RECIPE: My Best Sourdough Bread

When I first started on my sourdough adventure, like most us of new to wild yeast recipes, I struggled to find the perfect loaf.

Once I got past the initial hurdles (learning how the dough acts at different stages and the perfect folds or actions to yield good results through each stage, not to mention the struggle with telling when bulk fermentation is complete), I realised that I wasn't actually enjoying my loaves. Don't get me wrong - within a month or two I was making perfectly acceptable bread but it wasn't what I was looking for. I mainly consume bread in three ways: breakfast toast, lunchtime sandwiches and thick chunks on the side of some dinner dishes to mop up any sauces, and prefer the texture of the bread used in these ways to be more like regular bread than traditional sourdough.

Ultra-traditional sourdough has some classic characteristics:

• Chewy texture

• Thick crunchy crust

• Open and airy interior (translate this as large air holes)

• Slightly tangy sour taste

I simply prefer a bread without large holes (after all, I want my toast to hold onto that butter and not lose it all to the bread board; and for my sandwiches to hold my filling so it doesn't drop onto my plate - or worse, all down my clothes). And chewy can be acceptable on occasion, but I'm not overly keen of the overworked feeling my jaw gets after chomping down on a chewy french baguette - so I prefer a regular textured bread. And with regards to tangy, I prefer my sandwich filling not to be overwhelmed by the sourness of the bread, so I prefer just a moderate flavour rather than something that smacks me in the chops.

Since I love using my sourdough starter, I started looking for recipes to bake bread that I really love. I scoured the internet, social media and my cook books for a while, looking for one that met my brief. Looking at a recipe from one of my best-loved bread books, I discovered they used a 'sponge' prepared the previous evening rather than the levain that I have used prior to this discovery. The principle of a sponge is mixing the full water amount with the starter and a portion of the final flour amount. This both hydrates the flour and starts the fermentation process. You wake up to a bubbly yeasty mix that is chomping at the bit to munch on the remaining flour amount that you'll add when mixing the dough. This kick start means that the end of bulk fermentation will approach far quicker than usual which leads me to the next part of why I love this method - you can give your dough a second rise and bake same day! No cold proof is necessary.

For all those sourdough purists who are filled with horror at the thought of not having a cold proof, there's absolutely nothing stopping you from cold proofing if you wish. But my point here is that you can absolutely bake a tasty loaf on the same day you combine the dough if you wish.

Equipment

Digital kitchen scales

Large mixing bowl (I prefer earthernware but any will do)

Danish Dough Whisk

Sourdough starter warm plate

Proofing basket

Bread Lame

Water Spray Bottle

Ingredients (makes 1 large loaf or 2 small loaves)

For the overnight sponge:

• 120g starter

• 320ml room temperature bottled water (or any water that is dechlorinated)

• 200g very strong white bread flour (I use 14.8% protein flour) *

• 50g rye flour (provides a little nutrition boost to the yeast)

For the dough:

• 30g olive oil

• 20g honey

• 300g very strong white bread flour (I use 14.8% protein flour) *

• 12g salt

• Small amount of rice flour for proofing

* Things to note:

• This recipe is 64% hydration

• If using a flour with a lower protein percentage, reduce your water amounts slightly as protein drives the amount of water that flour absorbs. If using a lower protein flour, reduce your water by 15ml to 30ml

• If adapting to use wholemeal flour instead of white, bear in mind this will make fermentation quicker due to the extra nutrients that the yeast will feast on, so you'll need to adjust your timings by watching the dough behaviour rather than strict clock-watching and cut your final proofing time down by 10-15 minutes as this flour means your bread is more likely to over proof

• If adapting to use wholemeal flour instead of white, this will also adjust the water absorption of the recipe. It would normally be advised to add an extra 8-10% water when switching from white to wholemeal so you would need to add roughly 40-50ml of water to achieve the same dough consistency. Bear in mind that while wholemeal absorbs more, this is more slow than with white bread as the bran takes a little longer to absorb the moisture

• If adapting to use wholemeal flour instead of white, spend less time kneading (the bran can act like tiny razor blades that can cut the gluten strands that you are trying to build. Focus instead on adding extra stretch and folds within the first hour as this builds strength without tearing the gluten network

Method

1. The evening before, prepare your sponge. Add your starter into a large bowl, add the room temp water and mix well. I prefer to use a traditional whisk for this as I want to get plenty of aeration within the sponge so the yeast have plenty of oxygen.

