Sourdough bread has become all the rage, and what most people don't even know which makes it THE most amazing bread to eat other than Sprouted Grain bread (the only 2 breads I will EVER eat) is that because of the fermentation process involved in making the bread, it is actually incredible healing for our gut.
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So here's my favorite sourdough bread recipe.
Note: This recipe uses grams for measurement, so you simply need a food scale to measure the ingredients.
First we need to start by making our sourdough starter. Now you can get a "ready" starter from a friend who is also making sourdough, but I prefer to make it myself using flour that I KNOW is Glyphosate free.
• Day 1: combine 50 grams flour and 50 grams water in a glass container and stir very well. Leave in a warm place, out of direct sunlight, covered with a cloth.
• Day 2- Feed your starter 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. This means, adding in a fresh 50g of flour and 50g of water and mixing it really well with yesterday's mix.
• Day 3: Pour 50g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. (A ratio of 1:1:1.) Discard the rest.
• Day 4:  Pour 50g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. Discard the rest.
• By day 3 and 4, your starter might be bubbling and have a slightly sour smell.
• Day 5-10: each day pour 50g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. Discard the rest.
• If your starter is doubling easily by day 6 or 7, within 6 hours of feeding, you can start feeding it 1:1:1 twice daily.
• By day 10 it might be ready to use, though it could be earlier. Test it using the starter activeness test as written below
To test how active your starter is and if it’s ready to bake with, you’ll need your starter to at least double, or triple within 6-8 hours. You will also feed your starter at a higher ratio of flour and water to check if the yeast colony in your starter is large enough to inoculate this extra flour in under 6-8 hours.Â
Take 1 part starter and feed it 2 parts flour and 2 parts water. Mix it well in a jar or glass.If you tie a rubber band around your glass jar to mark where the starter came up to before it rose, you’ll be able to see how much it has risen later on.Â
If it doesn’t easily double within this time, it will need a bit longer of twice daily 1:1:1 feeds
The Bread (single loaf):
Starter 50g (Starter recipe below)
Water 350g
Flour 500 g (I HIGHLY recommend using Einkorn Flour, most other flour brands contain a very high amount of glyphosate
Salt 9g
Double Loaf:
Starter 100g
Water 700g
Flour 1000g
Salt 18g
Sour Dough Instructions:
Starter
You're going to make your starter by beginning with
1. Feed sourdough starter in AM (typically a 1:2:2 ratio)
 (ratio: starter:water:flour)
2. That afternoon/evening once your starter has doubled or
tripled and bubbles on top and sides, you can put your dough together.
3. Weigh your water in your mixing bowl, then weigh/mix in your starter until water is murky.
4. Add Flour and Salt to the bowl, then mix all together-dough will be shaggy looking
5. Let dough sit for 60 minutes, covered with clingwrap to hold in moisture (this is called the autolyse period and allows your flour to soak in all the water and become hydrated)
6. Work dough into a smooth ball (grab dough from outside edges and pulling it onto itself) then wait 30 minutes
7. Stretch and Fold Dough (4 sides of folding), cover back up
and wait another 30-60 minutes in between each (total of at least 2 hours of stretch and folds, up to 4 stretch and folds if you have time). So ideally you stretch and fold 2-4 times before the bulk fermentation period
8. Bulk Fermentation: Leave dough on your counter in bowl covered with clingwrap overnight for 8-16 hours until dough has doubled in size or almost doubled. Timing will all depend on the climate of your house (colder temp-takes longer to ferment. Warmer temp is will double and ferment faster).
9. In the morning, add a little flour to the counter and gently take dough out of bowl
10. Shaping dough: If double batch- cut dough into two parts
and do shaping separately - let dough relax and sit on counter for 5 minutes covered with damp tea towel
11. Lamination: try and stretch out the sides of dough to make
it into a rectangle without ripping the dough, then fold the sides in and then roll it from bottom to top.
12. Shaping: then roll it in both hands forward and backwards
to get it into a round shape, you want tension in your bread
13. Once shaped- set into a floured banneton basket (or mixing bowl with a tea towel inside covered in flour) the rounded side down, just something to hold its shape.
14. Cold Fermentation; Place Banneton/bowl in fridge for minimum of 5 hours and/or up to 3 days and cook when you are ready. Ideally it is covered with a tea towel or plate.
15. Ready to cook: Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place dutch oven in oven while its preheating, 10 minutes before
oven is done preheating throw dough into freezer for 10 minutes or so to get it more stiff to score, Flip dough over on parchment paper and score with a knife about a quarter of an inch deep in a X shape or C shape, or however
artistic you want to be. Place parchment paper/dough once scored into dutch oven with lid on into oven.
(IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DUTCH OVEN-place dough on parchment paper in a glass bowl or baking sheet and add a separate baking sheet with water in it on another rack in the oven to provide moisture)
16. Bake Bread at 450° with lid on for 25 minutes and then take lid off and cook for another 15-20 minutes depending
on how dark you like the crust to look like
(Without Dutch Oven-bake for 45 mins or so)
17. Once completed- take parchment paper and bread out of oven and let it sit for at least 2 hours to let it FULLY COOL from the inside out.Â
-If you cut into it early it can be gummy!!
Terminology:
Bulk Fermentation: is the process where all the magic happens.
The dough bulk ferments as one big ball on the counter. It is complete when your dough has doubled, domed on top and light
and pillowy looking likely with air bubbles.
Stretch and folds: method of moving the dough around that it strengthens the dough and develops the gluten in the dough.
Starter: A collection of wild yeast and bacteria that are used to raise bread. The yeast and bacteria eat the flour and water and create gas which makes your bread rise. It's a living culture and needs to be fed regularly, unless you put it in your fridge where it becomes discard and then you can bring it back to life once you feed it again.
Discard: Is removing a portion of unfed starter from the jar before you feed your sourdough starter
Ear: Is the flap of crust that lifts up during baking where it was scored
Lamination: Process of stretching your dough out into a thin sheet on counter before folding it up again.
Hooch: refers to the dark liquid that can form on your starter. It is harmless and is the result of bacteria and yeast eating all of their food and excreting waste,. It can smell like acetone
Levain- often a word used interchangeably with the word starter
Proofing- refers to the second period of fermentation after shaping the dough. You can cold proof in the fridge or proof at
room temp (shorter process).