Sourdough, the ultimate intimidator. Sourdough, although intimidating, is really a rather simple concept hidden behind complex lingo, some time, and a few math equations. To make sourdough bread you just need three ingredients: flour, water, & salt. With that in mind, how hard can it be?
Making Your Starter (This Is the Hardest Part!):
To start making sourdough bread (or sourdough anything) you need to have a sourdough starter. This is a simple process; however, it does take some perseverance & consistency when making it from scratch. Sourdough starter is a 1:1 ratio of flour & water that’s encouraged to ferment into an active (AKA bubbly) state. You can make starter yourself by adding equal parts flour & water to a jar, leaving the jar in a warm place overnight, discarding the contents of the jar 24 hours later (except for the portion left on the sides of the jar), and remixing equal parts flour & water. You’ll want to repeat this process for 10-14 days, until the contents of the jar triple overnight. Once the contents triple in size overnight, your starter is mature & ready for baking.
TIP: You can bring dehydrated sourdough starter to a mature/active state in just a few days, should you wish to save time getting started. (Our farm sells Dehydrated Organic Sourdough Starter)
TIP: Mark your jar with a rubber band at the starting height and monitor the height of the contents the following day. Once the height triples in size, you’ll know your starter is ready.
Starter can be active (bubbly) or inactive (batter-like consistency). To make an inactive starter into an active starter, you must “feed” it. To “feed a starter”, you add fresh flour and water to the fermented starter. You’ll want to do this with a 1:2:2 ratio of inactive starter:flour:water. A typical bread recipe calls for 100g of sourdough starter; so if you start with 25g of starter, you’ll add 50g of flour, & 50g of water. This will create 125g of starter; 100g for your bread and a remaining 25g for the next time you want to bake.
Keeping Your Starter “Alive”:
Once your sourdough starter is mature, you’ll want to keep it “alive” and healthy. A healthy starter will triple in size the day after you feed it. But do you have to feed it every day? Thankfully, no. A mature starter can be placed in the fridge and fed once a week to remain healthy. If your starter falls ill and won’t triple overnight (maybe it just doubles) then you can revive it by leaving it out of the refrigerator and feeding it daily until it begins tripling again. Once healthy, you can return to the weekly feedings (or feeding it when you want to use it).
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the inactive starter that’s discarded before a feeding. The inactive starter is discarded to maintain a 1:2:2 ratio of starter:flour:water. For example, you may have 50g of inactive starter in your jar, so you feed 100g flour and 100g water; resulting in 250g of active starter. You use 100g of the active starter for bread, leaving 150g of starter that you save in the fridge. A week later, you want to make a loaf of bread with 100g of active starter but your jar has 150g of inactive starter. You need a 1:2:2 ratio to bring the inactive starter to an active state. You have can either feed the jar 300g of flour and 300g of water (which would result in 750g of starter when you only need 100g, a waste of valuable flour & water) or you can discard 125g of the inactive starter (AKA sourdough discard), leaving 25g to feed.
Now that the math is behind us, I have to say sourdough discard it my favorite “ingredient” for baking. It’s incredibly versatile and adds a complexity of flavor to any dish. You can make sourdough bagels, English muffins, pizza, pancakes, muffins, scones, cookies, granola, etc. just from the sourdough discard.
TIP: When starting your sourdough journey, I would suggest baking recipes that require sourdough discard, opposed to starting with bread or recipes that require active starter.
TIP: Sourdough discard can only go bad if it molds. So save your discard in a jar separate from your active starter, then you’ll have discard ready whenever you need it!
TIP: Inactive sourdough starter will often separate to have a layer of liquid on top (AKA hooch). Hooch is commonly a gray color, which is safe to consume and should be stirred back into the starter or poured off the top. If the liquid is green or blue in color, it’s molded and not safe!
I’m Ready to Try Bread! How Do I Start?
Before making sourdough bread, you’ll want to be familiar with your sourdough starter. It should be in a healthy state, peaking (rising to a maximum height) at a height that’s tripled from your starting point. Making sourdough is a three-day process, so you’ll also want to be familiar with the timing of your starter’s peak and adjust it to your schedule.
Day 1: You’ll want to feed your inactive starter so that it will peak the following day. (For me, this means feeding my starter around 8pm so it will peak around noon on Day 2.)
