Sourdough Bread

 There is one thing you need to get started with sourdough breadmaking: patience. Unlike breads using baker's yeast and or dried, instant yeast, sourdough takes a lot longer. 

What confused me for a long time was different terminologies being used to describe sourdough and at what stage what form of sourdough is to be used. From what I learnt you can divide this into 3 different types

1. liquid sourdough starter. Typically, this is the sourdough starter you build from scratch. It usually is a 50/50 mix between rye flour and water. To get a proper sourdough started you should fill 100g flour and 100 g water into a container, mix well. Then each day you should check the mixture and add a tablespoon water and a tablespoon rye flour to it. The whole mix should start to bubble between day 3 and 5. WARNING: this is the tricky part of sourdough baking and it can easily go wrong. If after 7 days it still doesn't froth, smell fruity and sour and shows bubbles, chances are it went wrong. It should certainly not smell foul. But once you have it (best done in summer when temperatures are up) then you can keep this sourdough starter for a long while. Best keep it in the fridge. And "feed" the dough 50/50 rye flour/water every 2-3 weeks. Also, I'd like to clean the container when I feed the dough.
2. solid/firm/stiff sourdough. For many breads this is the starter dough of choice. It is fairly simple to produce. I usually do this:
1. take ca 100g of the liquid sourdough
2. add 80g rye flour and 20g of water
3. mix well and knead it, so that it forms a firm/elastic dough
4. it usually pays to have a firm/stiff/solid starter sourdough ready a few days before you actually make bread. Like the liquid sourdough you can keep it in a container in the fridge. The stiff dough is good to last for 7-10 days. After that it usually dries up too much and is of less use
3. levain. This is the French expression of sourdough base. The exact composition of the levain will depend on the kind of bread you will be making. Below I will show a recipe called 'rye sourdough'. The levain is the starter dough for the *actual* bread we will be making.

I put together a little video to show you how I prepare a levain from a stiff sourdough. And the second part shows how to prepare a stiff sourdough from a liquid one.

Rye Sourdough

My way of making rye sourdough is based on a book called 'Advanced Bread and Pastry Baking'. It does not give exact measurements. Rather, it provides you with a formula to build your own recipe and quantity of bread. 

As explained above, using a stiff sourdough, you will first produce a levain (fermented sourdough). This should rest at room temperature (ca 21C) for between 12h-16h. So a good thing to do the night before.

The levain will then be the basis for the final dough, which will be processed and baked on the same day.

Ingredients

Levain

• stiff sourdough
• rye flour
• strong white wheat flour
• water

Final Dough

• levain (from above)
• rye flour 
• strong white flour
• yeast
• salt
• caraway seeds
• ascorbic acid/vitamin C powder
• water

Equipment

• mixing bowl for the levain
• kitchen scale
• a good kitchen mixer with a kneading hook
• a cast iron casserole to bake in (sometimes referred to as Dutch oven)
• a proving basket
• flour and semolina for dusting
• a good scraper
• patience and time

Formula

The following is based on producing 4 loafs. For a single household that's far too much. Therefore, you can scale the quantities down taking the stiff sourdough volume as a reference base for the levain. And likewise the levain volume as a reference base for the final dough.

Levain Volumes Calculator

• Scaling factor x = <weight of your stiff sourdough> / 293 gram

The formula then reads (measure the water in weight, not in litres/millilitres !)

• strong white bread: 348g * scaling_factor  = resulting weight for strong white flour
• rye (dark or medium): 18g * scaling_factor = resulting weight for rye flour
• water: 183g * scaling_factor = resulting weight for water 

Example:

Weight stiff sourdough = 152.9 g

Scaling factor = 152.9/293 = ca 0.52

Resulting weights:

• strong white: 348 * 0.52 = 180.9g (181g)
• rye flour: 18 * 0.52 = 9.3g (9.4g)
• water: 155 * 0.52 = 95.1g (95.2g)

Final Dough Volumes Calculator

• scaling factor x = <weight of levain>/842gram

Formula for the final dough

• strong white bread: 842g * scaling factor x(the same weight as the levain!)
• rye flour (medium): 1263g * scaling factor x
• water: 1533g * scaling factor x
• yeast (dried) 3g * scaling factor x
• salt 53g * scaling factor x

Example

Levain 428g. Scaling factor x = 428g/842g = 0.50 (0.51)

• strong white: 428g (same as levain)
• medium rye: 1263g * 0.5/0.51 = 642g
• water: 1533g * 0.5/0.51 = 781.8g 
• yeast 3g * 0.5/0.51 = 1.5g
• salt 53g * 0.5/0.51 = ca 27g

Additional: 

one tablespoon of caraway seeds and one tablespoon of ascorbic acid/vitamin C powder

How you do it

Well done you for getting that far!

