Baking sourdough - lessons from a beginner
Baking sourdough - lessons from a beginner
I am head over heels in love with baking sourdough. I started last year during the first COVID-19 lockdown (March 2020). After several failed attempts to make my own starter, it was a gift from a stranger on Facebook that got me going. I will be forever grateful. I find so much joy in the breadmaking process - even the failures. It really is a miracle how flour, water and salt can be transformed into something so delicious and beautiful.
I learned the fundamentals online. The resources available are plentiful, but you can get bogged down in all the information. I recommend once you have a basic understanding, get baking. Things clicked for me once I started handling the dough.
I thought it might be valuable to share a few lessons I have learned, along with recipes for my two favourite sourdough loaves; a seeded multigrain and cinnamon raisin.
Tips
1. Start with a basic sourdough recipe using organic unbleached all-purpose flour – once you get a few loaves under your belt and you are happy with the results start experimenting.
2. Use high-quality organic flours. Good ingredients make delicious and more nutritious bread.
3. Try a variety of flours. They bring different flavours and nutritional benefits to the bread, but they will change the structure of your dough. It is a balancing act. I love hearty grains, but they result in a denser bread. I have made a 100% rye sourdough which tasted wonderful, but was a little denser than I liked. If I replace some of the rye with all-purpose white flour, I will get a lighter loaf.
4. Learn the basics of hydration – whenever I look at a new recipe, I calculate the hydration. Especially if I want to add more whole grain flour, which can require more water.
5. Use a digital scale – precision is important when baking bread. I like to free-wheel in my other cooking, but in order to get consistent results baking, weighing the ingredients is important.
6. Don’t obsess about your folding and shaping techniques – the more you bake the better you will get.
7. A good dough scraper makes folding easier, as does a wet cutting board for initial folds and a well-floured surface for the final two steps.
8. When you add dried fruit, nuts or seeds – presoak them so they don’t draw water from the dough. After soaking the fruit, I then add it to the dough as a flavour boost.
9. I use the scraping method with my starter, so I don’t have more than I need. If my recipe calls for 100 grams of active starter – I add 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour to my starter which only has a few grams of starter left from my last bake. When it is active, I remove the 100 grams I need for the recipe, leaving only a little bit in the jar for next time.
10. In the winter when I feed my starter, I put it near my dehydrator set on the lowest temperature to activate it. Putting it in the oven with the light on can also work.
11. I try to bake every seven to 10 days to keep my starter healthy. When I don’t want to bake bread, I make my sourdough crackers or pancakes.
12. I noticed my oven’s temperature reading is off a bit, so I bought an inexpensive oven thermometer to get the baking temperature right.
13. I print any new recipe I try and keep notes on the back. Beside the date, I write what went well and what did not, so I can make adjustments next time.
14. I usually double my bread recipes. We eat the first loaf in a couple of days. The second loaf I cut in half and freeze. Sourdough is best fresh, but frozen is still pretty good, especially as toast.
15. Bake regularly and enjoy. Some loaves may be prettier than others, but I have yet to bake a loaf that didn’t taste good.
Seeded multigrain sourdough
Yields: 1 loaf
My most successful loaves have come from tweaking existing recipes. In this recipe, I love the mix of seeds and flours – it is a hearty, flavourable loaf. The ingredients are adapted from Vanilla and Bean and the technique comes from Bake with Jack Sourdough for Beginners; except I use a Dutch oven.
Ingredients
Soaker (seeds and grains)
2 tablespoons quinoa
2 tablespoons flax
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons whole rolled oats
2 tablespoons buckwheat
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
¾ cup water (I use non-chlorinated water)
Dough
50 grams leaven –100% hydration active starter (I use True Grain organic whole rye flour not sifted)
400 grams white flour (I use Anita’s organic all-purpose flour)
75 grams spelt flour (I use Anita’s organic sprouted spelt flour)
25 grams rye flour (I use True Grain organic whole rye flour not sifted)
16 grams salt – I use Himalayan pink salt
300 grams room temperature water (I use non-chlorinated water)
50 grams maple syrup
Steps
Day 1 (night time)
Feed your starter in the evening – sit it in a warm place overnight. In the winter I put it in front of my open dehydrator on its lowest setting.
Soak grain and seed mix – I usually soak this the night before. If you wait until the morning, use hot water.
