About Sourdough

Sourdough bread making has been traced back thousands of years and is probably one of the first food products made by man. The bread is made by using an active culture containing wild yeasts and lactobaccili. This is a sourdough culture or starter and also referred to as a natural leaven or biga. A mix of flour and liquid left to ferment for a few days will attract wild yeasts from the environment. As it is fed and nurtured the starter becomes stronger resulting in bread of great taste and structure.

Each starter develops its own character and will vary depending on what type of flour is used to feed it and the environment in which it is kept. If you bring a sourdough culture from San Francisco to Perth it will change to adapt to its new environment thereby becoming your sourdough, not a San Francisco sourdough.

To make a starter

400ml cold potato water (from boiling potatoes but with no salt), grape juice, lemon juice or plain water

250g flour. This can be white, wholemeal, spelt, organic, rye or barley

Mix together to a thin paste in a plastic or ceramic mixing bowl.

Cover with a porous cloth, e.g., cheesecloth and leave near an open window out of direct sunlight for three to four days. It should have started to ferment (i.e. bubble) and have a sweet/sour pleasant aroma.

I suggest using a 2 litre plastic bucket to now hold your sourdough starter. Use a knife or scissors to create 4 or 5 holes in the lid to allow the starter to breathe. Keep your starter refrigerated at all times once fermentation has occurred until you are ready to make bread.

Prior to refrigerating the starter for the first time feed it with 100gms of your chosen flour. Your starter should now be the consistency of thickly whipped cream or light yoghurt.

To feed the starter

The success of your starter depends on how well you look after it. The starters we used for our bakery bread production were fed daily to ensure they were both strong and consistent. This is not really practical in a domestic situation.

I recommend feeding the starter twice a week however one of the feeds can be when you make bread.

Routine feed

Take your starter from the refrigerator and add 75gms of your chosen flour and 100ml of ambient temperature water. Mix well; the starter should still be the texture of thick whipped cream. Refrigerate.

Repeat this routine very 3 or 4 days until you wish to use the starter to make bread. As the amount of starter continues to build pour off some until you have around 400ml. You can either give some to an interested friend, dilute it to pour down the sink or add it to your compost bin.

Feed to activate the starter

Take the starter from the refrigerator and add 250gms of your chosen flour and 400mls of hot water. Hot water from the tap will be fine; we just need to raise the temperature of the starter to warm to encourage active fermentation. Mix well. The starter should now be the consistency of pouring cream and should immediately become very active with lots of bubbles on the surface.

Leave to fully activate in a warm place for 2 or 3 hours. Stir again and use.

Feed after making bread

Once you have used as much starter as you need to make your bread, pour off any surplus to reduce the amount of starter to 400mls then mix in 75gms of your chosen flour and refrigerate until you need to feed it again.

To make Sourdough Bread

650g baker’s flour (again any strong flour you choose; white, wholemeal, spelt, rye or any combination of these.)

13g salt

250ml starter

250ml warm water

Mix together and knead well. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let prove for 2 to 3 hours in a warm place. By this stage the dough should have become puffy and increased in size.

Firmly shape the dough into a loaf, baguettes or rolls. Cover again with a damp cloth and let prove for 2 to 3 hours until soft and puffy. At his stage you can refrigerate your bread overnight to bake the next day. You will need to remove the bread from the refrigerator at least 4 or 5 hours before you want to bake it to allow it to come back to room temperature.

Slash with a very sharp knife, scalpel or razor. This is done to control the bloom of the bread as the natural yeasts expand in the heat of the oven. Bake at 250 degrees C for 40 minutes to 1 hour until a dark golden brown and the bread tests hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Transfer to a wire rack and allow to the bread cool for as long as you can resist cutting into it!

Timing

As you will have now realised, the making or sourdough bread is a long and drawn out process. However as you will have read above, you can break the process by “retarding” the bread by holding it in the refrigerator overnight.

Fortunately, neither the starter nor the bread dough require close monitoring between each process. You will be free to do other cooking, have lunch or go shopping.

The timing I use at home is:

Friday morning routine starter feed.

Thursday morning 9.00am. Feed to activate the starter using hot water from the tap.

Thursday 12.00pm. Make the dough using warm water. With proper kneading this should take 30 minutes. Place back in the bowl and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. I place a mixing spoon across the bowl to stop the damp cloth coming in contact with the dough. This prevents the dough sticking to the cloth.

Thursday 3.30pm. Shape the dough into a loaf. I normally use a cane bread mould for this. You can choose to do this, place it in an oiled bread tin or no a tray lined with baking paper. Cover this with a damp cloth.

Thursday 6.00pm to 6.30pm. Transfer loaf to the refrigerator still covered with the damp cloth

Friday 6.00am. Take the loaf from the refrigerator, refresh the damp cloth and set in a warm place like the kitchen to come to room temperature.

Friday 10.30am. Bake the loaf. The proving time will depend on the warmth of the room but should be anywhere between 4 and 5 hours. There is no need to warm the cookware prior to baking. Do not use a lid unless you want a square commercial type loaf. The use of a lid will not allow a rich tasty crust to develop.

Friday 10.45am. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a wire rack.

Friday 12.30pm. Warm fresh genuine sourdough for lunch smothered in butter.