This page is presented in something of a narrative fashion. I feel that like most things in life, making sourdough bread is more than just a mechanical process. So, if you don’t mind doing a bit of reading, watching some homemade videos (often accompanied with music) and dealing with my, at times, erratic sense of humor, then “WELCOME”!
Table of Contents
- Considerations and Hints.
- Why should I bother when I can just buy it off the shelf?
- Making starter ‘from scratch’.
- Alternatives to making your own starter.
- While your waiting – equipment and tools you’ll need.
- Moving your pre-starter to mature starter.
- Maintaining a Mature Starter.
- Preparing a basic Sourdough loaf.
VIDEO: How to stretch and fold. - Bake it!
VIDEO: How to Score.
VIDEO: How to put it in the oven. - Jazz it up – add your own healthy options.
- Keeping it fresh.
Considerations and Hints
WATER: While you can use tap water, I’ve been using Topo Chico Mineral Water, but just about any mineral or bottled water will be better than tap water.
If you do use mineral water, it’ll fizz as soon as it hits the dry ingredients. That’s normal.
When you add the water and start mixing, you’ll likely find you’ll need more than 350g. After you’ve addled and mixed the 350g of water, add additional water in small amounts (a tablespoon or two at a time). When all the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough and, when you whisk, you get a sound similar to pulling your boot out of a mud hole, stop adding water. While this process may sound tedious, if you get too much water in you’ve no way to get it back out again.
If you are thermometer dependent, lukewarm water is about 100 degrees F.
TOOLS: Getting a Danish Dough Whisk (Amazon, under $10) will make mixing much easier.
While your at it, fork out another Hamilton also get a bread lame (basically, it’s a razor blade on a stick). Also under $10.
SALT: Use Kosher or Sea Salt. If using coarse Kosher or coarse sea salt, grind it in a mortar/pestle first. Or, dissolve the salt in a small amount of water, but make sure you don’t exceed 250g of total liquid when you first add water.
Table (iodized) salt is not recommended, as some say it shifts the flavor. I’ve never tried it.
CONTAINERS: On the Internet you’ll read about the ‘necessity’ of getting a banneton or proofing basket. No need to do so. The same bowl you mixed in will work fine for ‘proofing’ the dough overnight in the ‘fridge.
In fact it may be a good idea NOT get a bannerton, especially one with a cloth liner. I’ve never been able to get the dough not to stick to the cloth liner. Some say using a bamboo bannerton and sprinkling it with rice flour before throwing the dough in will prevent sticking. Didn’t work for me.
COUNTERTOP: Make sure your kitchen counter is completely clean before putting your baking mat down. If there are any crumbs or the like below the mat, it will be difficult to easily slide your dough scraper under the dough to fold it.
OVEN: If your oven has heating elements on the bottom, consider placing a pizza stone or several layers of aluminum foil on the rack below the rack you’ll bake on. This will help prevent burning the bottom of the loaf. Bottom burning shouldn’t be an issue with top-mounted heating elements.
So why should I bother when I can just buy it?
Because YOU can do better than what you’ll ever buy in the local supermarket.
Here are a few examples…these from local supermarkets in Carmel, IN.
In the United States food industry, the Food And Drug Administration (seems to) set a priority of shelf life and speed/cost of manufacturing over healthy ingredients. The bread baking industry is more than happy to take advantage of this. If you make your own sourdough bread, your ingredient list is far more likely to look like this:
- Bread Flour
- Wheat Flour
- Water
- Sourdough starter (which is nothing more than fermented water and flour)
- A bit of salt.
Just the essentials that have been used in making sourdough bread for a few thousand years.
AND, the ability to control the taste is now in your hands. You can make it more sour tasting, denser, spongier, change the shape, and so on.
ABOVE ALL…ABOVE ALL…DO IT FOR YOURSELF!
It’s something to be proud of.
