How to Make Sourdough Bread
Part Two - Building the Loaf
If you do not have a sourdough starter, you need to follow the directions on this page before you can start making sourdough bread.
To make bread, start with 1 tablespoonful of starter, putting the rest of the jar back in the fridge. Feed it as before, but you can use white or wholemeal bread flour or a mixture. Rye flour (up to about 25% of total flour) also gives a good flavour, but more than that can be a bit tricky for beginners as it doesn't make gluten in the same way wheat does, and it goes gummy if kneaded too much.
Remember to keep on whisking the culture vigorously after each feed to give the yeast plenty of air, leave it in a warm room, and keep the mixture covered with cling film to stop it drying out. In the schedule below, I've assumed you are feeding three times a day, but twice a day will work too - it's just slower.
Day 1
Morning - mix 1 tbsp starter with 1 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp water.
Afternoon - add 20g flour, 30g water
Night - 40g flour, 60g water
Day 2
Morning - 80g flour, 120g water (total = 160 flour, 240 water)
At the next stage, we add the last of the water and increase the proportion of flour.
Afternoon or night - 240g flour, 240g water, cover and leave 8 - 12 hours. As you become more experienced at handling dough, you can slightly increase the proportion of water in the dough, adding an extra 40-80g to give a more holey, open textured crumb. Just remember that it will be difficult to handle - you can use extra flour to stop it sticking to your worktop and hands but try to avoid incorporating it into the dough.
For the final dough, add another 400g flour and 16g salt. Knead with the dough hook of a stand mixer (see the mixers page for recommendations) for 5 minutes, or by hand. To knead by hand, the most effective way is to repeatedly pull and stretch the dough into a long, thick rope, then fold it in half. After five to ten minutes, it should feel smooth and silky, and it should be possible to stretch a small lump of dough into a flat "windowpane" that is thin enough to see daylight through when held up to the window, without the dough tearing.
Shape the dough into a ball and put in a large bowl covered with a lightly oiled piece of cling film (so the dough doesn't stick to the cling film when it is fully risen). Leave it to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in height - this depends on the vigour of your culture and could take anything from 2 - 8 hours.
Carefully tip the dough onto a well-floured worktop, taking care at this stage not to knock any gas out of the dough. Cut it in half using a sharp knife: press straight down with the blade, don't use a sawing motion. Gently flatten each piece into a rough rectangle or oval. Fold the far third of the dough towards you over the middle, then fold the near third over that, as if folding a letter to go into an envelope. Dust the dough and your hands with flour and pinch the seam thoroughly closed. Place the dough seam side down on a piece of baking parchment and cover with oiled cling film. Use a separate piece of parchment for each loaf so they don't stick together as they rise. Leave to rise in a warm room until doubled in height. The loaves are ready to bake when a gentle poke with a fingertip leaves an indentation that doesn't spring back immediately.
Preheat the oven to the highest possible setting, with a baking stone or heavy flat baking tray on a shelf in the middle of the oven and a heavy deep baking tray at the bottom. Just before baking, remove the cling film, dust the top of the loaf with flour and using a very sharp knife or razor blade, slash the dough lengthways in a single movement, to a depth of 1 cm, or make two or three diagonal slashes. Pour boiling water into the preheated deep baking tray at the bottom of the oven, then use a rimless or upside down baking tray to slide the loaves onto the preheated stone/tray. Bake for ten minutes, then turn round 180 degrees and bake for another ten minutes. Check the colour of the crust - it should be dark brown, not pale golden, for the best flavour. Bake for another 5 - 10 minutes if needed.
Cool on a wire rack and resist the temptation to cut the bread until completely cold.
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