turning the dough until it is broadly uniform, especially at the bottom. In times of low humidity, the flour will be dry and need some help. I add anyting from a tablespoon to a quarter-cup of water to smooth out the dough, either at this point or after the first kneading.
I combine my dough in a mixer bowl because I use a breadhook to knead. I used to do it by hand, but the slacker (wetter) doughs are hard to handle and a mixer makes it easier.
So take that dough and knead by hand or mount the bowl on the mixer stand. I knead for 4-5 minutes, in either mode, then let the dough rest for 4-5 minutes and knead again for a final 4-5 minutes. The goal is to get smooth, elastic dough that is well mixed. I let this rise in the mixer bowl for 1-2 hours. I set a timer for one hour and check how the rise is going. To control the temperature, I put the dough in an unheated oven and turn on the oven light; the oven light keeps the temperatures around 90F, which works well for me. Some ovens have a "warm" or "rise" temperature setting, but I find this is too warm and it encourages the bread dough to rise too quickly. After the first hour, check the dough, looking for a doubled volume. If not yet doubled, add 30-60 minutes and check again. If it has doubled, "knock down" or "punch down" the dough. the phrase "punch down" captures the spirit - make a fist and stick it in the middle of the dough, collapsing the air out.
Some bakers will recommend a light kneading or "folding" process at this point. This is "to build the structure" of the dough. I find this is not necessary. Handle the dough enough to collapse the air bubbles and you are good. Handling a slack dough is hard, the dough is sticky, so I try to handle it as little as possible.
Do a general folding (repeated folding of the dough will squeeze out the bubbles) and shaping. I like a boule, a ball-shaped loaf, so I drop the defalted dough into a dutch oven pot. You can cut the dough into long loaves to get baguette shapes, or cut pieces of dough to fit into rectangular bread loaf pans - up to your preference. The boule gives an artistic sense of "peasant" and "rustic" that I like, so that is my usual choice.
If you leave it too long, the dough will rise and collapse, leaving you with a dished top. All is not lost, just do the folding and be more attentive during the second rise. The dough is robust and will usually recover in the second rise.
I usually do a second rise in the dutch oven pot. This second rise is said to develop the flavor of the bread but you can skip the second rise if you are busy. I line the dutch oven with a piece of parchment paper to minimize any sticking. You can also grease the dutch oven, but I find the parchment paper to be more reliable. I just let the excess paper stick out the top and will later use the "ears" to pull the bread from the dutch oven when baking is done.
After much experimentation, I find the dutch oven to be an important tool. It helps maintain and control the shape of the loaf, and it seems to help the crunchy crust develop. Alternatively, I used to put the parchment paper on a baking sheet and plop the boule in the middle of the sheet. This works well, but the slack dough tends to spread out while the dutch oven will hold the circle and encourage the dough to rise. The baking sheet bread tends to be shorter and the dutch oven encourages taller bread. I prefer the later. Furthermore, the lid of the dutch oven helps to keep in moisture while baking, and that seems to help the crust develop. Professional bakeries have ovens that will inject steam during baking and the dutch oven will do something similar with the moisture already in the dough. There is nothing special about the dutch oven - you can use the steel dutch oven that came with your cookset, get a fancy French enamelled dutch oven, or use a camping-style cast iron dutch oven. Just choose one that is large enough for your loaf (about 5-6 quarts) and has an oven-safe lit and handles.
For the second rise, put the lid on the dutch oven and return it (containing the dough) to the warm oven. Again, I use the oven light and do not turn on the oven. Be careful to watch the second rise for that doubling in size. Unlike the first rise, it is difficult to recover an over-risen dough on the second rise; you will either need a third rise or will need to make do with a concave loaf (tastes fine but looks funny).
You can skip the second rise if you are in a hurry. I also skip the slashing of the dough and let it crack naturally as the bread bakes.
When the rising is done, it is time to bake the bread. I start from a cold oven. In fact, I have the bread rising in the oven, sitting in the dutch oven, and just turn on the oven to bake. I do not recall what source suggested it, but it works fine to start baking in a cold oven wiht the lid on the dutch oven. Set the oven to 450F and set a timer for 25 minutes. The oven temperature will rise to 450F during the 25 minutes and the bread will continue to rise a bit within the dutch oven, eventually starting to form that crust in the steamy environment within. After 25 minutes, remove the lid from the dutch oven and reset the timer for another 25 minutes.
After 50 minutes overall, your bread is done when you decide the top is suitable brown. Pull the lidless dutch oven from the oven. I remove the bread from the dutch oven using the "ears" of the parchment paper. Leaving the bread in the dutch oven too long will allow escaping moisture to make the loaf soggy.
After cooling for an hour or so, I slice boule in half. Although the slices will vary in size, it is easy to slice slices from the demiloaf.
Variations. When the dough is slack, the air bubbles in the final bread will tend to be larger and the texture will be closer to rustic bread. A dry dough is easier to handle in the baking process and produces finer bubbles, producing a texture closer to commercial bread. You can experiment to find your favorite texture. And instead of a boule, you can shape the bread to regular loafs or baguettes as noted before. You can also use the dough to make pizza or focaccia on a baking sheet. Finally, you can make dinner rolls. I suppose one can make hamburger buns but I have never tried it. The sourdough flavor and texture improve all these forms.
The original King Arthur Flour recipe has one add baking soda to the dough with the sugar and salt. I just started leaving it out and have not gone back. You do not need the baking soda.
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