SOURDOUGH BREAD MAKING GUIDE
Sourdough breadmaking preparation starts about 18 hours PRIOR to baking the bread. You won’t have to be in the kitchen the entire time. Instead, you will have to remind yourself to plan a few pauses as part of your day to administer the some attention to the dough. This article isn’t an in depth recipe but a guideline of the steps and the order in which they’re carried out to make sourdough bread.
As you learn, it is a great idea to bake merely one loaf at a stretch in order that any flops will likely not diminish your supplies. In the beginning, baking a single loaf each day will offer enough training to perfect your skills and adjust your recipe to your preferences. Your family members will greatly enjoy the aroma of a newly baked loaf each day. Loaves that you don’t prefer to serve might end up being repurposed into salad croutons or crumbs for birds.
Jot down notes of rising times, ratio of water to flour in addition to the resulting flavor whenever you alter the amounts of your ingredients. When the written instructions are committed to memory, you’ll be ready to increase your recipe to make more loaves with each batch of dough.
You will need an acidic liquid (I like Kefir) and freshly ground whole wheat flour. Add the liquid to your flour and combine well by using a fork. The mixture may seem to be somewhat dry. Let it sit overnight.
The next day, mix a portion of your sourdough starter to your soaked flour combined with honey, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil. Knead the dough until elastic.
When ready, put the dough in a greased bowl. I make use of a lidded casserole bowl at this point rather than covering with plastic wrap that may cling to the dough. Place your dough in the bowl upside down and turn it to rub the sides around the dish. Turn the dough over and put it bottom side down. This oils the top of your dough and keeps it from drying out, forming a skin and binding your dough in the rising process. Cover with the greased lid of the casserole bowl.
Heat the oven for 1 minute and then turn off the heat. This will briefly warm your oven and permit you to put your container of dough in this insulated warm box to rise. Allow the dough to rise 4-5 hours or until it has doubled.
Gently punch down and knead the dough. This 2nd kneading shifts the yeast to a different area in the dough, allowing it to have access to fresh food, raising the dough a 2nd time.
Shape the dough and place into (or onto) a greased baking container. This may be a bread pan, baking pan, or baker’s stone. Gently brush the top of your loaf with some oil.
Allow the dough to rise inside a briefly warmed oven (as explained above) for one half the period of time that was required for the 1st rise.
Remove the dough from the oven. Place a little cake pan on the lowest shelf of your oven. Heat a pot of water to boil on your stove while you preheat the oven. When the water boils, pour it into the small pan in the oven. Shut the door and permit the oven to preheat for 10 minutes. When prepared, quickly put your bread pan of dough in the oven and shut the door.
In nearly 45 minutes, your bread will probably be ready. Verify doneness by tapping on the underside of the pan with an oven mitt. The bread is ready as soon as your thump makes a hollow noise. Turn the pan over onto your gloved hand and permit the loaf to fall out. Flip your bread pan upside down and permit your loaf rest atop the pan. Dress the hot loaf with butter allowing the crust to be a softer, chewy consistency as opposed to thick, crunchy and hard.
Permit the loaf to cool previous to slicing. Work with a bread knife for easy slicing.
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