Food for thought: Sourdough Bread

My sourdough starter paid off! Cruella…

Finally, here’s my very first official Sourdough Bread and of course a product of my own sourdough starter.

I am very excited with baking sourdough bread and of course I am still feeding “Cruella” everyday. My children are telling me that I am addicted to baking already and getting crazy with my new found sourdough starter pet! I am loving the sourdough bread and so with my family.

Two things that I would like to recommend is getting a food scale and if possible a cast iron dutch oven, too. It is worth to have a food scale since some recipes are using metric system instead of imperial. To be accurate with your ingredients without the hassles of converting to imperial system, definitely it is wise to invest on a good food scale.

Second is owning a cast iron dutch oven (5-7 quarts) is definitely another good investment in your kitchen especially for baking. Sure, you can always use your cast iron dutch oven for cooking daily meals. Although it is not mandatory to baking sourdough bread but it does make a big difference when it comes to the texture of you sourdough bread. Either of the two will do, the enamel coated or the regular pre-seasoned one would be just perfect!

Above is the Benneton Proofing Basket, it’s good to have one but it’s not necessary. You can always use a glass or stainless bowl or a pot or whatever you have in your kitchen, just line it with parchment paper when proofing, that way it is easier to transfer to your cast iron dutch oven to bake. However, if you plan to get a proofing basket, better to get the 10 inch or bigger. What I have at home is the 9 inch and I found it too small for my sourdough bread. The dough overflowed and instead I just used a deep pot or bowl.

INGREDIENTS:

• 400g bread flour
• 200 whole wheat flour
• 460g filtered water lukewarm
• 100g sourdough starter (from your mother sourdough starter)
• 1 tsp salt

PREPARATIONS:

I suggest to beginner bakers to watch video on youtube of sourdough bread baking. I will also post a link for video on sourdough bread baking. If you don’t have a sourdough starter, please check out my previous post about Sourdough Starter in which I shared also a few videos on how to make your sourdough starter. Believe me, it’s worth your while.

• Make sure your sourdough starter is healthy, newly fed, set and risen
• In a large bowl, mix well the sourdough starter and water until dissolved
• Add remaining ingredients and mix well and let it set for an hour.
• On a wet surface, fold the dough by grabbing opposite sides and repeat about 4-6 times and let it set for another hour
• Repeat above process and set for another hour
• On a floured surface, carefully transfer the dough g ently
• Sprinkle dough with flour generously
• Grab two opposite sides of the dough together and seal and do it again on the other two opposite sides
• Turn over the dough and form into a ball
• Sprinkle the dough with flour
• Transfer the dough to a floured benneton proofing basket or into a bowl or pot lined with parchment paper for easy transfer to your cast iron dutch oven to bake and cover with cloth
• Let it set and rise for 6-8 hours
• Preheat oven to 450F and at the same time put your dutch oven in the oven
• When ready, with the parchment paper, transfer the dough into your dutch oven
• With lid on, bake for 25 minutes
• Remove lid and bake for another 5 min
• Remove the bread from dutch oven and bake for another 5 minutes
• Let it cool for at least two hours or overnight before slicing
• Serve warm or toasted with butter

Bonne Appetit…

Above is a link for sourdough bread video by John Kirkwood. He’s one of my favorite professional bakers. Thanks! #johnkirkwood