2. Mix in your flours until well combined. Ensure there are no pockets of dry flour.

3. Cover and leave to rest overnight. I prefer it to not stand for more than 11 hours to ensure the sponge does not pass peak activity so try to plan around your schedule. (ie. mix sponge at 9pm ahead of mixing the dough at 8am the next morning).

4. The following morning, add the olive oil and honey into the sponge and mix.

5. Add the flour and then the salt on top of the flour (try to avoid direct contact between salt and yeast).

6. Mix well for 10 minutes (I use a danish dough whisk but you can use anything for this). You can either tip onto the counter for kneading (or slap and folds), or you can perform long stretch and folds within the bowl during this time (this is my preference). The dough will be very wet and sticky at first, but you will start to see the texture and stickiness improve over the 10 mins. By the end of this period, you should be able to poke a finger into the dough and see it spring back - this shows you have developed gluten.

7. Cover and rest the dough for the next hour in a warm place. I prefer 26 deg C (79 deg F) on my warming plate.

8. Perform 2 sets of 4 x stretch and folds 45 mins - 60 mins apart, covering after each set.

9. Perform 3 sets of 2 x coil folds 45 mins - 60 mins apart, covering after each set.

10. By this stage, the surface of your dough should be becoming smooth and you will likely be seeing a subtle bubbled texture. If (after the final set of coil folds) your dough is holding its height/structure and is not sinking back down, you can cover and leave until bulk fermentation is complete. If not, you can keep performing coil folds through the rest of bulk fermentation if needed. My bulk fermentation at 26 deg C tends to be complete around 7-8 hours after mixing the dough.

11. After bulk fermentation is complete, shape, cover and proof (I prefer to use a basket for this stage). For a same day loaf, I place back onto my head pad at 26 deg C until the dough has adequately risen. If at this stage you don't have time to bake today or prefer a cold proof, feel free to move it to the fridge for up to 72 hours (remember, the longer the cold proof, the sourer the taste).

12. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 210 deg C. (410 deg F) - ensure you also preheat an oven dish at the bottom so we can prepare to make steam to help with oven spring. If using a baking stone, ensure this is also preheated on the appropriate shelf. Once ready, I boil the kettle and then tip out the dough onto either baking parchment or a reusable baking liner and score along the top of the dough with a lame or sharp knife before straying the surface with water.

13. Trying to keep the oven door open for minimum time possible, slide the dough on the parchment onto your baking stone or oven shelf and pour a couple of cm of water into the pre-heated dish at the bottom of the oven. if using a baking stone, never put ice directly into contact with the baking stone as it can cause it to explode which is neither good news for your stone, oven and can be dangerous to you.

14. Bake for 10 mins at 210 deg C (410 deg F), open the door fully to allow the steam to dissipate and remove the dish containing water - your oven spring should be complete by now and you want to remove steam to get a crisp crust. Then turn down the temp to 180 deg C (350 deg F). Halfway through your total bake time (40 mins for a large loaf and 25 mins for a small loaf) open the oven door to rotate your loaf by 180 degrees to avoid it burning on one side. Bake for the remainder of your bake time before removing from the oven.

15. Place your loaf onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely before slicing open as sourdough continues to cook after removing from the oven.

Related Reading

My Top 5 Sourdough Making Products

Are Cold Proofs Really Necessary for a Great Sourdough?