Sourdough Recipes

This is the basic sourdough recipe that I use to make two LARGE loaves,or three regular sized loaves. Cut the amounts in half for a smaller batch. I use the Blendtec mixer and add : 3 cups sourdough starter at 166% hydration(starter is fed with 1 cup water and one cup flour for 166% hydration)- 27 oz 3 cups tepid water - 24 oz 2 Tablespoons of oil - 1 oz 10/11 cups Flour -45.0 oz / 49.5 oz 5 teaspoons Sea salt - 1.2 oz First add the three cups or 27 ounces of starter to the mixer Then add three tepid cups (24 ounces) of water(for a softer crumb substitute 1/2 cup of evaporated milk for 1/2 cup of the water...{20 oz water and 4 oz milk}) Add 2 Tablespoons or one ounce of oil or melted cooled butter Add 5 teaspoons or 1.2 oz of Sea or Kosher salt At first add eight cups of flour then the rest of the flour as the mixer is turning at a medium speed. Medium speed would be speed two or three on the Blentec mixer. Using your spatula, push dough down if it tries to crawl out of the bowl, and keep adding the bread flour until at least 10-11 (or more, see about hydration next column) cups are incorporated. Add another ˝ cup flour if the dough feels too sticky. If you have weighed the ingredients, the dough should be at 74% - 68% hydration. If you have not weighed, you must feel the dough to see if you have added enough flour or too much, it is better to hold back the flour and add a little at a time until the dough “feels” right than to have to add water to bring it back, but it can be done. The dough should feel sticky, but not stick to your finger like glue when you push it into the side of the dough. The dough should have pulled away from the sides of the bowl and feel nice and springy. It should have taken 2 – 3 minutes to mix the dough so far. At this point, turn off the mixer and allow the dough to autolyse (or rest) for about 15 – 20 minutes. This is to allow the gluten time to absorb the liquid - the process of gluten development has begun! Pull at the dough at this stage of beginning autolyse and you see almost no gluten development. It is sticky and pulls apart easily. Now let the dough rest. After the autolyse is over, feel the dough again and pull at it. You will already see a change in the dough. It has a smoother, stretchier feel and you can see the gluten strands already bonding to each other and developing. Mix the dough for about one more minute (The total mixing time should never be more than five minutes). Now let the dough bulk ferment (this is the term used for the first raising of the dough while it is still in it’s bulk form). Bulk fermentation is variable depending on what your sourdough starter’s proof is. If your sourdough starter takes 6 hours to peak when you test it at 100% hydration, then your starter has a 6 hour proofing time. Some starters take only three hours others can take 6 or 8 or 11 hours. It is quite variable. However, if you know what your starter is capable of, you can adjust the bulk ferment to exactly what you need. The average starter takes around 6 hours. This is also variable depending on the temperature of the dough and the room temperature and what ingredients are used(rich doughs with sugars,fats and nuts take longer). Allowing the dough to bulk ferment or proof too long will cause the gluten to start breaking down and the dough to get "gluey".When you bake overfermented dough it will spread apart, have a ghostly whitish color and look glazed like porcelain. During bulk fermentation I will stir the dough down twice about two hours apart. To stir down the dough, just turn on the mixer on low and allow the hook to make two revolutions around the bowl. It is just enough to knock down the dough and line up the gluten so as to strengthen it.This is similar to folding the dough which is used in other methods to strengthen the dough.When the dough is completely done bulk fermenting, I push down the dough in the bowl until it is deflated, pour the dough out on the table, which has been sprinkled with flour, and knead just enough to gather into a ball. I then divide the dough in half or thirds,and shape each one into the the preferred style (boule,batard,baguette,etc). I let the loaves of dough sit for about 5-10 minutes which is called benching or resting. Then I shape them into their final form and put them upside down with their seam facing upward in a banneton,lined basket, couche or whatever you will use to hold the dough while it is going through proofing. Proofing means the final rise of the dough just before baking.I dust the bannetons or cloth lined baskets with Semolina flour, rice flour