This version of sour dough bread is meant to be made in large rounds or large loafs and as such there are two objectives, to have the crust stay soft and to have the dough be light in texture. Sour dough breads tend to be heavy and dense, which is due in part to the whole grain flour used and in part to the slow rising starter. To overcome this, we are going to use a bit more all purpose flour, no olive oil, and to help the dough rise, some active yeast. Then, to get the soft crust, we will spray the loafs prior to backing and dust with flour. This helps facilitate oven rising and the release of moisture, we will slash the tops of each loafs deeper than is usually done for traditional French bread. Like any sour dough bread, this is a process that assumes you already have your starter ready to go. Remember most of all, you’re making bread, the best thing to do in the kitchen, so relax and have fun, if something goes wrong, don’t stress, there’s always tomorrow’s loaf.
Ingredients
- 200g Sour Dough Bread Starter
- 600g Flour – can use bread flour but it will be more dense
- 330g Warm water – want dough moist
- 15g Kosher salt
- 5g Yeast
Process
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
- In your mixing bowl, add starter, flour, salt and yeast; careful to place the salt and yeast at opposite ends of the bowl.
- Turn mixer on speed #1 and slowly add the water. Let dough mix for 4 mins.
- Turn mixer to speed #4 and let the dough knead for 5 mins.
- Transfer dough to counter and dust with flour so outside is not sticky. shape into a half sphere and place in bowl. Cover with film and let rise 1 hr
- Shape dough into two loafs, either round artisan or short loaf, trying not to flatten the dough too much.
- Place loaves on a paper covered baking pan and let rise 1 hr.
- At the half hour mark, preheat oven to 425F or 400F Fan.
- Just before putting in oven, spray both loaves with warm water and then dust with flour.
- Slash each loaf with ~1 deep cuts half the width of the loaf. It is a French tradition to make three slashes, but this is not really French bread, so it’s your call.
- Bake bread for 20 to 30 mins or until the internal temp is 200F.
- Let cool on a rack for at least 30mins before you slice.