Day 2 (morning)
Mix dough in a large bowl – add everything except the soaker seeds and salt. The dough may be a little drier than you expect. Don’t worry, the soaker will add more moisture in the next step. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel - rest 1 hour on the counter.
1st Fold – add soaker seeds and salt (12 - 16 folds on wet board). I try to stretch the dough out flat – so there is a large surface area. I then sprinkle some of the salt and soaker on top. I fold in the corners then fold it in again. Repeat until all the soaker seeds and salt are incorporated. Form a ball and place back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel – rest 2 hours on the counter.
2nd Fold (6 folds on wet board) – rest 2 hours on the counter.
3rd Fold (6 folds on wet board) - rest 1 hour on the counter.
Pre-shape (6 folds on a floured board using rye flour) - rest 1 hour on the counter.
Final shape on a floured board. Gently fold – you don’t want to deflate the gasses. Place the dough, seam up into a floured basket or bowl. Cover with a tea towel and refrigerate overnight –18 hours.
Day 3
Bake
Preheat oven to 500 F with a covered Dutch oven inside the oven.
Remove dough from the fridge while you are preheating the oven.
When your oven is ready – carefully turn the dough out onto a coarsely floured or sesame seeded piece of parchment paper.
Score the loaf – pick-up using the parchment and quickly place it inside pre-heated Dutch oven. Cover and bake.
Turn the temperature down to 450 degrees F.
Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes.
Bake with the lid off for another 20 – 25 minutes (in my oven 25 minutes seem to be optimal).
Cool completely before cutting.
If you doubled the recipe – put the empty, covered Dutch oven back in the oven. Bring the oven back up to 450 degrees F. Take the dough basket out of the fridge while the oven and Dutch oven reheat. Follow the above steps when the oven is ready.
Cinnamon raisin sourdough
This recipe is so favourable and aromatic – it is loaded with raisins and cinnamon and I use the raisin’s soaking water in the dough. The ingredients are adapted from Baked the Blog and the technique is from Bake with Jack - Sourdough for Beginners; except I use a Dutch oven.
Yields: 1 loaf
Ingredients
100 grams leaven –100% hydration active starter (I use True Grain organic whole rye flour not sifted)
400 grams white flour (I use Anita’s organic all-purpose flour)
100 grams spelt (I use Anita’s organic sprouted spelt flour)
10 grams salt – I use Himalayan pink salt
375 grams room temperature water (I use non-chlorinated water)
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
125 grams raisins
Steps
Day 1 (night time)
Feed your starter in the evening – sit it in a warm place overnight. In the winter I put it in front of my open dehydrator on its lowest setting.
Soak raisins – I usually soak this the night before. If you wait until the morning, use hot water.
Day 2 (morning)
Mix dough in a large bowl – add everything except the raisins and salt. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel - rest 1 hour on the counter.
1st Fold – add the raisins and salt (12 - 16 folds on wet board). I try to stretch the dough out flat – so there is a large surface area. I then sprinkle some of the raisins and salt on top. I fold in the corners then fold it in again. Repeat until all the raisins and salt are incorporated. Form a ball and place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel – rest 2 hours on the counter.
2nd Fold (6 folds on wet board) – rest 2 hours on the counter.
3rd Fold (6 folds on wet board) - rest 1 hour on the counter.
Pre-shape (6 folds on a floured board using rye flour) - rest 1 hour on the counter.
Final shape on a floured board. Gently fold – you don’t want to deflate the gasses. Place the dough, seam up into a floured basket or bowl. Cover with a tea towel and refrigerate overnight –18 hours.
Day 3
Bake
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F with a covered Dutch oven inside the oven.
Remove dough from the fridge while you are preheating the oven.
When your oven is ready – carefully turn the dough out onto a coarsely floured piece of parchment paper.
Score the loaf – pick-up the loaf using the parchment and quickly place it inside the pre-heated Dutch oven – quickly cover and bake.
Turn the temperature down to 450 degrees F.
Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes.
Bake with the lid off for another 20 – 25 minutes (in my oven 23 minutes seems to be optimal).
Cool completely before cutting.
If you doubled the recipe – put the empty, covered Dutch oven back in the oven. Bring the oven back up to 450 degrees F. Take the dough basket out of the fridge while the oven and Dutch oven reheat. Follow the above steps when the oven is ready.
