Untamed Farm Sourdough Bread
When you purchase a starter from me, "Flora" is her name, you will be given a physical copy of this recipe to keep. In the case you might lose or misplace it or your goats or children eat it, I wanted to include this recipe in a place where you can access it!
You'll never have to buy bread again! That is neat. Bread making is a skill you can pass down through the generations and that is even more neat. Come learn how to make sourdough bread with Ashley!
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There's a lot of sourdough bread recipes out there, and it seems a lot of people struggle with getting that good loaf of sourdough bread. This is truly an art, and like any good artist, it takes practice. Ashley had so many duds when she first began baking sourdough (and she still does!) So, please don't get discouraged! Fail your way forward and learn from your mistakes! Always leave room to grow and admit when you're wrong. We learn so much this way!
Let's begin.
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First you'll take your water and pour it into a big glass mixing bowl. Next you'll add your starter. Remember, if your starter floats, it's strong and ready to use. If it sinks, you can still use it, however, your results won't be as good because your starter is weak. You might want to save it as discard instead. That's up to you! To strengthen your starter, consistently feed it for a couple days in a row. Mix your starter into the water using your hands until the starter is slightly dissolved. "Our hands are our best tools" as Ashley likes to say. It's okay if there are pieces of starter that is not broken up entirely.
Next you'll add in your flours. You can use your hands or a dough whisk to incorporate the flour and water/starter mix together. Mix until a rough, sticky dough forms and all of the water is absorbed. Your dough will look rough and shaggy, which is normal! Cover with a damp tea towel for 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours) and let it rest. This process of resting is called the autolyse (auto-lease) which allows the water to fully absorb into the flour.
The next step is to add in a high quality salt (Ashley and her family use Redmond's Real Salt) and the remaining water. You can mix your salt and water together if you prefer to allow some of the salt to dissolve a bit before adding it into the dough. Ashley has done both putting the salt directly into the dough and has dissolved the salt beforehand. She doesn't think there's much of a difference. Once your salt and remaining water is added, you'll want to really squish and squeeze the dough, water, and salt together until all the water is incorporated. After you've done that, cover with the damp tea towel again for 30 more minutes. This will be the beginning of what is known as the bulk ferment. This is when the dough starts the fermentation process which starts once mixing ends and lasts until your dough is pre-shaped. During this time, the dough is producing organic acids and carbon dioxide gases.
After 30 minutes, you'll start doing stretch-and-folds. This takes place of kneading, like you'd do in yeast bread recipes. Stretching and folding the dough creates strength within the dough. Just like its name suggests, you quite literally stretch the dough up and fold it over on itself. Ashley likes to wet her hands beforehand, as it makes the dough much less sticky on your hands. You'll repeat this 4 times around your dough, once on each side, think "North, South, East, West." So- stretch and fold (1), give the bowl a quarter turn, stretch and fold (2), give the bowl a quarter turn, stretch and fold (3), give the bowl a quarter turn, stretch and fold (4). This is considered one set of stretch-and-folds. You are going to do 4 sets of stretch-and-folds total - 1 set every 30 minutes over the course of 2 hours. Cover with a damp tea towel in between sets. Your dough will become stronger and resist you more after each stretch-and-fold. This is a good thing and means it's getting strong!
After your last set of stretch-and-folds, you are going to let your dough finish the bulk fermentation at room temperature, where it will remain completely untouched for a period of hours. You can leave the dough in the glass bowl you're using, or transfer it to a Cambro container (This is what Ashley uses.) The benefit to a Cambro container is that you can really see what's happening underneath the dough and because it's a straight sided vessel and you can gauge how much or little your dough is doming during the process. Once again, you'll want to keep your dough covered with a damp tea towel.
What you'll be looking for to know the bulk fermentation process is done:
- Dough is doubled in size
- Lots of air bubbles on the sides and bottoms of dough
- The top is slightly domed and slightly pulling away from the sides of vessel
- The top of the dough has lost some stickiness
The length of the bulk ferment process will depend on the temperature in your home. If it's cooler, it'll take longer. Alternatively, if it's very warm, it won't take as long. The typical length is roughly 4-8 hours. The only sure way to know is to watch and to practice... often!
After the bulk ferment is finished, gently peel your dough out its vessel and transfer to a lightly floured work space. From here, you are going to laminate your dough and then pre-shape it. Lamination is a technique used to create stronger dough, giving it a better oven spring. The pre-shape is the first shape before the final shape. To laminate, pull the sides of your dough, gently but firmly, to make it all lay flat. Take one side of the dough and fold it over to the middle. Take the opposite side of the dough and fold it over top of the other piece you just folded over. Now, take the top of the dough, fold it over into the middle. Now, take the opposite end of your dough (the bottom) and fold it over top of what you just folded. Once again, think "N, S, E, W" when folding. Once you have that, turn it over seam side down. Gently but firmly pull the dough towards you, give it a quarter turn and then push it away. This builds tension and gives shape to your dough. Do this repeatedly until you have created a ball and the dough is keeping shape. Don't overwork the dough here. After you have pre-shaped the dough, let it rest, uncovered, on your work space for 20 minutes. This rest is called the bench rest.
