Sourdough Recipe

How I Made My Own Sourdough

Because of this quarantine, I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. I decided to tackle the challenge of baking sourdough from scratch, because it's something I've always wanted to do. This is the perfect time to do so! Baking your own bread is also great because you can customize the flavor & it's also unpackaged.

This process started with a looot of research, so I'm including a lot of the resources that were helpful for me.

Growing My Own Starter

I grew my own starter from scratch. This article was very helpful for me, The Clever Carrot: Sourdough Starter. I followed that recipe, but I'll also add my own breakdown as well.

What You'll Need:

• Unbleached all purpose flour
• Filtered water
• A medium-large jar
• A rubber band to mark where your starter started
• A scale

Recipe:

1. Mix together, with a fork, 60g of AP flour & 60g of filtered water in a jar
2. Place a rubber band around the jar to mark where the starter started
3. Loosely cover the jar & let it sit for 2 days in a warm place (like your oven with the light on)
4. Day 3 is when you'll start feeding your starter. I fed mine once a day, but I've heard of people feeding theirs twice a day to keep it active
5. To feed your starter, discard half of the starter and then feed it with 60g of flour & 60g water (& mix)
6. Continue to leave the starter jar in a warm place
7. The starter will develop a liquid, which is normal, & it will start smelling pretty darn stinky
8. Carry out this process everyday for approximately a week to 2 weeks
9.  You'll know that your starter is closer to being ready when it starts smelling more pleasant, it will be bubbly, spongy, & fluffy. You can also test your starter by dropping a drop of it into a bowl of water, & if it floats, it's ready to be used!
10. My starter, Stanley the Starter, took approximately 11 days to be ready!

TIP: If you're not ready to bake yet, you can save flour & water by storing your starter in the fridge after it's already ready. When you store your starter in the fridge, you only have to feed it once a week. However, when starter sits in the fridge, it goes dormant. So, before your bake, let the starter sit out the day before the bake & feed it, to wake it back up.

This is a picture of my starter after it's been in the fridge (dormant).

Baking Sourdough Loaves

** UPDATE: Ever since writing & posting this post, I found another recipe on King Arthur Flour that I actually found to work better. The link for that recipe is here: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2020/04/06/dont-be-a-bread-hostage . But, I still find the resources below very helpful. And I’ll still keep my original recipe up here if you find you like it better! **

SO! Before you start prepping your bake, seriously watch this video. This was the video I followed to the T. It helps you understand different folding & kneading techniques. I will still outline it for you underneath the video, since it's a little hard to catch the measurements in the video. Recipe yields 2 loaves.

What You'll Need:

• Unbleached AP flour OR bread flour (whatever you have in the pantry)
• Whole wheat flour
• Fermenting bowl (I bought mine from Helen Milan Home, or you can use a regular bowl)
• Large mixing bowls
• Water
• Salt
• Dutch Oven
• Oven
• Cooling rack

Recipe:

DAY ONE

1. Create a Levain in a jar
1. Mix 35g starter, 35g unbleached AP flour or bread flour, 35g whole wheat flour, & 70g water
2. Let sit for 5 hours in a loosely covered jar
2. During the last hour of the levain sitting, start making the dough
3. Mix together 810g unbleached AP flour or bread flour, 90g whole wheat flour, & 600 mL warm water in a mixing bowl
1. Cover & let sit for 1 hour
4. Now it's time to mix the dough & levain. Pour the levain over the dough in the bowl, with wet hands incorporate it into the dough
5. Scoop & slap the dough for 2-3 minutes (refer to video)
6. Cover & let the dough rest for 20 minutes
7. Mix a little bit of water with 18g salt & whisk together in a cup
1. Incorporate it into the dough after it's been sitting
8. Slap & fold the dough for 3-5 minutes
9. Cover & sit for 15 minutes
10. Stretch & fold dough & then cover for 15 minutes
1. Repeat 3 times
11. Take out dough & place onto floured board, cut in half, then round each loaf & let it sit for 3 minutes
12. Envelope fold both loaves (refer to video; don't overhandle the dough)
13. Place the dough loaves into a fermenting bowl with a lightly floured towel inside (sticky side up)
1. Pinch any gaps together (refer to video)
14. Cover bowls or place into large ziploc bags & refrigerate loaves overnight

DAY TWO

1. Preheat your dutch oven in the oven (set for 500 degrees F) for about 20 minutes 
2. Take your first loaf out of the fridge, flip it back upside down onto board, & score 
1. If you need inspiration for scoring techniques, check out Sour Flour's profile
3. Carefully place loaf into dutch oven (be careful it's hot! I used a bench scraper to help me put it in, but you can also lower it into the dutch oven with parchment paper, so you don't burn yourself)
4. Bake the loaf in the oven, covered, for 18 minutes at 500 degrees F.
5. Lower temperature to 450 degrees F & leave it covered, for an additional 10 minutes
6. Remove cover from dutch oven, & bake uncovered for 6 more minutes, or longer until it browns to your desire
7. Do the same for the 2nd loaf or bake both at the same time if you have 2 dutch ovens
8. When you remove the loaf from the oven, let it sit on a cooling rack for at least an hour and a half (this was the toughest step for me, because I have no self-control with freshly baked bread)

VOILA! That's how you make sourdough!! I hope my steps were a little helpful, but to be honest, they make a lot more sense after you watch the video first. 

If you're choosing to tackle this challenge, then good luck to you, & I hope you enjoy the process! Have fun with it!