Day 2: Monitor your starter, when it reaches its peak, start making your bread. (noon/12 pm) First, you’ll measure your warm water (100-110F) into a bowl and add your active starter on top. The starter should float (this is referred to as the “Float Test”). Next, whisk the starter into the water and let it sit for 5 minutes. The water should then have a bubbly surface, this is referred to as bloom. Now your mixture is ready for flour, specifically bread flour. Add your flour and mix by hand until smooth. Wait 30 minutes. Now you want to add your salt and an additional 50g of water to the dough. Mix by hand until the water and salt are fully incorporated. Wait another 30 minutes. Now you’ll start your stretch-and-folds. A stretch-and-fold is when you take the edge of your dough and pull it gently in an upward motion, stretching the dough as far as it will go without breaking or tearing, and folding it down to the opposite side (think of making an X). You’ll do one lap, consisting of 4-5 stretch-and-folds along the outside edge of the dough. The goal is to build strength in the dough, while incorporating air pockets. You’ll want to fold gently so as not to flatten the dough while it continues to rise. Cover dough and rise another 30 minutes. Repeat stretch-and-folds with 30 minute wait increments for a total of five times. Next, you’ll want your dough to bulk ferment. Bulk fermentation is when you let your dough sit in a warm place for an extended period of time so it can proof. (I typically bulk ferment my dough for 2.5-3 hours.) Once your dough has bulk fermented, you’ll want to pour it onto a floured surface and begin shaping. (I shape mine into a circle, starting with a tri-fold, followed by rolling the trifold, pinching the ends, and doing push-and-tuck movements to create tension. You can also youtube “sourdough shaping” to see a bunch of examples of this.) I refer to this initial shaping as the pre-shape. I let the dough sit for 30 minutes on the counter before doing my final shape. Lastly, I flip the dough upside down into a floured banneton. A banneton is a whicker bowl used to keep the dough shaped during the final rise.
TIP: Apply rice flour to your banneton to keep the dough from sticking. If using a bowl, lay a linen cloth covered in rice flour at the bottom of the bowl before placing your dough in.
Finally, cover the dough with a linen cloth (to prevent drying) and place it in the refrigerator overnight for cold proofing (controlled proofing in a cold environment over an extended period of time).
Day 3: Bake Day! (Bake in the morning so your dough doesn’t overproof) Preheat your oven (& Dutch Oven) to 500F.
TIP: Preheat your Dutch Oven while it’s empty. You’ll want it hot before putting the dough in, this will help create steam. Also, leave a cookie tray on the bottom oven rack to prevent burning on the bottom of your loaf.
Once the ovens are ready, prepare your sourdough loaf. Flip the loaf out of the banneton and onto a piece of parchment paper. Lightly dust the top with flour and score the top of the loaf with a bread lame (picture a razor blade attached to a long handle). The scores along the top of the loaf will allow steam to escape the bread and encourage even baking of the loaf. Make sure your design is made with shallow cuts, while your main score line is cut deep.
Remove the Dutch Oven from the main oven and use the parchment paper to lower the sourdough inside. Once settled in the bottom of the pan, pour a few tablespoons of water between the parchment paper and the inside of the Dutch Oven. Place the lid on immediately! This will lock the steam inside the Dutch Oven for the duration of the baking process. Bake the bread for 30-40 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 8-10 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. (TIP: I’ve found it works best for my oven if I turn the temperature off for the last 8-10 minutes.) Remove from oven and allow loaf to fully cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy your sourdough, you did it!
TIP: Allowing the loaf to cool fully keeps the steam locked inside, preventing the loaf from drying out.
Breadmaking Tools:
· A Mason Jar (to keep your starter in) TIP: Leave the metal lid on the jar. When you feed the starter, you’ll want to replace the lid with a linen cloth. Recover with the lid after 24 hrs. (The cloth will let air in and keep bug out)
· 1-2 rubber bands (to monitor start height & peak height)
· A Kitchen Scale (measuring in grams)
· A Bowl (for mixing & proofing)
· A Banneton or 2nd bowl lined with a towel/linen
· Dutch Oven
· Parchment Paper
· Lame or sharp knife/razor blade
My Sourdough Bread Recipe:
300g Water (100-110F)
100g Active Sourdough Starter
450g Bread Flour (I use King Arthur)
10g Salt
(+ 50g Additional Water)
In Conclusion:
Making sourdough is truly an act of love. Developing a mature starter requires weeks of preparation and baking a loaf of bread is an additional three-day process. But in the end, nothing beats the taste of fresh, homemade, sourdough bread! And if you’ve been intimidated to start your sourdough journey, I highly encourage giving it a try. Only a year ago I made the decision to learn sourdough and there’s been no looking back! Now where do I go from here, should I offer a workshop? Let me know if you’d like to see a Central Bridge Farms Sourdough Workshop in the future. Or maybe offer sourdough starter kits in our store?