How to Bake: Easy Sourdough Bread

A customer emailed us and said that her mother loved sourdough bread but had trouble making it work right. We shared the following recipe with her, which is our easiest, most foolproof recipe for sourdough bread.

Using this recipe for sourdough bread, a small amount of yeast is used in the starter. As the starter is used and refreshed with new feedings of flour and water, wild yeasts are introduced and cultivated. The sour flavor typical of sourdough bread that we love comes from the action of the yeast and friendly bacteria.

The commercial yeast makes an easier starter than culturing wild yeast from the air. Because it's easy, if you abandon your starter after a few weeks, you can readily start another when you're back in the mood or have the time.

Here is the recipe:

For the starter:

1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 cup high gluten unbleached flour

Mix the starter in a glass or steel bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set it aside at room temperature until it is doubled and bubbly, maybe 4 to 6 hours.

For the sponge:

1 cup of the starter
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour

Mix the starter amount with the flour and water, cover, and set aside to ferment until it has tripled in volume. At room temperature, it will take four to eight hours. You can put it in a cool place--about fifty degrees--and let it perk all night. Your garage may be just right. You can also let it ferment in the refrigerator overnight. At temperatures of forty to fifty degrees, the friendly bacteria will be more active than the yeasts and the flavor will be more sour.

To recharge the starter, add about one cup of flour and one cup of warm water to your remaining starter. Keep it in the refrigerator and use it or recharge it every few days. After a few recharges, you will plenty of complex wild yeasts in your starter.

For the dough:

All of the sponge
1 1/2 cups flour (more or less)
2 teaspoons salt

Mix the salt with the flour. Knead the combination into the sponge by hand until you have a smooth, elastic, slightly sticky dough, adding more flour as needed. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and let it rise again until doubled, about an hour.

Form the loaves. This works best as a large freestanding round or oval loaf or two smaller loaves. Place a clean cotton cloth in a bowl or basket with which to hold the loaf. Lightly dust the interior of the bowl with flour. Place each formed loaf upside down in a bowl on top of the dusted flour. Cover the loaves with plastic and let them rise again until doubled. This rising will probably take less than an hour.

To from the thick, chewy crust that is typical of artisan breads, follow these instructions: Place a large, shallow, metal pan in the oven on the lowest shelf. You will pour hot water in this pan to create steam in the oven. High heat is hard on pans so don't use one of your better pans. An old sheet pan is ideal. Fill a spray bottle with water. You will use this to spray water into the oven to create more steam.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. (If your oven runs on the cool side, set it on 500 degrees.) When the oven is hot and the bread is fully risen and is soft and puffy--being very careful not to burn yourself with the rising steam and with a mitted hand--pour about two cups of very hot water in the pan in the oven. Quickly close the oven door to capture the steam. With spray bottle in hand, open the door and quickly spray the oven walls and close the door.

Gently invert the loaf or loaves onto a slightly greased non-insulated baking sheet on which a little cornmeal has been dusted. With your sharpest knife, quickly make two or three slashes 1/4-inch deep across the top of each loaf. This will vent the steam in the bread and allow the bread to expand properly. Immediately put the bread in the steamy oven. After a few moments, open the door and spray the walls again to recharge the steam. Do this twice more during the first fifteen minutes of baking. This steamy environment will create the chewy crust prized in artisan breads.

After the bread is in the oven, turn the temperature down to 450 degrees and set the timer for about forty minutes. Check on the bread ten minutes before the baking should be complete. If the top is browning too quickly, tent the loaf with aluminum foil for the remainder of the baking to keep it from burning. The bread is done when the crust turns a dark golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 210 degrees. It is important that the bread is well-baked to drive moisture from the loaf. If the bread is under baked, the excess moisture will migrate to the crust and you will no longer have the dry chewy crust of a great artisan loaf.

This sourdough bread is to die for. The prolonged rising gives the yeast plenty of time to convert the starch to sugars and the friendly bacteria a chance to impart their nut-like flavors.

Last winter, we made dozens of these sourdough loaves. Since this bread is best eaten fresh, we gave scores of loaves away-mostly to folks from church. Funny thing-we were never turned away.

For more articles like this visit The Bakers' Library.

© 2004 The Prepared Pantry

---

All-Wheat Superb Rolls

Note: The stone ground whole-wheat flour adds only 1.3 Teasps... Read More

Tantalizing Turkey

You too can make a spectacular turkey dinner!TT has what... Read More

Recipe: Chocolate Modeling Clay

Ingredients:6 oz. chocolate chips5 teaspoons corn syrup1 gallon size zip-top... Read More

Holiday Recipe: Filled Cookies

From the book: Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a... Read More

Finding the Best Recipes

Trying to find a dynamite recipe to wow guests or... Read More

A Scone Recipe for Dinner or Lunch

There are two ways to pronounce scone. "Skon" in England... Read More

What Wise Guys Eat

When I lived in the North End of Boston, in... Read More

Main Dish Zucchini Recipes

With summer coming to an end, you probably have an... Read More

Chicken Recipes That Everyone Enjoys!

Chicken recipes are a stable in many people's diets. Many... Read More

Easy Spaghetti Recipes

Spaghetti has always been a favorite family meal. My teenage... Read More

Crockpot Cooking - Advantages and Disadvantages

In my 'un-biased' opinion, the crockpot / slow cooker is... Read More

Low Fat French Toast

French toast was one of my favorite breakfast foods when... Read More

Steaks

Eating steak has always been a symbol of prosperity. During... Read More

The Official Parenting Cheesecake Recipe

Whoever writes all those fancy cookbooks has never been a... Read More

Canarian Recipes for Shrove Tuesday

For the British at least, Shrove Tuesday is probably better... Read More

Kid Party Food - Without the Stress!

Kid party food doesn't have to take hours to prepare... Read More

Texas Pecan Treats

Come August, there is nowhere I'd rather NOT be than... Read More

Limes

Limes were originally grown in Asia,introduced by the Arab traders... Read More

Converting Recipes for Your Crockpot

Crockpots vary but the low setting is typically around 100... Read More

Dining With The Romans

Numerius was a slave and ate one meal a day... Read More

Blue Cheese Omnivorous

IngredientsRomaine Lettuce (head $1.29) 1 pound of steak ($10 per... Read More

Weight Loss Recipe: Spicy Chicken Cacciatore

Just because you are watching your weight, doesn't mean the... Read More

Spanish Food - The Perfect Paella

Looking for a traditional Spanish recipe? Without doubt, the best-known... Read More

Planning Help: Meal One

It's nice when I find a meal where the foods... Read More

A Simple Technique to Remember Grocery Items

Whoops! I Forgot the ... at the Grocery Store!Have you... Read More

Low Fat Salmon Recipes

Finding delicious low fat salmon recipes has just become easier... Read More

Broccoli Rabe with Caramelized Onions and Garlic

Broccoli is a major EnergyRich ?, food and strength builder.... Read More

Pasta Recipes ? The Very Best In Italian Cuisine!

These pasta recipes are excellent for dinners or parties.In this... Read More

How to Prepare the Perfect Garlic Lemon Chicken

If you want to prepare the perfect garlic lemon chicken... Read More

Fish Recipes

These recipes are wonderful and they are old family recpies.... Read More

A Healthy Summertime Snack For Your Kids

Oh, for the lazy days of Summer.... As If!Nowadays we... Read More

My Mothers Recipe Box

Remember the days when cookbooks weren't so readily available, and... Read More

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

Homemade cookies from scratch in 20 minutes!!? 2 six-ounce packages... Read More