Making starter ‘from scratch’
HOW TO BEGIN
The nice thing about making sourdough starter from scratch is that you just need a few things, flour, water, a jar and, preferably, a reasonably warm kitchen. Lacking the latter, you may need a heater of some sort. But first, it’ll be quite useful if you have a thermometer.
Before doing anything else, set your thermometer on your kitchen counter (NOT right above your dishwasher when your dishwasher is running), give a several minutes to stabilize.
If your kitchen is at about degrees or more, you are ‘good to go’.
If it’s not, well, there are work arounds. We’ll discuss those shortly.
In either case, the recipe that has worked for me is presented below.
GATHER THE FOLLOWING
- All Purpose Flour (preferably King Arthur brand).
- Whole Wheat Flour (preferably King Arthur brand).
- A jar you can see through (glass).
- A ‘breathable’ lid for your jar (to let gas out and keep fruit flies out).
- A kitchen scale (one that preferably reads in grams).
NOTE: I prefer King Arthur flour because, 1) It’s an Employee Owned company, 2) their product do not contain potassium bromate, a possible carcinogen (which is banned in the EU).
PUT IT TOGETHER
- Weigh your container. Write it down somewhere.
- Put 75 grams of whole-wheat flour into it.
- Put in 75 grams of all-purpose flower.
- Stir the dry ingredients.
- Add 150 grams of lukewarm water.
- Mix it all up with a fork or some other utensil.
- Put your breathable cover on it.
- Write down the time.
- Twenty-four to 36 hours later, take a look at it. If it has expanded and has bubbles on the top, your off to a good start!
The heater is set at 82 degrees, the strip thermometer shows 77 degrees, as does a ‘real’ thermometer stuck into the starter.
UH, THAT DIDN’T WORK.
No bubbles, no increase in volume??? The problem is most certainly temperature.
Some workarounds.
1. If your oven has a light inside (and it’s not an LED light…those don’t get warm), turn the light on, sit your starter jar inside, and close the door. This may give your starter a warm enough environment to grow.
2. Find the warmest spot in your house. If you are in a multi-story, this will likely be somewhere upstairs. Place your starter there.
3. Get a warmer (see photo immediately above). You can find these on Amazon for not a lot of money.
4. You might try a heating mat used for staring seedlings. I use one to start seedlings, but have not for sourdough starter.
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO FOOL WITH HEATERS, as mentioned above, some have had luck by just leaving it on the counter and throwing a towel over it. My theory about why this works (I’m a meteorologist by education, not a chemist) is that the same chemical reaction that is making the pre-starter grow is also producing a bit of heat, and a towel thrown over the container may be just enough to trap some of that heat.
ANYWAY…
If you do have bubbles and volume has increased, stir it up and let it sit for 24 more hours. If you feel that it might overflow the container, just dump some out.
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ALTERNATIVES TO MAKING YOUR OWN ‘FROM SCRATCH’ STARTER
If you don’t want to make your own starter, you have a few options.
- Buy some.
- Get some from a friend.
You can buy starter from many sources. I recommend King Arthur (clicking this link will open a new window) but there are many others.
Or, connect with someone locally. They’ll probably give it to you for free.
You can also cheat, and add yeast. I’ve not done this so can’t say how well it works.
BAKING UTENSILS
Like many things in life, making Sourdough Bread can be as expensive or as economical as you choose to make it. Dutch Ovens being one example.
THE LOAF NEST
Specifically designed for sourdough, The Loaf Nest has some nice features, among those being the silicon mat that you pour the dough into. It won’t stick to the pan or to the loaf. Once you take your loaf out of the oven it’s easy to peel the mat off the loave, and you end up with a very nice looking loaf. The Loaf Nest is made of cast iron which is what you want. It’s dishwasher safe (although I’ve never had to do any more than wipe it out with a damp cloth to clean it) and is pretty much maintenance-free.
One the other hand, it’s not cheap, just shy of $200 on Amazon.
NORTHRIVER CASTING DUTCH OVEN
An economical alternative to the Loaf Nest. It’s also cast iron but has no silicon liner. The lack of a liner isn’t a show stopper, as one can use parchment paper.
