Quarantine Comfort--Easy Sourdough Bread

Welcome back, friends!

I apologize for posting later than I had intended--health issues and drama continue to find us in quarantine, but we're looking at positives! I hope everyone is hanging in there, finding small and big things that make you feel as calm and safe as possible during these critical times. And hopefully by now, you have nurtured your very own starter to life (If you haven't made your starter yet, click HERE for the post)! Are you ready to make some bread?

Well, you're going to have to wait a little longer. I promise, it is absolutely going to be worth it. Sourdough bread is a long process that continues the fermentation journey you've started with your Mother/Starter (have you named yours? Leave it in the comments!)

Most people buy their sourdough in the local supermarket, or stop by their favorite bakery. As such, the process behind such a unique flavor is often left untouched by those who purchase. Slow fermentation, while time-consuming, produces complex flavors and textures to your bread. What we call "retardation", the slowing down of fermentation, is key to producing a proper "sour" sourdough. There are a few ways to retard dough, but the main method is just to pop it into the fridge, covered (fridge air sucks moisture out of your dough).

As such, the steps are simple, but take much longer than a quick-fermented loaf of bread, which might only take a couple of hours from mixing to popping the bread into the oven (A quick-ferment loaf recipe is in your future, too, don't worry). Basically, this sourdough will take some planning ahead of time, and you will certainly have time in between steps. To skip ahead to the formula, click HERE.

Sourdough Notes & Steps

Let's begin with your starter. You've fed it for a week straight and it's nice and foamy; it's a bubbly, happy Mother! Make sure that when you make your bread, that you have been feeding your starter for at least two days. It should rise after being fed, and fall back down again. Your bread won't rise if your starter isn't ready. It should have that sour smell, lots of bubbles, and should be at least doubling in size after feedings. If you find this isn't the case, feed your starter again and you can check it again after about 4-12 hours.

This recipe calls for a full cup of starter. "But all you had us make was a cup of starter!" I know, poor planning on my part. However, this gives me an opportunity to explain how you can grow your starter! All you have to do is discard some of your starter like usual, but instead of adding one half cup each of water and flour, add a full cup. That's it. After that feeding, continue to discard and feed your starter with a half cup each of water and flour. After a few days, you'll have that bubbly starter ready to make you some delicious bread!

I want to take a second to talk about measuring your ingredients. I know many of you probably don't have a kitchen scale, but let me tell you, it is a WORTHY investment. Measuring by weight is always going to be more accurate. Why? Consider this: a cup of water isn't going to weigh the same as a cup of honey or a cup of flour. Volume isn't always accurate. Everyone has different ways of measuring into cups--scooping, spooning, etc. And everyone's cups might be different. Weight is always the same. But again, maybe you don't have a kitchen scale. I've done the work for you and put the ingredients in volume as well as grams. If you're looking into scales, I highly recommend this one:

Escali Kitchen Scale available on Amazon HERE.

Let's get down to business ("To defeat... THE HUNS"). Start by mixing all of your liquids (water, starter, honey, and olive oil) in the bottom of a mixing bowl, and add all of the dry ingredients on top, EXCEPT the salt. Salt can be another way to retard dough, or even control a rise with too much yeast. That is not our goal with the salt, though. Salt is amazing for flavor, but it can completely kill yeast in higher concentrations. To get an amazing rise in your bread, you're going to barely mix your wet and dry ingredients until just combined... and let it sit. This process called "autolyse" can take 30 minutes in a warm kitchen or up to an hour or so. This allows for the water to be absorbed by the flour, allowing for better texture, rise, and flavor. The gluten will develop easier, as well, which means you won't have to mix the dough as much (helps for those who are doing the whole process by hand!).

After the autolyse, toss in the salt and finish mixing. You can either oil the mixing bowl or grab a clean one (I like the least amount of dishes left over to clean) and lightly oil the entire surface of the dough. It will then sit, loosely covered with plastic wrap for 2 hours. Every 30 minutes within 2 hours, you'll perform a fold on the dough.

