A slow rise has best flavor, but there’s a quick method too!

First, a few words about Ginny Junior, my sourdough starter:

        My starter is a medley. I began with a homemade wild yeast starter I made from scratch from my friend Virginia Carter’s Frontenac grapes from her vineyard, 2009 vintage. I followed Nancy Silverton’s instructions on a Julia Child Master Chefs series to make my original starter. I am ever grateful to both of them for this recipe. Follow this link for instructions:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXvVpSg16Bo

         Since then, I’ve added some starter created by our friend Cassandra. So this is a combination of the efforts of three friends at the Walpole Unitarian Church!

          Virginia’s grapes originally added a distinct lavender purple cast to the starter, which lightened as it was divided. Even though undetectable now, I still think of it as my purple starter.

         Of course, if you are not my neighbor, you can make your own starter, or order some from various sources online. Although it takes some time, the process of making the starter is not difficult at all – a little mixing, a lot of waiting.

        You should feed the starter every week or so, even if you are not using it. It will separate and have bubbles or a film on it and look disgusting. This is normal. Stir it up and it should smell like sour yeast. It is pretty hard to kill a starter; it wants to live. So feed it and use it and you will be all set. If you feed it and don’t use it, give away or discard a cup, otherwise the starter will start to overtake your shelf space!

         Feeding: If your starter has been refrigerated, you need to feed it before you use it in a recipe.

         I weigh with a scale, but you can also measure.  Add four ounces (a scant cup) of flour and four ounces (a half cup) of water to four ounces of starter. Mix well and set aside, loosely covered, and let the starter digest its new food. Let sit for at least four hours and up to 12. There should be some happy bubbling action going on (see slide show # 2 and #3. \

When feeding your starter, remember to always use four ounces each of the unfed starter, flour, and water. Feed the rest, let ferment, then tuck away for next time. If you don’t make bread, feed some if it to save and either use the discard, or give it awayr.

       Once fed, make your bread! There is a long, slow method (over two days) or the quicker same day method that uses a little commercial yeast. The slow method produces vastly superior, more sour-tasting bread, but the quick method is pretty luscious too, still a sourdough, but not intensely so.

Now, the bread

Slow-Rise Sourdough Bread

• 1 cup or more of fed starter
• 5 cups or so unbleached white, whole wheat, or spelt flour
• 1 ½ cup room temperature water
• 1 tbsp. sugar or honey
• 1 ½ tsp. salt

            Feed your starter in the morning and let it sit all day, 12 hours is best and put the dough together before bed for its first ferment. Or, feed the starter before going to bed and you’ll be ready to assemble your bread in the morning,

           Once the starter has been fed and worked, mix together the starter, *water, sugar, flour, a little at a time, and at the last, the salt. You can knead this in a stand mixer, or by hand. If I’m going to the trouble of the slow method, I usually do it by hand, unless I am dead tired. Then I head to the stand mixer, always an option.

            Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Grease a large bowl, and place the dough in the bowl, turning it over to grease all surfaces. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a cool place overnight. In the warm weather, this means the refrigerator.

            In the morning, the dough should be very bubbly, Gently pull it away from the sides of the bowl with spread-out fingers, and look at the texture. Fold the edges over and into the middle, gently. It should appear kind of lacy around the edges as you move your fingers around the bowl. The dough will collapse. Cover again, and let sit for another eight hours or so; it will have risen again, to two or three times the size, and will smell really good.

            Turn the dough out and divide into two loaves and place in a baguette pan that is greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Alternately, you can place on a tea towel, dusted with flour, making a fold between each loaf to keep it in the baguette shape.

            Once the loaves have risen for another hour or two, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

            Gently slide the loaves onto a greased and cornmeal-sprinkled cookie sheet. With an extremely sharp, serrated knife or razor blade, slash several long gashes in the top of the baguette to allow steam to be released. Throw three or four ice cubes in the oven to create steam, close the door for a moment for the steam to build up, and pop in the loaves.

            Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until nicely browned, throwing in a couple more ice cubes at the 10-minute or so mark. If you are a slave to your instant-read thermometer, you are looking for a temperature of 195 to 200 degrees, but the color and aroma are usually the most important factors. 

            Do not cut into this when hot! I know it is torture, but if you cut into it too soon, you will ruin the texture of the bread, it will collapse and look gummy and there’s no fix for this. Sometimes I’m naughty and cut off the very end if I cannot stand it, but please do as I say and not as I do!

