Sourdough bread

Starter preparation:

Day 1

Mix 20g of organic whole wheat flour with 20 g of room temperature filtered water, transfer the paste into a clean jar, with lid, and do not seal totally. Leave on the bench overnight.

Day 2

Mix 40g of organic whole wheat flour with 40g of room temperature filtered water and all of yesterday’s starter. Transfer into a bigger jar if necessary, with lid, and do not seal totally. Leave on the bench overnight.

Day 3

Mix 50g of whole wheat flour and 50g of room temperature filtered water with 60g of the starter, discard the remaining starter. Mix and keep it in a jar, with lid, and do not seal totally. Leave on the bench.

Day 4

Mix another 25g of rye flour and 25g baker’s flour, 50g of water and 60g of starter and discard the remaining starter. Your starter is hopefully alive, but it needs to grow and to have more strength. Feed it twice a day for the next three days following the amounts of day 4. This does seem wasteful but it helps to ensure the success of the starter.

Day 8

In the morning, take 60g of your starter, 50g flour and 50g water and keep this to make more bread. The starter will get stronger and stronger with time, making better bread. Now make your levain. Levain is the rising agent for your sourdough bread. Take 60g of your starter, 120g baker’s flour and 120g water, mix together in a jug and cover with plastic wrap. Four to five hours later your levain should be at its peak, and will have nearly double in size: you can now start your sourdough bread.

Making the sourdough bread:

Step 1

Place the flours and water in a bowl of a large stand mixer and knead with dough hook for 10 minutes. Cover bowl and stand for 1 hour. This is the Autolyse stage – hydration of the flour.

Step 2

Make sure your levain is at its peak. Add the salt and all of the levain to the stand mixer and knead for 10 minutes. Cover bowl and stand for 1 hour.

Step 3 ‘First Lamination’

Wet bench top with water and with wet hands turn dough onto the bench. Press and gently stretch the dough into a large rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds lengthways and roll each short end of the dough to the centre to form a ball. Transfer the dough into a large square plastic container with a lid. Leave dough to stand for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Step 4 ‘Folding’

Lift the dough gently with both hands from the middle, slightly tug the dough towards yourself so it tucks underneath itself. Turn the container 90 degrees and repeat this action three times then cover and return the dough to a warm place for 30 min. This builds the strength of the dough.

Repeat the folding step three times, every 30 minutes.

Step 5 ‘Second Lamination’

Turn the dough onto a wet bench and divide the dough into two equal parts using a dough scraper, repeat ‘lamination’ step with wet hands, see step 3. Place shaped dough on a lightly floured bench and dust top with flour. Cover with a tea towel and rest for 30 minutes.

Step 6 ‘Shaping’

Flip the dough upside down and grab the outer edges and stretch it back into the centre. Place it in the breadbasket, seam side up (banneton basket) which has been dusted with flour and sprinkled with seeds if desired. Dust the top of dough with extra flour. Cover the loaves with a tea towel and then place in the refrigerator overnight

Step 7 ‘Cooking’

Take the loaves out of the refrigerator and stand on bench while preheating the oven.

Preheat oven on Bread baking 240°C and place universal tray in oven on shelf level 2. Cut two pieces of baking paper which are a bit bigger the loaf size. Turn each basket on to the prepared paper. Score the tops of the dough with a sharp knife. Place in oven and add VarioSteam medium, cook for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 220°C with VarioSteam medium and cook for a further 15 minutes. Turn off VarioSteam and vent oven by opening oven door and cook for a further 5 minutes or desired colour. Allow to cool before slicing.