I am very proud of making this bread. It is a special sense of accomplishment to make something this delicious out of three ingredients: water, flour, and salt. But where does the yeast come from? It is all around us.
To make sourdough bread, you use the microorganisms (yeasts and bacteria) that are present in the air, the same principle that was used in making the first bread. What we are benefiting here from, and why our bread is much better than the first one, is the modern technology—KitchenAid, oven, Le Creuset pan—and the experience of the generations past.
I have the advantage of my kitchen’s equipment and quite a few hours of baking under my belt, so I can say that this recipe is easy for me; for a novice baker, it will be a challenge to judge when the dough has a proper density, how long it needs to prove, how to knead it…
The original recipe is from Paul Hollywood’s book Bread, one that I can very hIghly recommend: it is well illustrated and verbose with the instructions. You can find the online versions of the starter recipe here and of the sourdough bread here.
For my own instructions, I noticed that my recipes are starting to sound like my grandma’s a bit. “Add enough water so that the dough has the right consistency.” Thanks, that helps a lot if I don’t know what “right” is.
To start things off, we will need a sourdough starter.
Sourdough starter
Ingredients
- 5-7 seedless organic green grapes or half an organic apple
- 250g white flour
- 250ml tepid water
For feeding
- 100g white flour
- 100ml tepid water
Instructions
- Slice the grapes or the apple half and combine with the flour and the water.
- Tip the dough into an airtight container. Cover and leave to rise for three days at room temperature.
- After three days, discard half of the mixture and ‘feed’ the remainder with another 100g of flour and 100ml of water. Stir well until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
- Leave for at least 24 hours and the starter should be ready to use. It should be like a bubbly jelly in texture. If it is not yet bubbling and active, feed it once more and leave it for another couple of days.
- If you are using the starter regularly, say every week, you need to discard half and re-feed it every couple of days. Also, feed the starter after you make each loaf of bread. The starter should be stored at room temperature (except on very hot days) and should be a like a thick batter.
- If you are only making bread once a month you can keep it in the fridge but return it to room temperature before using. Keeping it in the fridge will slow down the activity but not stop it. If the starter seems to be inactive, give it another feed. Remember it is a live mixture of yeast and bacteria and it needs to be fed.
Once the starter is ready to be used, we can make the wonderful bread. The recipe is not difficult, and the main difference compared to the breads that use commercial yeast is the longer proving time. Patience will pay out in the end.
My recipe differs from Paul’s in the baking method. I borrowed this baking method—using the Le Creuset pan to bake the bread—from the no knead bread technique I once tried. The resulting crust was so crunchy and delicious that I don’t want to go back to the conventional baking method.
To make the strong white flour, I use 25 g gluten (aka seitan mix) and the rest is regular flour.
Classic sourdough
Ingredients
7.5g salt
130-175ml/4-6fl oz tepid water
375g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
250g sourdough starter
Instructions
- In the bowl of a KitchenAid fitted with a dough hook, mix all the ingredients in the order listed above. I start with 150 ml water, and add more if there are bits of flour at the bottom of the bowl after the KitchenAid had been mixing for about one minute.
- Start the KitchenAid on low to medium speed (setting 3-4) for a minute or so, and add water if needed.
- When the dough created a relatively homogeneous mass, leave to knead for another 10 minutes. The dough will be stretchy, smooth, and will stick to your fingers only a bit.
- Tip the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to prove for about 4 h at room temperature.
- Knead the dough until it’s smooth, knocking the air out. Roll into a ball and dust with flour.
- Tip the dough into a well-floured round banneton or a bowl and leave to rise for 4-8 hours. I normally leave the dough to prove over night.
- Heat your oven to 220˚C, together with a lidded Le Creuset pan (I use a 20 cm pan).
- Once the pan and the oven are hot, carefully remove the pan from the oven, remove the lid, flower the bottom slightly, and drop the bread inside. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 min.
- After 20 min, remove the lid and continue baking for another 25 min, or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow.
- Serve warm out of the oven, with the best butter you can buy and salt flakes.
