< Basic sourdough

Yield: 1 large or 2 small loaves

Time: Prep today, bake tomorrow morning

Notes: 70% hydration, starter 15% - equal parts water/flour.

Description

Very basic sourdough method, doesn’t require much in the way of additional tools and techniques.

400g All Purpose flour
280g water (filtered, lukewarm)
60g starter (peaked)
8g salt (2%)
Mixing bowl (oven proof ideally to use as lid for baking, Pyrex 3l very good)
Bread tin / dutch oven / cake dish
Banneton ideally, otherwise baking parchment with tiny bit of olive oil (the dough will be sticky!)

Prep

Feed the starter the night before, ensure it is active by feeding the days prior to Day 1! Ideally feed the starter just before bed, or feed the starter early on Day 1 to allow 2-3 hours to get fired up.

Day 1

Mix water and flour. Let sit for 30 mins.
Mix in starter. Let sit for 30 mins.
Pour salt on top of dough, fold and pinch with wet hand until well combined.
Perform four stretch & folds total - once every 30 mins. example link
Bulk rise (until doubled) for about 3-6 hours. Temp should be ~ 23c, if much colder, leave for longer! Do the poke test. If a dent doesn’t bounce back, then it is almost overproved and needs to go onto next step immediately. If it bounces back quickly, it can keep proving.
Flour a counter, carefully scrape dough out of bowl onto flour, gently shape dough into a neat ball, let sit for 15min.
Flour bannton (Or spray parchment with olive oil) and place dough into baking container (the dough gets sticky overnight, so try keep things a bit oiled)
Put in the fridge in overnight (ideally in a ziplock bag), can be longer but will cause flavour to be quite intense after 48hrs. You can also bake the same day if you want, the flavour develops quite nicely overnight.

Day 2

Let dough sit out while oven heats up to 260c. Do the finger indent test to check if proved.
If in banneton, then take it out and place onto a preheated cooking tray.
Score with bread knife, very lightly spray with warm water and place in oven with a lid (tinfoil lid fine, but make sure it has space to rise 50% or more, ideally cover with pyrex.)
Lower oven to 230c and bake with lid for 25 mins. Then lid off for 25 mins.
Don’t cut until cooled down, flavour still developing.