Sour Dough Bread

Most bread eating cultures have some form of sour dough bread. For example, a popular style of French bread involves making Poolish, which it nothing more than starter yeast. Technically, what makes a sour dough is using yeast from a previous bread making session but some bakers refer to slow rising bread as sour dough. There is a version of French bread I make that takes three days to rise, but the advantage is there is no yeast taste and slow rising breads stay fresh longer than fast rising bread. From a health perspective, slow rising breads break down the flour gluten, which makes it easier for the body to digest.

During the American settlers migration West, Sour Dough bread was both a common and convenient bread to mak by holding back some of the raw dough each time bread was made. Most people associate sour dough bread with the San Fransisco version, which is actually sour. However, not all sour dough breads are sour so play a little and see what you come up with. For example, I recently sliced a fresh apple and put the slices in a two-liter soda bottle filled with water. I left the mixture on the counter for a few days to ferment and then made starter dough using the fermented apple-water instead of tap water.This was a more rapid rising stater.

Making the starter is the key for sour dough bread. You can use active dry yeast if you want to finish in one day, (like Poolish) , but there’s something romantic and satisfying about doing it with wild yeast (which is all around us). The basic starter is 1 part unbleached flour with one part water. You simply leave the mixture on the counter or somewhere away from direct sunlight and let nature do the rest. I cover the container with cheese cloth to keep other parts of nature out. For this go around, I am placing my starter under a mint plant to see what happens. I’ve previously placed it in a flour garden and of course, the above mentioned fermented apples.

Ingredients

• Starter
  • 100 g wheat flour – unbleached (to start with)
  • ~100 g water – can use tap
  • Cheese cloth
• Bread
  • 500 g bread flour – can use all purpose, but why?
  • 250 g water
  • 150 g sourdough starter
  • 25 g olive oil
  • 10 g Kosher salt – Ksalt doesn’t have iodine

Process

1. Make Starter
   1. Mix 1 part flour with 1 part water (by weight) and leave in an unsealed container it should be the consistency of pancake batter so you may need to add more water.
   2. Let rest two days in a place with air flows so the starter comes in contact with wild yeast. It will start to bubble, but probably not go nuclear yet.
   3. Everyday for the next week, remove half the starter and discard, and mix back 50g flour and ~50g water (or to the consistency of pancake batter). If the starter at the top of your container gets discolored or starts to smell don’t worry, just toss it the next day. This is called the hooch, and is not going to ruin your starter. You will notice that each time you feed the starter, it rises for awhile then falls, this is normal.
   4. After seven days, your starter is ready, now instead of tossing half away, you will use that half to start your bread. You still have to feed what’s left with the 50:50 mixture every day.
      • You can test the starter at peak rise by putting a tsp of starter into a bowl of water. If the starter floats, its ready to use, otherwise give it more time.
   5. If you don’t want to feed the starter everyday, put it in the fridge in a sealed container and you only have to feed it once a week as the fermentation process will slow.
   6. Every time you want to make sour dough bread, remove half the starter for your bread and add back the 50 g flour with ~50 g water.
2. Make Bread
   1. Add ingredients in stand mixer and mix at speed 1 for four minutes
   2. Increase the mixer speed to 4 and mix 5 mins. This will knead the dough
3. First proof
   1. Put dough in bowl and cover with film. Let rise 30 mins.
   1. Roll dough out and fold twice.
   2. Put back in bowl and place in fridge over night.
4. Second Proof
   1. Remove dough from fridge, roll out and then fold.
   2. Shape into artisan loaf – time to add your flare.
   1. Place dough into Dutch Oven brushed with olive oil and let rise until the dough doubles ~60 mins, but it may take longer depending on yeast strength.
   2. When you think the dough is 20mins from ready to bake, preheat oven to 450 F.
   3. Bake 20 mins covered and then 40 mins uncovered. The center temp should be ~208 F.
   4. Remove from Dutch Oven and cool on a wire rack one hour before slicing. If you cut the bread too soon, the bread will be too hot to handle, fall apart when slicing, and the left over loaf will dry out quickly. Best to be patient and let the process run its course.

If you like how your starter makes bread, keep feeding it and it will last forever. Bush beer brags about having the same starter yeast for their beer that was brought over from Germany over a hundred years ago. If you want to try other starter variations, uses up what you have and start over.