Culinary Confidence

Sourdough Starter Recipe and Directions 

If you don’t already have a starter, I recommend starting one as soon as this video is over.  It’s a simple process with very gratifying results.  Natural yeast is everywhere!  In the air, the soil, vegetables, etc.  Before the emergence of commercially produced fresh or dry active yeast, bread was made by collecting wild yeast in the air by mixing water and milled whole grain flour.  Begin by mixing equal parts (by weight) flour and warm water.  If you begin with 500 grams of each, that will yield a decent sized batch.  You could certainly use just All Purpose flour, but whole wheat flour will produce a more active and flavorful starter. 

• Day 1: Combine 500 g water and 500 g flour of choice in a large enough container to allow for growth.  Lightly cover and place somewhere with an ambient temperature of 70-75 degrees 
• Day 2: After 24 hours, discard roughly ¾ of initial starter.  Add 500g water and 500 g flour of choice (equal parts flour and water).  Leave uncovered for 2 hours and then store  
• Day 3: Repeat day two 
• Day 4:  By now you should be seeing some serious movement in your starter.  Take out roughly 7/8 of your starter and mix another 500g water and flour to the reserved starter.   
• Day 5: Your starter is ready to use! 

Maintaining your starter daily: 

Discard all but 100 grams of starter and feed it the following; 

• 400 g warm water 
• 300 grams white flour 
• 200 grams whole wheat flour 

Try feeding the starter at the same time everyday to maintain the vigor of your living starter 

Maintaining your starter for once a week baking: 

Most of us aren’t baking bread every day of the week, which can make feeding your starter daily quite the chore.  You can keep a previously fed starter in your fridge for up to a month without killing the activated wild yeast.  However, there will be some extra steps involved with using your starter from the fridge: 

• 24 hours before you plan to bake with your starter, take it out of the fridge and weigh out about 300 grams.  To this, add 500g warm water and 500g flour of choice.  Allow this to sit overnight to “reactivate” your culture.   
• The next morning, feed your starter once more using the same measurements and proceed with your recipe. 

 Sourdough Bread Recipe and Directions 

Preparing the dough:

For this particular recipe, you want to allow your newly fed levain (starter) to ferment for 6-8 hours to allow for maximum flavor and texture.  Think of temperature and time as ingredients and avoid deviating from these guidelines. 

• While waiting for the levain to ferment, weigh out the final dough ingredients and set aside: 

• • 600g white flour 
  • 280 g whole wheat flour 
  • 25g salt 
  • 650g water- 90-95 degrees 

• Roughly 30 minutes before your levain is ready, combine the warm water and flour together to begin the autolyze process.  This allows the flour to hydrate and absorb the water and also helps break down the protein structures in the flour 
• After 30 minutes, add the salt and weighed out levain 
• Using the pincer method, begin working in your starter and salt until it all comes together 
• Allow this mixture to sit for 30 minutes before doing your initial fold, and proceed to fold the dough 3-4 times before calling it a night and allowing it to sit overnight during the bulk fermentation period. 

Shaping and Final Proofing: 

• Being careful not to degas the dough, roughly cut into 2 semi-equal pieces.  Proceed to fold into itself and form into a boule.   
• Garnish this with whatever you may have kicking around- oats, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc. if you so desire 
• Place boule into a very well floured, lint-free kitchen towel and into an appropriate sized bowl. 
• Make sure to proof seam-side down (the bottom of the boule) 
• Allow this to proof for up to 4 hours- use the finger dent test to judge when it’s ready 
• Once ready, gently turn the dough out of the bowl and place into a pre-heated dutch oven. 
• Score however you may like.  Get fancy if you want to, but in the restaurant, we like to do a simple score to ensure the bread does not “blow-out”, but also gives our servers an idea on how to portion once it has been baked 
• Bake in a dutch oven for 45 minutes at 475 degrees.  Thirty minutes with the lid on and 20 minutes with the lid off.