If you look at your dough from above, you'll gently grab underneath the top (North) side of the dough, stretch it, and fold it over the middle. Do the same with the bottom (South) side. That is one fold. After another 30 minutes, you'll do the same fold with the left and right sides (East & West). This will be repeated every 30 minutes for a total of 4 folds, 2 in each direction. This is a pretty wet dough, but you should notice the dough becoming more and more elastic as the gluten develops from the rise and the folding!

Gently stretch the dough up...

... And over.

After that, it's a waiting game. After 1 more hour of rest at room temperature, pop that dough (covered, of course--we don't want the dough to form a dry skin!) into the refrigerator overnight, or at least 12 hours. This makes up the retarding process we mentioned earlier. And the waiting. But again, it will be worth it!

After 12 hours of rest, the dough will have grown a bit more, and you should really smell that sour aroma. The dough will need time to come to room temperature before you shape it, which usually takes about an hour. Once it reaches that temperature, lightly flour a surface ("lightly" is key; we want a little friction to help shape our dough, but not too much that it sticks!) and turn the dough out of the bowl. This sourdough can be shaped a few different ways, but for this recipe, we're going to shape it into a boule, French for "ball". So call it what you will: a ball, a boule, it's a round loaf!

Here's a short video of a basic method for shaping a boule, but the idea is pretty simple. You start by making a triangle shape with your dough, and cross all three corners into the middle. After you pinch those corners together to make what we call a "seam", flip that dough over so the seam is on the floured surface. Cup your hands around and behind the top of your dough, and force it it towards you. Turn the dough 90º and repeat. Once you get better, you can go a little faster, but you should see a few things happening: You dough will start taking on a round shape, and the surface should start to smooth as it stretches. Be careful not to overshape; you can tell if this happens when the smooth surface breaks. No worries if it does! Just cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes and try again.

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A post shared by Esmé Nicolson-Singh (@redsbreadsandbooks) on May 12, 2020 at 4:49pm PDT

Once you have your beautiful ball of dough, you're going to let it proof in a banneton, typically a wooden proofing basket covered in a floured linen cloth. It's okay if you don't have one, just scrub a linen kitchen towel with some flour, place it in a kitchen bowl and it will work beautifully! Make sure the cloth is linen; even the smallest fibers in cotton can make your dough stick. Loosely cover the dough and let it rest again for another 2 hours in the fridge, or up to 4 hours for extra flavor!

Finally, finally it is time to get ready to bake! There are a few options here. As someone who is used to a professional kitchen with a deck or brick oven complete with steam, it can be a little tricky to get the quality crust and rise in a conventional oven. Luckily, so many people have done the experimentation for you to make sure your bread can be just as tasty! One tip I always swear by is to fill a small cake tin or other oven safe pan with water and keep it in the oven. This water will produce the steam you need to keep the bread's surface moist enough to continue to rise until it forms a firm, crackly crust.

Many will tell you that you can achieve this effect by baking your loaf in a dutch oven. I use my Le Creuset for this sourdough, but you can absolutely bake it on a sheet pan with parchment if you have that pan of water in the oven (I keep the water in my oven for the extra steam, anyways). Whichever method you're using, you'll want to put your dutch oven or sheet pan in the oven to heat up at 450ºF for at least 15 minutes before you're ready to bake. The cold dough reacting to the hot surface causes something called "oven spring". This helps give added rise to your loaf!

With a piece of parchment paper cut just a little bigger than your loaf, flip your cold loaf out of your banneton. Before placing the loaf into/onto your hot dutch oven or sheet pan, score the loaf with a sharp knife or a bread lame, if you have one (pictured below). You can try your hand at different designs, or just do a simple, quick slice down the middle of the loaf. Your knife should be held at a 45º angle to the dough, and your cut should be quick. Your score on the dough is also very important for rising volume in your loaf. It's all about confidence, people. Take a deep breath, and flash that blade through the dough!

This is a lame, an extremely sharp, fixed blade used for scoring. Available on Amazon HERE. 

After you've scored like an absolute champ, carefully use your parchment paper to place the loaf into the dutch oven or on the sheet pan. If using a dutch oven, cover the dough with the lid. If you don't have a lid or are using a baking sheet, lightly brush the top with some warm water for a similar effect. Bake for 30 minutes, then take the lid off. Bake for another 15 minutes to completely form that beautiful crust!