or cornmeal. Sometimes Whole Wheat flour is used for flavor and looks on some breads. I let the loaves rest for a while, about half an hour, and then put a plastic grocery bag over each bowl with a loaf in it and pop it into the refrigerator overnight. Next morning, I take out the loaves of dough,one at a time spaced about 20 minutes apart and take off the plastic bag. Uncover the loaf and let it sit however long it takes to proof, one to two hours or until the bread feels like it is springy with bubbles (The time varies because of how active the yeast is or how warm the house or refrigerator is). If your starter is very active, don't leave it out for the half hour before putting it into the refrigerator, and check first thing in the morning, because the loaves could be ready first thing.     Here is a roasting pan setup, you can use either the top or the bottom to put over the baking dough and hold in the steam:   Looking for an Ableskiver Pan? Try here for a nice cast iron one:

"Pane Teresa" bread baked by Gary T. of New Brighton, MN You can lay your hand on the loaves as they warm up to room temperature and rise, until you get the feel of when the bread is ready to bake. Check carefully and soon you will be an expert in knowing the perfect amount of raising before baking. The dough will feel springy and bubbly instead of a dense and cold feeling. If you let it over raise, it will deflate in the oven or when you try to move it onto the baking stone. It is better to slightly underproof than to overproof. When the loaf is ready, I sprinkle Semolina flour on the top (which is really the bottom)of the loaf as it sits in the basket, take a peel or falt baking sheet turned upsidedown over the bowl or basket with the dough in it.Then turn the dough loaf over onto the peel,(put the peel or baking sheet on top of the loaf and turn it upside down!) slash the top of the dough, and move the loaf onto a hot, preheated baking stone in a preheated 450 degree oven. This takes courage the first few times, but support the front of the loaf with one hand and heft it onto the baking stone with a quick thrusting movement with the hand holding the pan. Then I spray water water on top of the loaf once and place a roasting lid(which was also preheating in the oven with the stone) over the dough, sealing in the steam. This has been the easiest most successful way to bake the bread that I have found yet,for a home oven. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. After 15 minutes take off the lid and leave it off for the remainder of the bake. You'll be surprised at how beautiful your loaf looks so far. Turn the oven down to 425 and bake around 15 minutes more, turning the loaf halfway to evenly brown. Take out your beautiful sourdough loaf and put it on a rack to cool. Next turn the the oven back to 450 degrees and put the roasting lid back in, then when it is ready, pop in the next loaf and repeat the baking instructions. Wait until the bread is completely cool before slicing to develop flavor and avoid the crumbly doughy syndrome which happens if the bread is cut while it is too hot. You had better have a good bread knife or sharp serrated knife or you will have a very hard time slicing this bread! Enjoy with fresh, real butter! This is an updated version of the baking instructions, some of the recipes may still have the older directions for spraying water during the first five minutes, but discontinue that if you have a deep roasting lid or something that will substitute. Hydration levels: Here are some variations for the Basic White Sourdough hydration levels: If you use : 10 cups of flour your hydration will be 74 % 10.5 cups of flour your hydration will be 71 % 11 cups of flour your hydration will be 68 % 11.5 cups of flour your hydration will be 65 % 12 cups of flour your hydration will be 63 % For each extra cup of flour you add you need to add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt too.The lower the hydration, the easier it is to handle the dough, but the crumb of the dough is less open too.   More Sourdough Recipes: Easy first loaf recipe and directions for printout: First Loaf   Sour Rye, Whole Wheat Malt Sour Two Day Sponge Sour Cinnamon Sourdough Rolls Basic Sourdough Recipes Due to high demand, the Ableskiver recipe is now available:   Ableskivers   Sourdough Waffles  Alaskan Bread  Fluffy Sourdough Biscuits  Easy Sourdough Biscuits Special Sourdough Recipes Want to see what's baking? Visit my blog at: Baking with Sourdough Starters   Video on how to twist a boule into shape. Press "esc" on your keyboard to shut the video off.