My First Sourdough Bread

This is my first own recipe, that I created for myself after baking quite a lot of sourdough bread since 2018. Starting kneading by hand, deciding which flour to use and the percentage of water I could handle. Progressing with manual skills, analyzing each process and understanding when was the time to proceed to the next stage.

Shaping and scoring, and finally bake a nice loaf of bread.

This is an easy recipe for beginners starting baking with sourdough, but it is tunable to grow with you.

Flour

• High grade, Standard, or a mix of the two.
• Wholemeal will require more water, add 10mL at a time, and use a maximum of 20% wholemeal flour in the mix.
• Protein of the flour should be around 11% or 11.5%
• This recipe is 65% hydration which is a good hydration for a beginner.
• High protein flour can absorb more water, but high hydration is difficult for a beginner to work with.

Let’s bake together

Feed your sourdough starter and wait until it has grown to 1.5 times its volume. While waiting for your starter to be ready, start with the autolysis. Mix together flour and slowly add enough water to wet all the flour. The volume of water should be 55% of the weight of the flour. For example 500g of flour will need 275mL of water.

Leave it to rest for 1 hour, you do not need to cover the bowl – except in summer when temperatures are high it is better to perform the autolysis in the fridge and cover the bowl with a tea towel otherwise it can dry out in the fridge.

After, add the sourdough starter, and slowly the rest of the water (50mL). Start mixing everything by hand, and with the last drop of water add salt.

Knead the dough with your hands until the water is completely absorbed, it looks smooth and you can hold it up in your hand without it running. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes.

Leave the dough to rest under an upturned bowl for 30 minutes. You will notice after that the gluten structure has formed and air bubbles start appearing.

Sprinkle the benchtop with some flour, not much.

Perform 3 sets of folds spaced out by 30 minutes.

Give the dough a rectangular shape by pressing with your fingers in the middle and gently grabbing the corners, pulling into a rectangular shape while shaking.

Grab the top edge and fold into the centre, then grab the bottom edge and fold to the top to cover.

Rotate the dough to 90 degrees and repeat the steps. (Grab the top edge and fold into the centre, then grab the bottom edge and fold to the top to cover.)

We have completed the 1st set of folds.

Rest 30 Minutes.

2nd set of folds.

Rest 30 minutes.

3rd set of folds. Now after performing the last fold, give the dough a round shape and put into a lightly oiled container and mark the level of the dough on the container, so you can see how much it has grown.

Bulk Fermentation

The dough will need to double its volume. The perfect temperature is between 26 to 28 degrees C. It will take around 2 hours for the dough to double, however the temperature makes a big difference. It will take more time for the dough to grow in winter as it is cold, so don’t stick to the time, but rather, look at your dough.

Once the dough has reached double in volume, with the bench top sprinkled with flour, gently place the dough on the bench. Shape it as you want the bread to be, round or long.

Don’t worry if the shape is not perfect. Watch tutorials and with practice and time you will get manual skills and the shaping part will become easy to perform.

If you have a bread basket put the shaped dough inside, ensure you sprinkle enough flour inside the basket. Place the bread seam side up and pinch along the seam to close, then sprinkle with flour.

If you use a tea towel, the steps are the same. (Ensure the towel has not been washed with softener!)

Sprinkle the tea towel with flour as well. Wrap the tea towel around the dough and peg the ends closed.

A pasta colander with a tea towel works very well for a round shape.

At this stage we have 2 options:

1. We can finish with the final fermentation (proofing) and bake the loaf on the same day or,
2. We can put the loaf into the fridge and bake it the next day 

Option 1 – Same-Day Baking:

Cover the basket with a tea towel and let it rest at 26 to 28 degrees C until the dough reaches 1.5 of its volume. It will take approximately 1.5 hour, but again the temperature is the key factor not the time.

To understand if the bread dough is ready, gently poke your index finger on the side of the dough, if the dough comes back slowly (within 3 seconds) then the bread is ready to be baked. If the dough does not come back or it is very slow, it needs more time. Instead if it comes back super fast, the dough is over proofed.

Option 2 – Overnight Fridge Resting

At this stage, before putting the bread dough into the fridge, we need to know the internal temperature of our dough. As I said before, and I will always repeat this important concept, temperature is the key factor. 

If the temperature of our bread dough is around 26 degrees C, then we can put the bread dough into the fridge on the lower shelf where the temperature is usually around 3 or 4 degrees C. This is because the final fermentation has started, and it will slow down but not stop completely in the fridge. Instead if the temperature of our bread dough is below 26 degrees C, it is recommended to let it rest outside for a couple of hours, so the temperature can rise again and then put into the fridge for the night.

We can still put the bread dough straight into the fridge, however we will notice the next day that it has not risen enough. The next thing to do is to let the bread dough rest out of the fridge for a couple of hours, this will bring the internal temperature up and the final fermentation will be completed.

Oven Time – ALWAYS USE GLOVES!

Preheat the oven to the maximum temperature, about 250°C. Static, not fan forced.

Place a small dish of water in the bottom of the oven, and baking tray or baking stone in the middle when switching the oven on.

Bread scoring

Score the bread when the oven has reached the temperature.

Remove the baking tray or baking stone from the oven.

Gently flip the bread dough from the breadbasket, if you used a tea towel, gently flip the bread into your hands and put it on the tray.

Score the bread using a sharp razor, your hands will need to be at 45 degree angle from the bread, and cut a firm and deep (1.5 cm) line along the bread. 

Put it straight into the oven.

After 20 minutes of baking, remove the water and also reduce the temperature to 185°C.

After a further 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 160°C.

After a further 20 minutes, open the oven door slightly.

After 10 more minutes, the bread should be ready.

Knock on the bottom of the bread with your hand. If it sounds hollow it is cooked – otherwise leave it for another 5 to 10 minutes.

If the crust of the bread gets too dark, place a baking tray in the top of the oven to cover the grill.

Cooling Down

Once the bread is baked, resist the temptation to cut it and see inside. Instead stand it up vertically and let it rest until it is not longer warm. The humidity and the steam needs to be released so the bread can stay crunchy.

BE PROUD OF YOURSELF AND ENJOY YOUR BREAD!