Master Sourdough Recipe
All you’ve wanted is right here in this post. Here’s my sourdough recipe I use for all of my bread posts, adapted from Tartine Bread & Fullproof Bakery. This recipe makes 2 loaves around 615g each. This is a 3 day process, so patience is your first & most important ingredient! If you need to, you can push it into 2 days, and build your levain early in the morning when you make your autolyse.
1st Night: Build Levain
2nd Day: Mix autolyse, combine levain & autolyse, salt, ferment & cold-proof overnight
3rd Day: Score & bake your bread! & Then Eat! …My favorite part.
SOURDOUGH RECIPE
makes 2 - 615g loaves
Sourdough Ingredients:
• 140g Whole Wheat Flour
• 510g Bread Flour
• 505g Filtered Water
• 150g Levain*
• 19g Sea Salt or Kosher Salt - (If you are using same-day freshly milled wheat, use 21g salt)
*Levain Ingredients:
• 30g Ripe Starter/Culture
• 60g Warm Filtered Water
• 60g Bread Flour
Directions:
DAY 1 :
The night before, assemble your levain by combining: 30g of ripe starter (ripe meaning that you didn’t just feed it, that it has been sitting at least 5-6 hrs. beforehand), 60g of warm filtered water, and 60g of bread flour. Mix in a bowl until flour is combined completely, cover loosely, and place in a warm, draft-free area. I like to use my oven, and if it’s cold, I leave my oven light on.
DAY 2 :
When you wake up you will first assemble the autolyse. Autolyse is a technique and simply combining both flours & water and letting it sit at room temperature for 2-4 hours. Autolyse gives you a dough that is easier to work with and also improves it’s texture, rise & flavor. Combine 140g whole wheat flour, 510g bread flour, & 505g filtered water. I first mix it with a spoon and at the end wet my hand and finish combining with my hand. Combine it thoroughly until there are no more dry ingredients seen. Cover and let it sit for a minimum for 2 hours, preferably 4 hours.
After waiting the appropriate time for your autolyse, add in your bubbly levain. From this point on you will be hand mixing, and to make it easier I like to get my hand wet and just run it under your faucet real quick. Hand mix your dough for 5 minutes until completely combined. After this add in your 18g of salt and hand mix for 4 minutes. Hand mix it until the salt is dissolved, you do not want to feel any grains of salt. As you’re mixing, stretch the dough up and down to start the gluten building. Once everything is combined, cover for 30 minutes and place in a warm, draft-free area, again, I use my oven with the light on as a proofing place for my dough.
Fold: After 30 minutes of sitting, you will fold your dough. Mist a clean countertop with water and place your dough onto the damp counter. Visualize your dough as a square, take each side pulling up away from the counter pulling it up towards the ceiling as high as you can, folding it back into the middle of the dough. You want to get as much stretch up towards the ceiling as you can, this is building strength in your dough. Continue to do this for the remaining 3 sides. After folding all 4 sides, gently flip over your dough to the smooth side, place it back into your bowl, cover and place in a warm area and let it sit for additional 30 minutes.
Lamination: Mist your hands and a clean countertop with water. Gently transfer dough to your countertop, you will be stretching your dough out into a big rectangle until it is very thin. With a stretching/pulling motion, slide your metal scraper under your dough and place one hand on top of the dough and stretch as far as you can without ripping the dough to be about 1/2- 3/4” thick. At this point, you can add in any extra flavor/mix-ins you’d like ie: seeds, dried fruits, chocolate etc. Fold your dough lengthwise into thirds then roll up tightly. Flip dough having the smooth side up and place back into your bowl. Cover and place in a warm area for 45 minutes.
• As a rule, a warmer environment will proof your dough faster. You don’t want to rush bulk fermentation because that’s what produces the good depth of flavor. 76ºF-78ºF is a perfect temperature to aim for, so if you live in a hot humid environment, find somewhere cool in your house for it to ferment in or if you live somewhere cold, get a proofing box or you can put it in your turned off oven with the light on.
Bulk Fermentation: So onto the most important part, this is where you will be building gluten strength, which gives you the height and oven spring everyone aims for. Also what you do during this process will determine the crumb. So after the lamination phase and 45 minutes of waiting, you will do your first stretch & fold known as S&F #1. There are many ways of doing this but I like to do the coil fold technique, it’s easier for me to get a good stretch and it keeps the dough looking pretty on top. During this next process, gently pop any visible bubbles.
