Dough goes in, and after fifty minutes, out comes . . .
BREAD!
I dump the bread out onto a cooling rack, then I let it cool for a few hours and then wrap it up. Cereal bags and twist ties are the best way to wrap it, but if I don't have enough of those, I just put it in two plastic grocery store bags without holes in them.
Although this bread, like all bread, is much better fresh, I still freeze three of the four loaves.
So, a handy summary for you if you don't feel like spending an hour reading the many, many words I just wrote about sourdough:
Step one: Mix together a cup of starter, four cups of flour, and two cups of water. Cover and leave.
Step two: 8-10 hours later, mix together another four cups of flour and two cups of water. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Or, in winter, just leave it on the counter overnight if your kitchen is cool.
Step three: Take out of refrigerator first thing in the morning and let it warm up for a few hours. Or, in winter, get going right away.
Step four: Remove about a cup of starter and put it back in its jar in the refrigerator. Mix in six cups of flour (some whole grain flour here if you want) and 2.5 cups of water. Cover and leave to rise.
Step five: Four hours later, scrape the dough out onto a floured counter and sprinkle over it 4.5 teaspoons salt. Knead it in for about thirty seconds. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover, and leave to rise.
Step six: Two hours later, grease four loaf pans, scrape the dough out onto a floured counter and flip a few times so it's not sticky, then cut into four pieces and put the pieces in the pans. Cover the pans with a damp tea towel and leave to rise.
Step seven: 2-3 hours later, heat oven to 425 degrees, then slash the top of each loaf twice with a serrated knife and put the pans in the oven.
Step eight: About fifty minutes later, take the bread out, flip it out of the pan onto a cooling rack, and allow it to cool all the way before wrapping it up.
Done! (FINALLY)
7 comments:
thank you for this series.
you have helped me.
Thanks. The bread looks SO good.
Thank you! Looks great!
Linda
Thanks. I've wanted to make sourdough bread, and have tried to get a starter going several times, but the instructions I've found have been too picky. I've meant to search your archives for how you make sourdough, because you've never made it seem that way. Now I know. Maybe I'll try again.
Since I do not have to make sandwiches, I make round loaves. Here are two methods: Take two bowl and two squares of parchment paper. Cut your dough into two pieces (remember, I make half as much as Kristin does) and shape each one into a nice ball (that's sort of a pulling, stretching, and folding maneuver)and place it, bunched up side down, on the parchment paper and put it in the bowl. Cover. Let rise. Preheat the oven to 450 or so (lately I've been doing 445); simultaneously preheat two Dutch ovens. When the dough is risen and the oven is up to temperature, extract the Dutch ovens, take the bread and paper out of the bowls, slash the loaves two or three times (hold the knife at an angle rather than cutting straight down) and lift them with the paper carefully into the super hot Dutch ovens. Put on the covers. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Take off the covers and bake them for another 12 or 13 minutes. Or up to 15 if you like quite a well-browned loaf. The paper will not burn. No greasing is necessary. Method two: make four rounds, place them on parchment paper on a heavy cookie sheet. Slash when risen, and bake at 440 for about 35 minutes. With the parchment paper, one does not have to grease any pans. And of course if one has a pizza stone, one can bake the bread on it. I still use the parchment paper, as I do not have a peel.
I tried this! The starter was easy, and bubbled up and smelled exactly like sourdough bread. But I think the extra rises were too much proofing--during the last rise (in the pans) it didn't rise much at all, and is very dense, so dense that the very middle is not quite fully baked. The crust is amazing, though. Next time I might try just rising it overnight, then in the pans once, and baking.
That's so cool that you tried it. Thank you for letting me know. I'm so glad the starter got going for you. I'm not a good person for trouble shooting problems, but it sounds as if you already have a plan for next time.
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