SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPE

Each time I make a loaf of Sourdough bread, I am reminded that our daily bread comes about as a result of processes God set into motion at creation. I recall the poor widow that fed the prophet Elijah during a time of drought (I Kings 17). From her dwindling supply, she had to contribute enough water and ground wheat to feed her starter and keep it viable even though she and her son were facing great lack. She must have understood the importance of reserving enough to invest in an increase. I can only imagine how her bread must have tasted.

ABOUT THIS RECIPE:
What follows is a recipe that uses traditional ingredients and methods. This recipe will yield 3 small loaves or 2 large loaves. If you are still learning to bake bread and maintain a sourdough starter, I recommend that you use half of this recipe and practice by making a single loaf each day until you have achieved the results you desire. A healthy sourdough starter is sufficient to raise your bread. You will notice that the rising times are different than what is found in recipes using commercial yeast.

You will need:
• 2 cups kefir
• 2 cups starter
• ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ¼ cup Honey
• 2 ½ tsp sea salt
• 6 cups whole wheat flour

Place the first 5 ingredients into a large glass, plastic or wooden bowl and mix well. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, blending completely between each addition. Use a plastic dough scraper to scrape bits of flour off of the side of the container and incorporate into the dough.

Once mixed, let the dough rest for 5 minutes or so. This is especially important with fresh ground flour as it takes longer to absorb the liquids. Fresh ground flour can utilize more liquid than retailed flour. Giving it time to rest allows the liquid to be incorporated into the dough. This dough can be a bit damp and may require more flour if you aren’t grinding your own wheat berries.

Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes on a cutting board, pulling the dough and then folding it over with your hands to develop the gluten. When the dough is well-developed, it should be light and not heavy or hard.

Once kneaded, place the dough back into the plastic bowl and cover tightly with a lid. Allow to sit overnight (8 to 10 hours). In the morning, punch down the dough and lift it out of the bowl, scraping any bits off of the side with your dough scraper. Lightly knead the dough and cut into 3 equal portions.

Lightly oil your loaf pans with olive oil.

To shape my dough into loaves, I flatten the dough into a rectangular shape and roll it along the longest side (like a jelly roll). With the seam side down, curl the ends under. Place this into your oiled bread pan and brush the top with olive oil. I make 3 small loaves with this recipe.



Put the pans into a covered, draft-free space for 4 to 6 hours. I use my oven (not turned on!). Try to position your pans so that they do not crowd each other. When you bake your loaves, you’ll want the heated air to be able to circulate fully around each pan.

When the dough has risen an inch or so over the top of your pan, simply turn on your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown. When the bread sounds hollow as you thump the bottom of the pan (wear oven mitts!) it is done. If your bread does not bake in this amount of time, do not increase the temperature; just allow it to bake a little longer. Increasing the temperature could cause the outside of the loaf to finish baking before the inside of the loaf has had enough time to finish cooking.

NOTE ABOUT KNEADING:
Use a work surface that is even with the level of your hip joints. This level will be more comfortable when kneading bread. If your bowl or cutting board tends to slide, place a damp dish towel between it and the table or countertop for traction. If your dough is difficult to work and requires a lot of muscle, you’ve added too much flour and need to increase the liquid content. When developed, your dough should be light and not readily stick to the surface of your cutting board.



A WORD ABOUT GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT:
With your hands, it is nearly impossible to overwork the dough. If you use a machine, too much kneading will stretch the gluten too far and cause it to break. Gluten in the flour is like bubble gum. If it is not kneaded (chewed) enough, there will not be enough stretch to it to hold the structure as the yeast activity expands the dough. If it is overworked, the gluten will become fragile and break as the bread rises. Either of these extremes could leave you with crumbly bread that will not hold its shape when sliced.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you are new to sourdough bread making, you may be interested in reading more about the process here:
SOURDOUGH BREADMAKING GUIDELINES

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BEGINNING A SOURDOUGH STARTER

Place 6 tablespoons of ground, whole grain flour into a wide-mouthed glass container and mix this well with 4 tablespoons of water. Filtered water is recommended as chlorinated water from the tap will be harmful to the bacteria you are trying to culture. Stir this to make sure the water and flour are well-incorporated, scraping any residue down off of the sides of the container. Secure a cover on the jar loosely. This will keep out unwanted pests and protect the new starter from drying. A loosely fitting lid also allows gases (which result as the cultures multiply) to escape without breaking your container.

GIVE IT A GROWING START
Allow your new starter to sit for 12 hours and check it to see whether there are any bubbles by looking at the side of the glass. If you don’t see any bubbles, stir the starter vigorously and re-cover it loosely. Check it again in 12 hours. The presence of bubbles will tell you that there are enough organisms growing to thrive in your starter. Feeding the starter before you see bubbles could dilute the strength of your starter by separating the organisms that need each other to thrive. This happens more commonly in cooler climates

If you still aren’t seeing bubbles after two days, discard the starter and begin again with bottled spring water and a different brand of whole wheat flour.

FEEDING AND MAINTENANCE
When your starter begins to make bubbles, it will be ready for regular feedings. A feeding consists of 6 tablespoons of flour and 4 tablespoons of water. Feedings should take place every 12 hours. I feed mine each morning and evening. The starter should double itself a few hours after being fed. Place a rubber band around your glass jar to mark the level of your starter. This way, you can see how much it rises and how long it takes the starter to double. The rising time of your starter is a good indicator of how much time you will need to allow your dough to rise.