S&F #1: Coil Fold - Get your hands slightly damp, and take both hands and slide them under each side, gently pulling up towards the ceiling and coil one side under itself. The main point of this is to build strength in your dough and to get a good high stretch. Rotate the bowl 180º and coil fold the other side. Rotate 90º and repeat the same process for the other 2 sides. Cover and place in a warm area for 45 min. to 1 hour. You will determine how long depending if you live in a cooler or warmer climate.
S&F #2: After waiting the appropriate time after your 1st S&F, repeat the coil fold on each side, you should start to feel it get stronger. Gently pop any visible bubbles. Cover and set in a warm area and wait another 45 min. - 1hr.
S&F #3: After waiting the appropriate time after your 2nd S&F, repeat the coil fold on each side. Gently pop any visible bubbles. Cover and set in a warm area and at this point you will let it continue to proof untouched for 2-3 hours. During this time it should double in size. You will know it is appropriately proofed if you gently press your finger into the dough and it slowly springs back. It is harder to tell though because it is a very high-hydrated dough. You will learn as you continue to bake and learn more about your dough. Be careful not to overproof your dough, if your kitchen is really hot it will proof too quickly, de-gass your dough and bake flat. Also another proofing tip is if you slant your bowl over on the counter, your dough should release on its own, it shouldn’t be overly sticky to the bowl.
Shape: Lightly dust your clean countertop with all purpose flour. Gently transfer your dough onto the floured surface. Using your scraper cut the dough in half, place one aside to wait while you shape one loaf. Shaping is best to watch a tutorial on but I’ll try to describe it on here.
Shaping a Batard (Oval Shaped Loaf) : Move your dough to be square shape, starting on the left side, gently pull out and up, shaking it and quickly place it back in the middle of your dough. Repeat this on the opposite side. Then take it from the bottom and repeat and then from the top. Now starting at the seam you will begin to stitch and fold. Place your hands on each side starting at the top, you will pick up each side ad cross it over to the other side as if you’re creating a zig zag with the dough. As you place down the dough make sure it stays sealed. When you reach the bottom you will roll like a coil, then you can seal and pinch the two ends. Then take your scraper on each side and make sure the bottom of your dough is sealed. During this time you can prepare your proofing basket, banneton*, or bowl. If you are using a tea towel to line your basket or bowl, lay it on top of your bowl, dust with flour. Use your scraper to lift the dough gently from the counter and in a quick action, flip it over to your floured towel, the bottom of the loaf should be faced up. Cover it with the remaining towel, pull the towel tightly to support your dough and cover. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes while you shape your other loaf. Then place in your refrigerator for 12-18 hours overnight. This is called cold proofing, the flavor will be enhanced during this time, but it will not over-proof because it’s in the cold. Also, if your fridge freezes in the back, make sure you don’t set it in the very back, I like to set mine on the top shelf in the middle, so that it’s a constant, consistent temperature.
If you are using your banneton with no lining, you can prep it the day before with a mist of water and liberally covering it with rice flour, dump out the remaining flour and that should help prep it so that it doesn’t stick. Before transferring your dough into the banneton, still dust it with your choice of flour, I use all-purpose. Then cover it with suran wrap or a reusable option is a clean shower cap from the dollar store. Place in your refrigerator for 12-18 hrs overnight.
DAY 3:
Scoring & Baking:
Before taking your proofed dough out of the refrigerator, preheat your oven to 500ºF.
Scoring: This is the funnest part in my opinion. Prepare your parchment paper, I like to create handles on the side so I don’t burn my hand… that has happened way too many times. I have videos on my instagram of this. For the best oven spring, you want to score your dough directly out of the refrigerator and get it in the oven as soon as possible. By taking it out of the cold and putting it right in the hot oven it makes it rise up that much more. Dust the top of your dough with all-purpose flour, score your bread, open your oven, place bread in dutch oven with the lid on and close the oven.
Baking: Everyone’s oven is different, so here’s time and temperatures to go by, but keep an eye on your bread. Once you bake a couple times you’ll know what’s best for you.
For a regular oven:
500ºF for 15-20 minutes, covered with the lid on
450ºF for 15 minutes, covered with the lid on
450ºF for 8-10 minutes, uncovered
For convection oven: (this is what I use)
500ºF for 18 minutes, covered with the lid on
450ºF for 12-15 minutes, covered with the lid on
450ºF for 5-6 minutes, uncovered
Let bread rest & cool & then enjoy & eat!!