sourdough bread recipe!!

Hello y’all, this is the second recipe ill be sharing on my blog! And once again, I had to translate it so I’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense or something (im trying!).

This recipe is enough for two loafs! If you only want one you just gotta divide it :)

NOTE: this recipe requires that you already have a sourdough starter and a Dutch Oven!! If you don’t have a starter of your own, you could make on or get one from a friend like I did! All you need is flour and water!

ANOTHER NOTE: this takes A LONG TIME to make, mostly waiting but its gonna be a while

If you don’t have a dutch oven, here is an alternative baking method: https://grantbakes.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread-without-special-tools/

Feeding your starter:

Feeding your starter is pretty simple. All you need is your sourdough starter, some flower and water. There arnt really any measurements for this, it depends on how much starter you have already. The starter is going to be runny when unfed, after you’ve fed it it should be a thicker, lumpier texture…kind of like oatmeal porridge

Once its fed, you cover it with a paper towel, secure it with a rubber band and leave it to activate for 6-10 hours. Make sure not to wait too long, or it wont be active anymore, an active starter is wat makes your bread rise.

Signs of an active starter

· Its grown a bit, about double to what you added of water and flour

· The top should be bubbly

· You can take a teaspoon of it into water and it will float!

Making your dough:

Now that your starter is active you can start on your dough!

Ingredients:

- 100-150 grams of active starter (more is okay! I use 160  )

- 1000 grams of flour (I use all purpose flour but bread flour is probably better)

- 700 grams of water

- 20 grams of salt

Mix this until its become on mass with little to no lumps, no bigge if there are a few. The dough should be firm and flexible. If its runny, add more flour. If its too firm; add more water. Its better for it to be firm than runny, easier to work with

Then let it sit in its bowl and rest for 20- 30 min on your kitchen counter.

Stretch and fold:

After your though has rested you’ll start on your stretch and. Folds!

A stretch and fold is typically done by grabbing hold of one end of the dough, pull it up until you feel some tension and then slapping it down in the middle of the dough again. You would do this around the whole bowl. If this explanation was hard to follow there are a lot of videos on it on YouTube <3

You’ll do this stretch and fold on your dough 3 times with 30 minutes in between each one, and then you’ll wait another 1-2 hours to do a fourth one. If the dough sticks to your hands, wet them to keep them from sticking.

Fermenting:

Once you’ve done all your stretch and folds, you’ll cover your bowl with a damp cloth as you let it rise at room temperature for 7-9 hours or until is doubled in size, it depends on how hot the room is. Cover the bowl in a damp towel so that the dough doesn’t dry out!!

Shaping and proofing:

Once its done fermenting, drizzle some flower onto you counter and carefully place your dough onto it. Dived the dough into to equal portions and begin to shape them.

There are multiple ways to shape your dough, the way you do it is up to preference! Id recommend just finding a video on YouTube by searching “sourdough shaping”, and you’ll find a ton of easy methods! Shaping is simply making your dough into a nice and smooth ball, basically.

Once your two balls of dough are nice and shaped, you’ll place them in each their bowl and cover them in a damp towel to keep it from drying up. Place these covered bowls into your fridge and let them stay there for at least 3-4 hours, maximum 2 days…I recommend 1 day (I like the crust better and im too lazy to wait 2 days)

Baking:

Once you’ve waited your chosen amount its time to bake!

Preheat your oven to 260 Celsius (500 Fahrenheit). Once heated up place your Dutch oven in the middle rack and let heat up in about an hour before use.

In the meantime you can get your dough back onto your counter and drizzle some flour on them (this makes for a harder crust) and score it! Scoring the bread is making cuts onto it, the reason for this is that while your bread rises it will eventually crack. Scoring it will control where the crack if. Making it prettier and keep Its shape better. This can be done with a razor, a sharp knife or a scoring tool! Its easier to score your bread if its still cold.

Now that you Dutch oven has been warmed up in an hour, you can begin to bake. Take your Dutch oven out of the oven and place one of your dough portions into it and put the lid on top. Let this make in the oven at 260 Celsius(500 Fahrenheit) for 25 minutes. After those 25 minutes take off the lid of your Dutch oven and turn the heat down to 230 Celsius (446 Fahrenheit) and let bake for 15 more minutes. And you're done with your first loaf! Get your fresh loaf onto a grid to cool an repeat the process for loaf nr. 2…you don’t have to let your Dutch oven heat for another hour if its already hot, just set the temperature back up ro 260 Celsius (500 Fahrenheit) while you prep your dough!

Okay, im done now. I hope that all made sense!! It’s a lot, I know…sourdough is a commitment. It's how I spend my weekends but the bread is really yummy so I recommend picking it up as a hobby if you have the time!