I had to post a sour dough bread recipe for people that don’t want their recipe long, confusing, and full of links to buy all the supplies, ads, videos, popups, and if-then statements that are harder to read than esoteric programming code. My daughter Svetlana turned me onto making sour dough starter and now this is my basic recipe. You don’t need a scale, a proofer, a lame, or anything else you don’t already have in the kitchen. Below I put a
video of my first attempt with all the hoopla (including parchment paper), compared to simply using a loaf pan.
You need: your starter, a big bowl, a small bowl, a spatula, a loaf pan, and a piece of foil. I start after dinner but before I get too tired, because there are a few steps that take about 45 minutes, and then I let it rise overnight. The dough likes 68-70 degrees and our house is about 63 at night in the winter, so Idon’t watch the clock. If we built a fire, I leave the covered bowls on the coffee table overnight since it’s warmer in the living room. Since it only takes 1/3 cup of starter, I usually do two since I have two large bowls. Then I bake one in a loaf pan for sandwiches and one in a lidded enamel pot (dutch oven) for dinners. The damp towel is so you the dough doesn’t dry out.
Sour Dough Bread
1/3 C starter
1 7/8 C warm water (not hot, 2 cups is too much)
4 C bread flour
1 t salt
1 t rosemary (optional)
Mix the starter in a small bowl with the water until you have cloudy water. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl; I like to add rosemary. Add the water mix to the flour mix and stir it with a spatula or wooden spoon until the flour is all incorporated into the liquid; it will be hard to mix toward the end. Cover it with a damp towel for 15 minutes.
Knead the dough using the sour dough stretch and fold method, where you lift a handful of dough at the edge of the bowl, stretch it up, then press it down in the middle. Turn the bowl and repeat all the way around the bowl. If it sticks to your fingers, wet your hand with warm water and keep going. After 30-60 seconds, cover with the damp towel and wait 15 minutes. Repeat the stretching/folding, then cover again until morning.
The morning process takes another half hour of kneading, and 1+ hours resting time. I grease and lightly flour my glass loaf pan and very lightly dust my Dutch oven (a covered enamel or ceramic baker). First take a spatula dampened in warm water and loosen the dough from around the edges of the bowl. Do the stretch and fold process (remember to wet your hands if it’s sticky), cover and wait 15 minutes, then repeat. On the last fold-over, lift the whole dough, turn it over and make a nice mound into your pan/baking dish. Dust the top lightly with flour.
Now let it rest one hour. You can stick it in the fridge without a cover. If
you want to wait more than an hour to bake it, it’s fine in the fridge.
Knead the dough using the sour dough stretch and fold method, where you lift a handful of dough at the edge of the bowl, stretch it up, then press it down in the middle. Turn the bowl and repeat all the way around the bowl. If it sticks to your fingers, wet your hand with warm water and keep going. After 30-60 seconds, cover with the damp towel and wait 15 minutes. Repeat the stretching/folding, then cover again until morning.
When you’re ready to bake, take out the dough and preheat the oven to 450. With a sharp edge, like a paring knife or even scissors, slice at a 45 degree angle a good 3/4″ cut, not sawing. When it bakes, the dough will puff out where you cut. You can make a curved slash or get as fancy as you want, for example, use a cookie cutter to press a depression into the dough, and use that as a template to cut that shape with your knife.
First, bake covered for 30 minutes. I re-use the same piece of foil over my loaf pan but keep it loose because the bread will raise as it bakes. Uncover and bake another 20 minutes to brown the top. The interior should hit 200 degrees. If it’s not and the top is getting too dark, you can cover it again while it finishes baking.