Your house will fill with the mouth-watering bouquet of freshly baked bread. How is that for comfort? After removing the bread from the oven, despite how much you are dying to cut into it... I'm asking you to wait just a little longer. When the bread is still hot, you can hear the crackling, and see the steam rising off of the surface. Your bread is still forming its crumb and texture with the leftover heat from the oven. I usually tell folks to wait at least an hour to cut into bread, but if you absolutely CANNOT wait that long, at least 30 minutes will suffice. Just remember that if it's a little soft, it's not underbaked.

Check out that crust!

And that's it! Your very own sourdough! How cool is that?

Again, folks, thank you for your continued patience with me while I learn how to be more regular with posting. We're all being impacted by the pandemic, some more than others. My biggest concern is being able to reach out and be here for you all, whether you need a new recipe, a comforting dish, a good book, or just need someone to listen. My next post will be about books that bring us comfort, with your help! Either leave a comforting book recommendation here in the comments, or reach out to me on Instagram at @redsbreadsandbooks and let me know what you're reading to feel better right now.

Remember to stay strong, stay safe, and STAY HOME! Don't forget that you are an incredible human being and you can get through this.

Happy reading and baking,

~Red

Sourdough Bread Formula

Dough
Ingredients:
2 cups unchlorinated water at 78-80ºF (472 grams)
2 tsp salt (13 grams)
1 heaping cup (300 grams) active starter
4 1/2 cups bread flour (675 grams)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:
1. Add water and starter to a large mixing bowl, and break up the starter gently with a whisk. Add oil, honey, and flour. Lightly mix (either in a stand mixer or by hand) until the dough is barely incorporated (this is called autolyse). Let sit, covered lightly with plastic wrap or a plastic bag for 30 min-1 hour, depending on the heat in your kitchen.

2. Add the salt. Mix for 5 minutes on medium speed, or by hand for about 10 minutes, until the dough becomes a ball. The dough should "clean" the sides of the bowl.

3. You can either use a different bowl or keep it in the mixing bowl, if there is plenty of room for growth. Let rest, loosely covered for 2 hours, folding every 30 min. (folding means taking the top of the dough, stretching it loosely, and folding it over the middle, and repeating with the bottom. Every fold should alternate between North/South, and East/West folds). You should fold 4 times total. Don't punch down the dough.

4. Let the dough rise again for another hour before loosely covering the bowl with plastic wrap and letting it rest in the fridge for 12 hours, or overnight.

5. Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temp, about 1 hour, depending on your kitchen temp.

6. On a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a ball. Start with the bottom "corners" of your dough and cross one snugly over the other. Take the top, lightly stretching it away and over to meet the crossed corners and pinch the edges together to create a seam. Flip the dough over (should be a loose triangle shape). Lightly cup the top of the dough (fingers down and towards the center) and force the dough slowly forward and under. Turn clockwise and repeat until you have a round ball shape. Double check the bottom of the dough to make sure you still have a seam and pinch it together.

7. In a heavily floured banneton (or use a LINEN dish towel in a bowl), place your dough ball seam side up. Cover loosely and let sit in the fridge another 2 hours, up to 4 hours for added flavor.

8. You can bake this dough a couple of different ways--preferably use a dutch oven with a lid, but if you have a stone baking sheet, or cookie sheet, that can work, as well. Fill a small oven-safe pan with water (I use a six inch cake pan) Preheat your oven to 450ºF. and let your dutch oven/baking sheet heat up for at least 15 minutes and remove when you're ready to bake.

9. Carefully flip your loaf right side up on a piece of parchment paper just big enough for your loaf. Score your loaf with a very sharp paring knife (or bread lame) at a 45º angle. Use whatever design you'd like, or simply make a single score down the middle.

10. Gently place your cold loaf into the hot dutch oven (using the parchment paper), or on the baking sheet. If you don't have a dutch oven lid or are baking it on a sheet, lightly brush the top with water.

11. Bake for 30 minutes, covered for the dutch oven.

12. Remove the lid of the dutch oven and bake for 10-15 more minutes. If using a thermometer, it should reach 210ºF before you take it out.

13. Remove your golden loaf from the dutch oven or from the baking sheet. Let cool for at least an hour before cutting into it.

Enjoy!