I just got into sourdough baking in Aug 2019. The dried rye starter was gifted to me by Neva Brown in 2016! I procrastinated. Now I am in love with baking breads!
This is my trusted first sourdough bread recipe. I got this from Patrick Ryan’s Sourdough YouTube video which was for two loaves. In the recipe below, I halved everything as I can only make and keep one loaf at a time.
Sourdough boule
Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe
Note: My starter was at 100% hydration. As always, my recipes are in short form as they are mainly to remind me what and how.
Ingredients
- 230g water
- 160g starter (1:1)
- 400g flour (plain aka all purpose flour)
- 5g salt
- (approx. 65% hydration)
You can view Patrick Ryan’s how-to video on baking sourdough. That was my starting point but since then, I have changed my method, using the Slap & Fold rather than Patrick’s kneading method. Both work.
Method
- Mix water, starter, flour.
(opt. if mixing in other flour, can use 3:1 or 4:1 ratio) - Autolyse: cover lightly with plastic wrap for 20-30 mins.
- Add salt.
- Slap & Fold/Knead: Do not flour surface! Approx. 4 mins or rather till no longer sticking to hands.
(NB. This is a fairly low hydration dough so kneading is sometimes more suitable. Slap & Fold is most suited for 73+% hydration. I tend to do both with this particular recipe.) - Stretch & Fold, Tuck: Lightly flour surface. Stretch & fold. Tuck. Cover with plastic wrap for 10 mins.
(Repeat this 2 more times for a total of 3 times.) - Bulk Ferment: Very lightly flour dough. Put (seam down) into mixing bowl or bowl (opt. that is lightly oiled). Cover with plastic wrap. 3-4 hours or till dough is 1.5 times original size.
- Stretch & Fold: Gently release dough to work surface.
Stretch & fold gently.
Tuck in and round out.
Tension pull. - Bench Rest: cover with plastic wrap for 10mins.
- Final Proof: final tuck and rounding, then tension pull.
Flour proving basket. Place dough, seam side up, into proving basket. Cover with cling wrap or tea towel or in your cloche. 2-3 hours (or when dough has increased 1.5 times)…..(Alternatively, can retard in fridge overnight.)
Note: 1 hour before end of final proofing, preheat oven to 230C.
Update: (2021) I no longer preheat my oven. I just cold bake (straight from countertop/fridge into oven)… And Happy with this method.
- Score: Remove from proofing basket. Score. Bake (in cloche or dutch oven) at 200C for 30min.
Remove cover. Turn oven down to 180C. Bake for another 10-20mins till nicely browned. - Cooling: 2-3 hours cooling before cutting (otherwise bread will be gummy)
Want a Bigger Loaf?
500G Sourdough Loaf
In case you want a slightly bigger loaf, the follow uses 500g of flour.
Ingredients
- 287g water
- 200g starter
- 500g flour (plain aka all purpose flour)
- 6.25g salt
Variations
Okara Sourdough Bread
I have started making tofu. And one ends up with a lot of “discards”, called okara. But okara is perfectly good and nutritious food because it is essentailly soy beans, with zero added chemicals. Most people either just throw okara away (though there are other uses like cookies etc.) or dumping into compost.
So I thought, could I use it to make my sourdough breads?
Well, Yes! 😁
This is the experiment ingredients that worked.
For an approximate 500g loaf
Ingredients
- okara – 100g
- 400g flour (plain aka all purpose flour)
- 1T VWG (Vital Wheat Gluten) – because okara definitely has no gluten
- 2T milk powder (i like this because it had helped the bread to be softer and bouncier on the image while still yielding a lovely, crusty crust)
- 230g water (same as for the 400g loaf above, though more hydration also works)
- 200g starter
- 9g salt (i don’t know why but maybe lately i seem to want more salt!!)
TIPS FOR SOURDOUGH BREAD
I have found that oldsd is extra delicious with a nice crunchy crust and soft insides by doing the following:
- Cut/tear out the pieces of old bread you want
- Steam: 2-3 mins
- Air fryer: 160C/2-3 mins
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