Sourdough Bread Recipe
Making bread always seemed like something that was too difficult for the average person to do. I enjoy cooking and baking and I never would try baking bread because I felt it was too difficult for me. And the first few times that you do make bread, it will seem a little time consuming until you figure out how to work the “proofing/fermenting” times into your normal day. But once you do make the bread a few times, then you will be amazed at what you have accomplished and it really did not require much more effort than going to the store and buying a loaf of bread.
The fermentation process is done with a cup of sourdough starter that you keep in the fridge and use over and over again. You feed the starter every week or 2 by removing a half cup of starter (to use to make bread or pancakes) and adding a half cup of flour and a half cup of water. No yeast is used. The only ingredients that I use when I make the bread are:
1/2 cup starter
1/2 cup flour (all purpose unbleached) but you can use whole wheat or whatever flour you like
1/2 cup water
Mix well so it’s all incorporated and let this mixture sit in a bowl to ferment for a few hours. After a few hours you should see lots of bubbles on the surface and it will have a yeast like odor. I cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter. The starter that I used was taken from my fridge where I had a cup of starter sitting in a jar. So when I removed the half cup of starter from the jar, I replaced it with a half cup of flour and a half cup of water and let it sit on my counter for a few hours for the next batch of bread.
When the starter is ready then you can add the other ingredients to the same bowl with the starter:
4 cups flour (you can use any flour you like)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil (you can use any oil you like)
1 cup warm water (not too hot)
Mix until it is all mostly incorporated (I use a wooden spoon), then let it sit for 10 minutes. While it is sitting, get 2 teaspoons of salt ready, I use kosher flake salt but you can use any salt that you like. After 10 minutes add the salt to the dough, I sprinkle a little on top, then turn the dough ball over and sprinkle more salt and turn again and sprinkle a little more salt until I get all the salt added. I try to distribute the salt as best I can so it is not all in one spot. This process of adding the salt after 10 minutes was in the original instructions from the sourdough starter where we purchased it. The bread is good so I continue with that process, I have not tried experimenting with adding the salt to the water, but I have seen bread makers on television do that and I may try it one day.
Now that you added the salt, turn the dough ball out of the bowl onto a floured surface. I use a big wood cutting board that I have and I leave about a cup of flour in the corner to use as needed to add to the dough when kneading. The dough will be fairly sticky so I add some flour to the top and have a scraper (I use a flat spatula) to scrape the dough ball off the wood surface. Now knead the dough for about 2-3 minutes adding a little flour as needed. To knead the dough, I use the heel of my hand to push the down on the doughball then use the other hand to roll the side of the dough to the middle then push down again with the heel of my hand, doing this over and over and adding a little flour as needed so eventually it’s not sticky anymore. Once you do this a few times you will get the feel for how much flour to add and how long to knead it. After a 2-3 minutes of kneading then form the dough into a ball with the “seamed” side down. The seam is where you kneaded the dough together but it has not joined yet to make a smooth surface.
Next have another bowl ready with about 2 teaspoons of olive oil in it so the dough will not stick to it. Now place the dough into the oiled bowl, seam side up first to coat the top of the doughball with oil, then rotate the ball so the seam is on the bottom during the “proofing” process. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 6 to 8 hours. Sometimes I will put it in the microwave because of it’s enclosed space and seems to rise well in there, but you can leave it in any warm place, counter top is fine. I have even let it proof in the fridge overnight and it works fine, it just takes about twice as long for the second proofing before baking.
After the proofing (6-8 hours) the dough should have at least doubled in size, in the summer when it warm the dough even triples in size. If the dough has not doubled in size then maybe your started was not any good. It’s hard to kill the starter, so give it a few more hours to see if it will rise. If it does not rise, the bread will be very dense, still edible but maybe you want to start over.
Turn the proofed dough out onto a floured surface so it will not stick, I then use a knife to cut the big doughball into 2 because I will make 2 loaves of bread. Take one dough ball and sprinkle a little flour on top as it’s a little sticky and push down on the ball with your fingers to remove the gas, then start taking the outside of the flattened ball and turn it toward the middle of the ball, doing this as you go around the ball and forming it into a loaf that you will place into your loaf pan.
I only do this minor kneading process for maybe 30 seconds, then place the loaf shaped dough (seam side down) into my parchment paper lined loaf pans. I don’t use oiled loaf pans, I use a piece of parchment paper that I press into the loaf pan and fold the paper over the edge of the pan and and secure the paper with a wooden clothes pin. This is so the paper stays in the pan for when I place the dough into the loaf pan. Once the dough is in the parchment paper lined pan, I remove the clothes pin and cut the excess paper from the top of the pan with scissors. Same process for the other doughball. Cover the 2 loaf pans with a kitchen towel and let it rise for at least 2 hours before baking the bread. The dough should double in size again. When I let the dough rise overnight in the fridge, I had to let it rise about 4 hours before it doubled, maybe because it was so cold and that slows the fermentation process.
Baking: Heat over to 425 degrees. Have a sharp knife or razor ready to cut the top of the bread before you put it in the oven. When oven is ready, slice a line about 1/2 inch deep lengthwise down the center of the loaf and place it in the over. This gives the bread room to rise in the oven.
Baking instructions:
425 degrees 6 minutes, then turn oven down to 400 degrees and bake for 29 minutes more. When done remove bread from loaf pan and let cool on wire rack.
Sesame seed addition: If you want sesame seeds or any seeds you like on top, take some egg whites and add about a tsp of water and mix well. This is the glue for the seeds. As the oven is heating, brush this egg white wash onto the top of the bread and then sprinkle your seeds on top. When the oven is ready and I slice the bread with my sharp knife, then I add some egg wash to the slice I made and sprinkle some more seeds into the seam.
Good Luck, it seems like a lot but it really is easy and you will figure out how to plan around the proofing/fermentation times. Just try it a few times and see.
