Own some of our liquid sourdough starter...
Love for it - Care for it - Bake with it!
A brief introduction to Sourdough - Read this first!
Sourdough Bread Recipe
The process is split across 3 days. The instructions below give an indication of the time-line of production. Begin the process in the evening on Day 1 for freshly baked bread on the late morning of Day 3.
Ingredients
400g strong bread flour
95g sourdough starter
280g room temperature water
8g salt
Day 1 - Evening
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix/knead/pinch/twist for 5 minutes. The dough is very sticky, so will require a series of folds and rests to be handleable, whilst developing flavour and gluten strength along the way.
When folding your dough, use wet fingers to fold the outside edges to the middle. Do this 10 times. Imagine a golf ball in the middle that you’re wrapping in a blanket!
- Rest your dough in a bowl, covered with a plate, for 30 minutes.
- Fold 1
- Rest 30 minutes.
- Fold 2
- Rest 30 minutes
- Fold 3
- Rest 30 minutes
- Fold 4
- Rest 30 minutes
- Fold 5
- Cover overnight at room temperature.
Day 2 – Morning
Scrape the dough out of the bowl. Shape it round by folding and tucking the sides underneath itself. Place in to a very generously floured proofing basket, seam side down. Place this in the fridge for 24 hours
Day 3 - Morning
Remove the sourdough from the fridge and sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours, until the loaf has risen above the sides of the basket. Gently(!) coax the dough out of the basket, upside down, on to a paper baking tray. Use a sharp knife to score a couple of lines into the top.
Preheat oven to 240’c. Place a tray of hot water in the bottom to produce steam during baking for a nice crusty loaf.
Bake 240’c for 20 minutes, then turn down to 210’c for 20-30 minutes.
Loaf should have a deep golden colour and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Stand back, proudly, and admire your creation before delving in with generous slathers of butter!
Don’t forget to feed your starter again. Never let it run out!