Stage one: prepare the levain

Based on the formula above and the notes about the stiff sourdough, mix the levain for the quantities you calculated. The examples given above are for 2 medium sized loafs - as a guideline.

The levain should be stored at room temperature (ca 20C) and covered for between 12-16 hours.

Stage two: prepare the final dough

Based on the weight for the levain calculate the weight for the ingredients of the final dough. If you have dried yeast, it pays to prep the yeast with 2-3 tablespoons of lukewarm water with a bit of sugar for ca 10-15min before mixing it in with the rest.

• Basically, pour all the ingredients - except for the caraway seeds - into a kitchen mixer bowl. NOTE: water should be handwarm!
• insert the kneading hook for the mixer and run for 3 min at lowest speed
• after 3 min, increase speed to next higher level and let it knead for 8 more minutes
• after that add the caraway seeds to the dough and mix for another 2 min at same speed

Remove the bowl from the mixer and remove/clean the hook. Cover the bowl

Stage three: first fermentation 2 hours

Let the dough rest for 2 hours/covered. If you have a temperature regulated proving box set it to ca 21C.

Stage four: first fold

Remove the dough from the bowl onto a clean surface (table/board). Stretch the dough to the right & fold. Stretch the dough towards you and fold. Then stretch to the left/fold, stretch away from you and fold.

Place the dough back into the bowl. Cover it up and let rest for 30min

Stage five: final fermentation

• After 30min, remove the dough from the bowl onto a clean surface. And fold it as explained above.
• depending on the quantity of dough you may divide the dough into the number of loafs you want to bake.
• prepare the proving basket by dusting it with flour and semolina. Make sure the flour/semolina goes into the groves of the basket
• dust your hands and the dough with flour and then gently grab the dough at the bottom with both hands and spin until you get a nicely formed spherical shape (boule). Place it into the proving basket upside down. If you do an oblong shaped (baguette like) load roll the dough on the surface and then place into an oblong proving basket.
• cover the proving basket and let the dough rest for 1 1/2 hours

Stage six: baking

• preheat the oven to 250C
• prepare the ironcast/emerald casserole by rubbing oil on the inside. Then dust it evenly with flour and semolina
• prepare a spray bottle with water
• when the 1 1/2 hours final fermentation is over and the oven reached the temperature put the dough carefully from the proving basket into the casserole. Do it upside down, i.e. turn over the proving basket over the casserole pot and drop the dough gently into it.
• you can carve the top of the dough gently 
• when you place the pot with the dough into the preheated oven, take the water spray bottle and spray a good few time. You should see some steam showing. Close the oven door
• Bake for 10min at that temperature
• after 10min, open the oven door for ca 10s. Close the oven door again and reduce the temperature to 220C.
• Bake for 25min
• After that take out the pot. Put on a heat resistent surface and drop the loaf on that. Put the loaf back into the pot, but this time with the bottom of the loaf facing up
• Bake for another 7min
• Take it out of the oven.

The loaf should cool down for at least 2 hours. (It will stay warm)

Questions:

Why use yeast as well as sourdough?

Breads consisting of rye flour, particularly those that are mainly made of rye flour, don't rise that well. If you use a bread using only strong white flour, sourdough only works well. In Germany, mixed breads (wheat/rye) usually contain a mix of sourdough and yeast. 

Why use semolina for dusting?

Yes, it seems rather strange, doesn't it. But in the course I took on bread baking they said it doesn't burn as flour does. Therefore, dusting the Dutch oven (casserole/pot) with semolina ensures that you don't burn the surface of the bread (too much)

Why use a water spray?

This is essential for the first few minutes of the dough in the oven. Essentially, as the temperature in the bread rises, the germs inside start becoming more active, continue fermenting etc. Humidity helps with this, and so adding water helps this initial in-the-oven-fermentation process. The effect of this is that gas bubbles will form in the bread (CO2 - a side product of fermentation) and it pushes the dough apart increasing the volume. This is known as "the jump". 

Once it's getting too hot, the germs will be destroyed, fermentation arrested and the bread dough won't expand any further.