After the bench rest comes the final shape. Because the dough has "memory" from the pre-shape, the final shape will require less shaping. You're going to use the same tension building process of pulling and pushing as you did with the pre-shape. Once finished, transfer your dough to a lightly floured (use rice flour) banneton basket. You will place your dough seam side up, so the smooth side of your dough will be facing down, against the banneton basket.
Lastly, place the dough, covered with a damp tea towel, in the fridge overnight. This is where your bread will proof. There are different ways to proof sourdough, but Ashley prefers this method of cold proofing as it's harder to mess up. The proofing process is also known as the final rise and is the period of time the dough rests after shaping and before baking. Keep the dough in the fridge overnight (or 10-24 or so hours).
At last, it's bake time.
After your dough has finished proofing, it's time to bake! This is where the magic happens and your patience pays off. As soon as you slap some butter onto that first piece of warm bread and take a bite, you'll really be rewarded for the fruits of your labor!
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Begin by pre-heating your oven and dutch oven to 500ºF. A dutch oven is a very helpful tool and will make your life so much easier, however you don't need one to bake bread. Alternatively, you can bake your bread in any large pot and put a pan of boiling water in the oven while you bake. This will create that same kind of "trapped steam" atmosphere that a dutch oven gives, which is needed to get that good oven spring and texture that sourdough has.
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Once your oven and dutch oven (or pot) is preheated, drop the ovens temperature to 450ºF and remove your dutch oven. Remove your dough from the fridge and place seam side down on a piece of parchment paper or alternatively you can sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal in the bottom of your dutch oven and place your dough on that. The cornmeal is a zero waste alternative to parchment paper so your bread doesn't stick to the dutch oven.
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Now you need to score it. This is Ashley's favorite part! Aside from looking beautiful, scoring your bread allows the gases to escape. This is needed for a good loaf of bread. First sprinkle a light dusting of rice flour over the top (smooth side) of your dough. This will help your scoring tool glide easier. You will want at least one deep score into your dough. Feel free to get creative, have fun, and be willing to make mistakes! You want to score your dough as fast as possible as to keep the dough as cold as possible before putting it into the oven. Don't rush, but don't go read a book after you take your dough out of the fridge.
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If using a dutch oven, place the lid onto it and bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for an additional 10 minutes. After removing the lid for the first time, it's always the moment of truth! You finally get to see what your bread is doing and how your scoring turned out!
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After baking, remove from the dutch oven to cool. Wait one to four hours before cutting into it, if you can resist, and enjoy!
Untamed Farm Sourdough Bread Recipe
yields one loaf of bread
If one loaf isn't enough, Ashley has doubled the recipe in the past and has had great results!
Serves 12-18 people
This recipe will serve about 12-18 people at one person per slice. It lasts our family of six half a week.
total time is about 20hrs
Don't panic! There's only about 30 minutes of actual hands on time. Most of the recipe, the dough is fermenting!
Ingredients:
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375g lukewarm water
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100g active & bubbly sourdough starter
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450g bread flour
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50g wheat flour
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12g salt
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rice flour for dusting
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cornmeal for dusting dutch oven (alternatively, you can use a piece of parchment paper)
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The process:
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-Start by adding 350g of the water and the sourdough starter to a big glass mixing bowl. Using your hand, mix the starter and water together until the starter is mostly dissolved. (tip: if your starter floats in water, this means it is strong & active & ready to use! If it sinks that means your starter is weak and won't yield as good of results. Feed your weak starter a few more times at the right time to strengthen it!)
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-Add in flours and mix using a dough whisk or your hands. Mix until all water is absorbed and the dough is very tacky.
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-Let the dough rest, covered with a damp tea towel, for 30 minutes. This is called the autolyse.
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-Add in salt and remaining 25g of water. Using your hands, really mix and squish this in well. Once mixed, cover with a damp tea towel & let rest for 30 minutes. This is the beginning of what is called the bulk ferment.
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-Complete one set of stretch and folds (stretching the dough upwards and folding it over on itself once on each side, for a total of 4 times.) Cover with a damp tea towel for 30 minutes.
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-You will complete 3 more sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes (for a total of 4 sets of stretch and folds over the course of 2 hours.) Your dough should become stronger & resist you more with each set of stretch and folds.
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-After your final stretch and fold, transfer your dough to a cambro container or something of the sort. (You can use your glass mixing bowl that you already are using.) Cover the dough with a damp tea towel. Here, you are going to let it finish the bulk fermentation, which might be anywhere from 4-8 (or so) hours, depending on the ambient temperature. Once the dough is doubled in size, has big bubbles on the sides and underneath (you won't be able to see this if you are using an opaque bowl), the top of the dough has lost some stickiness/tackiness, and the top of the dough has slightly domed, you know your bulk ferment is done.
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-After the bulk ferment finishes, take your dough and pre shape it into a ball on a clean surface. To do this, peel your dough out of its container and build tension with your dough by gently but firmly pushing it away from you, giving it a quarter turn, and then pulling it back towards you. Repeat this process until the dough feels strong (less than about 1 minute) let it rest on your work surface for 20 minutes. This is known as the bench rest.
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-Now it's time for the final shape! You will do the same tension building process as you did with the pre shape, but because the dough has “memory” it will take much less time.
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-Immediately after the final shape, transfer the dough into a floured banneton basket, placing it seam side up. Cover with a damp tea towel and place it in the fridge overnight ( for 10-24 hours). This is called proofing.