For that extra ‘Artisan’ look, consider a round Dutch Oven…
ROUND DUTCH OVENS
Nothing says you have to make a rectangular loaf. There are many Dutch Ovens that are circular or oblong. Some people like the ‘artisan’ look that a round loaf provides. Search the usual internet sources of your local cookware shop.
Make sure that you get something made of cast iron.
Making your pre-starter a Mature Starter
1. Dump your pre-starter into another container.
2. Clean out your starter container.
3. Weigh the container while empty (important!). After you weight it, label it with the empty weight.
4. Pour about half of your pre-starter back into the container. Once done, weigh it again. Do the subtraction and you now know how much starter you have in grams. Write it down.
5. Weigh out some all-purpose flour until you have as much, by weight, as your have pre-starter. E.g., if you starter weighs 60 grams, weigh out 60 grams of all-purpose flour, then dump it in with your starter.
6. Weigh our the same weight of water as you have pre-starter (the weight before you added the flour). In the case of our example, 60 grams of water.
7. Pour the water in and mix thoroughly.
8. Mark the level of your new mixture. Doesn’t have to be exact, you’ll just want to be able to tell if its growing.
9. Put the cover back on your jar, then put it on your heater, throw a towel over it, or do whatever you did to get your starter growing in the first place.
10. When roughly 24 hours has past, take a look. If your starter grew (it should about double in volume), dump out about half of it, reweigh (don’t forget to subtract out the weight of the container), then add that amount by weight of flour and water. Mix it all up, mark the new level, put it in your warm spot, and give it a day.
11. Repeat step 10 for about four or five more days. At some point it won’t double anymore, but will still grow. That’s normal.
If all of the above went well, your starter is ‘grown’ and you can switch to maintenance feeding.
Maintaining a mature starter
Keeping your mature starter alive is fairly simple. Following this procedure once a week (doing it more than twice a week is overkill) will keep your starter healthy are ready to use.
- ‘Discard’ about half of your starter, no need to be precise here. Just dump about half of it out.
NOTE: If you like baking other things, you can make pancakes, pizza crust, muffins, donuts, banana bread and much more out of the discard. I’ve never made anything from discard (yet), so I’ve no experience doing it. - Put your starter, still in the jar, on your scale and weigh it (hopefully you weighed your container when it was empty). Do the math to figure out how much starter, in grams, is in the jar.
- Add the same amount of all-purpose flour to your starter (for example, if you have 120g or starter in your jar, add 120g or flour).
- Add the same amount of water, by weight, as you had starter before you added the flour. The idea hear is to maintain the 1:1:1 ration (starter/flour/water).
- Mix it all up.
- Mark the level.
- Let it sit on you counter for a few/several hours until you see it growing.
- Put it in the ‘frdge.
- Repeat once to twice a week.
You’ve been thru a lot…
What with sitting on needles and pins to see if your from-scratch starter would ‘take’ ( possibly having to try it a few times). Moving it from place to place, trying different methods of keeping it warm. Your fingers are sore from keeping them crossed, you’ve nearly exhausted your supply of rabbit’s feet. Then, after all that, feeding it for several days to get it up to ready-to-use status.
Your starter is ready, and so are you.
So now…yes...finally NOW, you are ready to make some bread!
Let’s make this!
Sourdough Bread Recipe V1.2
NOTE: While not strictly necessary, you’ll get a spongier loaf if you feed your starter about eight hours before using it.
Ingredients:
450g bread flour
50g whole wheat flour
10g sea salt or kosher salt
100g active sourdough starter
350g lukewarm water
Instructions:
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add the starter.
3. Add the water and mix.
4. When mixed well, put a slightly damp towel over the bowl and let is sit on the counter for about a half hour.
5. Dampen your baking mat, put the dough on it, do two stretch and folds, dump it back in the bowl and cover it.
Here’s how:
6. Wait about 30 minutes.
7. Repeat step 5 three more times, pausing about 30 minutes between each stretch/fold session, for a total of four stretch and folds.
8. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with the damp cloth and let it sit on your counter for several hours. You’ll see it increase in volume.
9. In the evening, put the bowl (with the towel still over it) into the ‘fridge overnight.
BAKING DAY HAS ARRIVED!
1. When you are ready to bake the next day, pull the bowl out of of the ‘fridge and sit it on your counter. It can sit on the counter for a few hours. It’s a bit easier to pour into the Dutch oven it it has warmed up some, but this isn’t a requirement.
2. You’ll want to ‘heat soak’ your Dutch oven (including the lid), so place it in the oven with the top and bottom separated, turn the oven on to 450 degrees and let it preheat for about 45 minutes.
3. Score the dough.
Scoring is simply creating a path of least resistance for the gasses to escape that will be produced during baking.
Here’s how:
Drag the razor blade across the dough about 1/4 inch or so deep. One or two passes are all that’s needed.
4. Since I have a spare baking pan I use as a mold, I pour the dough into the mold (with the parchment paper pressed carefully into all the corners of the mold so as not to tear it). score it, removed the preheated Dutch oven from the oven, lift the parchment/dough combination out of the mold, set it into the Dutch oven, put the cover on and put it back in the oven. Like this:
5. Set a timer for 40 minutes.
6. Find something else to do until the timer goes off.
7. When the timer goes off, removed the lid from the Dutch oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes (set your timer)!
8. Time’s up! Turn your oven off, pull out the Dutch oven, lift the loaf out, pull the parchment paper off, and sit the loaf on a cooling rack (or anything else that will allow air to get under it). and give it a few hours to cool.
ENJOY!
Jazz it up – make it yours.
Like Tchaikovsky and high heels, sourdough ‘additives’ go in and out of fashion. Some popular choices are:
- Flaxseed
- Chia Seed
- Hemp Seed Hearts
- Sunflower Kernels
- Raisins
- Walnuts
- Chocolate chips (???)
- Roasted Garlic
- Olives (not me! I hold these in reserve for martinis)
- Just about anything else you can think of or dare to try.
Some makers recommend adding these enhancers during the stretch and fold process. I add mine during the initial mix as I think this gives them some extra time to hydrate. Possibly it doesn’t make any difference.
If you find that your sourdough loaf isn’t as ‘sour’ as you might like, the easy fix is to add a half tablespoon of citric acid when you are mixing the dry ingredients. You can also extend the ‘proofing’ time in the refrigerator from overnight to a few days, as well as using a bit less starter.
THE TAKEAWAY: Each kitchen is different, each baker is different, and each taste bud is different. Experiment!
Make it yours!
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Keeping it Fresh
Having no preservatives, your sourdough bread won’t have the shelf life on you common commercially made bread.
So, unless you can consume an entire loaf in less than a week, you’ll want a way to keep it fresh.
DON’T DO THIS: Put it in the refrigerator.
While it might seem counterintuitive, refrigerating your creation will make it spoil more quickly than it will at room temperature.
DO THIS: Get one of these…
The bread box pictured above works well. It has a floor with holes, which helps prevent condensation on the bottom. On top there is a circular calendar with sliders so you can record the day and month (???) your put the bread in.
The lid has a gasket that, when you lock the four clamps down, provides a really good seal. Maybe too good…sometimes visible moisture will condense on the inside of the lid. The easy remedy is to unlock the lid and skew it a bit to let the moisture evaporate. When the moisture is gone, put the lid back on properly.
In practice, I’ve found that just locking the two end clamps works really well. You probably don’t even need to do that as the seal is pretty good as long as you put the lid on straight, but not clamped.
This page is a work in progress, so check back as frequently as you like for updates. I’ll find a way to highlight the updates so you won’t have to suffer thru reading it all over again to see what’s changed.
All the best!
John
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All photos, except otherwise noted, are courtesy of the author. john@theastroimager.com