A well-fed, healthy starter will have a stable colony of microbes that will produce enough carbon dioxide to cause your dough to rise nicely. Just as you would with a garden, the key to having a healthy Sourdough starter is to give it a good environment in which to grow. In the absence of proper food, yeast and the lactobacilli will die, leaving your starter to be taken over by bad bacteria that thrive on decay. This is something that definitely WON’T enhance your bread!

When the quantity of your starter reaches 2 cups, discard half of it at each feeding. This provides the starter enough room to continue growing and keeps it from becoming too large to manage. If you wish to bake a large batch of bread at one time, you can continue feeding the starter without discarding any until you have the necessary amount. Just be sure to stir the starter vigorously at each feeding. This shuffles the microbes and allows them to access more food. They don’t have the ability to migrate to better food sources on their own.

Your new starter will be ready to make bread when it accomplishes two things. The starter should be at least 4 days old as this is the length of time required to produce an established colony of microbes. Your culture should produce bubbles and double in bulk between feedings.

If you find that your starter is not doing well, you can add a couple of tablespoons of Kefir to the mixture as a booster shot. The day before I bake a loaf of bread, I feed my starter three times: morning, noon and evening.

TIPS
If your glass container becomes coated, your starter can be poured into another clean jar. I place the food mixture in a clean measuring glass and stir vigorously. Then I add the contents of my starter jar to the food, blending the entire contents well. I clean and dry the (now empty) starter container, return the newly fed starter to the jar and replace the lid loosely.

If you find that you wish to take a break from baking or will be out of town, feed your starter and place it into the refrigerator. When you wish to use it again, remove your starter and feed it. Once you see bubbles, feed it 3 times in one day. After this, it should be ready to use again.

SUBSTITUTING SOURDOUGH IN A RECIPE
The rising times for a recipe made with sourdough will be different than with commercial yeast. Remember to watch how your starter rises to determine the amount of time your converted recipe will require.

A cup of healthy Sourdough starter should equal one package (2 ¼ tsp) of yeast in its ability to rise. To convert a recipe, reduce the amount of liquid by ½ cup and reduce the flour by ¾ cup for each package of yeast you replace with a cup of sourdough starter. You may have to adjust the amount of water and flour to get the proper consistency to your dough.

read more “ BEGINNING A SOURDOUGH STARTER ”

SOURDOUGH BREADMAKING GUIDELINES

A loaf of sourdough bread begins about 18 hours BEFORE the bread is baked. You won’t need to be in the kitchen the entire time. Rather, you’ll need to remind yourself to schedule a few breaks in your day to give the dough some attention. This post is not a detailed recipe but an overview of the tasks and the order in which they are performed to produce sourdough bread.

While learning, it is a good idea to bake only one loaf at a time so that any failures will not deplete your supplies. Initially, baking one loaf per day will give enough practice to perfect your technique and adjust your recipe to your preferences. Your family will greatly enjoy the aroma of a fresh baked loaf each day. Loaves that you do not wish to serve can be repurposed into salad croutons or crumbs for birds.

Make a note of rising times, ratio of water to flour and the resulting taste when you adjust the measurements of your ingredients. When the written instructions are memorized, you will be ready to increase your recipe to produce more loaves with each batch of dough.

You will need an acidic liquid (I prefer Kefir) and freshly ground whole wheat flour. Add the liquid to your flour and mix well with a fork. The mixture may appear somewhat dry. Allow it to soak overnight.

In the morning, add a portion of your sourdough starter to your soaked flour along with honey, sea salt and olive oil. Knead the dough until elastic.

When finished, place the dough in a greased bowl. I use a lidded casserole dish for this rather than covering with plastic wrap which can stick to the dough. Put your dough into the bowl upside down and turn it to rub the sides of the dish. Turn the dough over and set it bottom side down. This oils the surface of your dough and keeps it from drying, forming a skin and binding your dough during the rising process. Cover with the greased lid of the casserole dish.

Turn your oven on for 1 minute and then turn it off. This will briefly warm the oven and allow you to set your container of dough into this insulated warm box to rise. Allow the dough to rise 4 to 5 hours or until doubled in bulk.

Gently punch down and knead the dough. This second kneading moves the yeast to a new area in the dough, allowing it to have access to new food, raising the dough a second time.

Shape the dough and place into (or onto) a greased baking container. This will be either a bread pan, baking pan, or baker’s stone. Gently brush the top of your loaf with oil.

Allow the dough to rise in a briefly warmed oven (as described above) for ½ the time that was needed for the first rise.

Remove the dough from the oven. Place a small cake pan on the lowest shelf of your oven. Heat a kettle of water to boil on your stove while you preheat the oven. When the water boils, pour it into the small pan in the oven. Shut the door and allow the oven to preheat for ten minutes. When ready, quickly place your bread pan of dough into the oven and shut the door.

In about 45 minutes, your bread will be ready. Check for doneness by tapping onto the bottom of the pan with an oven mitt. The bread is ready when this thump produces a hollow sound. Turn the pan over onto your gloved hand and allow the loaf to fall out. Turn your bread pan upside down and let your loaf rest on top of the pan. Coat the hot loaf with butter to allow the crust to be a softer, chewy consistency instead of thick, crunchy and hard.

Allow the loaf to cool before slicing. Use a serrated-edged knife for ease of slicing. A handy way to speed the cooling of your bread is to remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool while standing on end. My husband saw this one day while passing through the kitchen and remarked, "Stonehenge?"

read more “ SOURDOUGH BREADMAKING GUIDELINES ”