At a glance…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Quick(er) Three Friends Sourdough Bread

1 cup or so fed starter

1 ½ cups room temperature water

1 tbsp honey or sugar

1 packet instant yeast

5 cups or so unbleached white, white whole wheat, spelt flour, or combination

1 ½ tsp salt

            Feed your starter the night before you want to bake. In the morning, mix together a cup of this fed starter, water, sugar, and yeast. (Return the rest of the starter to the refrigerator). Stir well and let rest for ten minutes.

            Add the flour a cup at a time, as well as the salt. You might not need the entire amount, you might need a bit more, it all depends on your flour and the humidity of the day. Turn it out onto a floured board, and start kneading. I usually have the last cup in reserve and use as needed when the dough starts to get too sticky, so use it a sprinkle at a time, as you knead the bread to keep it from sticking to your board or marble. You can also “knead” this in your standing mixer fitted with the dough hook – even faster.

            Once the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, place it in a warm bowl that you have oiled. Turn the dough over so the top is oiled, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm spot for an hour and half or so, until double in bulk.

            Remove from the bowl, let rest a few minutes, cut into two pieces, and shape into loaves of choice: to make  round boule, place in a proofing bowl (my favorite method for a boule*); use a French bread pan, or place the long baguette shapes on a floured tea towel with pleats or folds between each loaf to keep their shape.

Let rise again until double in bulk. 

            Lightly flour the tops if you like and slash with a razor blade or really sharp knife. This is essential to release steam so that the load does not explode into a strange shape.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. When you first put the bread in the oven, throw in three or four ice cubes to create steam in the oven. This will make a nice crisp crust.

 With both methods:

• In general, the longer and slower the dough proofs, the more flavor you will get. Thus, a cooler rise means more time and flavor. However, don’t proof for a long time in a hot place!
• You can use spelt flour rather than all purpose, and a mix of whole wheat and white also produces a nice bread, not a traditional baguette, but healthy and delicious.
• Nothing is better than turning this dough into Sourdough Oatmeal. Just add two cups of cooked old fashioned oats to the dough, along with a cup of pulverized old fashioned oats. I use molasses rather than honey, and double the amount. This has a lovely flavor, and for extra texture I sprinkle with oatmeal just before baking.!
• The ice cubes will create a lovely moist environment for the bread and encourage a crispy crust. You can also open the door several times and mist the bread like Julia did, but that is a pain in the neck.
• The slashing of the dough means a controlled release of steam. If you don’t do this, the bread will split any which way it likes, resulting in rather strangely shaped bread!
• When making any type of bread, keep the salt from the yeast for as long as possible in the mixing process. Salt can inhibit yeast action, but it is absolutely necessary for a delicious loaf. Measure the salt and put it in a little bowl next to where you are mixing so that you don’t forget. I’ve forgotten in the past, and the bread was bland!
• You can enhance the sour flavor slightly by adding a quarter teaspoon of citric acid during the first mix. This is not essential, but will add to the sourness.
• Resist the urge, and let the bread cool before cutting and eating. I know you won’t do this, but you are supposed to let it rest in order to keep the texture of the bread in tact. If you cut it too soon, the bread will appear undercooked and its texture will be ruined. It just needs a rest.
• If you are a thermometer crazy, the internal temperature of the bread when done should be around 195 to 200 degrees, it will sound hollow when thumped.
• The water you use when feeding starter or baking bread should NOT be chlorinated for best results. 
• If you regularly make bread, the yeast floating around in your house will intensify the activity or your starter!

*No proofing bowl? Line a bowl with a tea towel and dust with flour. Place your round of dough in this and let proof, covered with another towel. Once ready to bake, gently turn it over onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Dust with flour, score, and pop in the heated oven.

© Copyright 2020– or current year, The New Vintage Kitchen. Unattributed use of this material is strictly prohibited. Reposting and links may be used, provided that credit is given to The New Vintage Kitchen, with  active link and direction to this original post.

The New Vintage Kitchen does not accept ads or payment for mention of products or businesses.

Supporter of:  Slow Food       Fair Trade USA       Northeast Organic Farmers Association     EcoWatch    Let’s Save Our Planet No Kid Hungry   Hunger Free Vermont Environmental Working Group