Sourdough

Overview

Make levain and feed your starter

Mix flour and water, let it sit, then add rest of ingredients

Stretch and fold dough every thirty minutes during bulk rise

Divide and shape

Let dough proof (room temperature for 1-4 hours, or in fridge overnight)

Slice and bake

Tips:

I like to use my stand mixer with the dough hook because it it efficient and keeps all the steps easily in one bowl!
If you refrigerate your starter (and you do not feed it daily) you might start your levain the night before you want to bake because it may take longer than 4 hours to rise (as the schedule below states). Let the starter come to room temperature (you will see it bubble again) before starting your levain. You can double up and feed your starter when you start the levain by following the same process (20g starter, 100g flour, 100g warm water).
Keep a small bowl of water handy to wet your hands before you touch the dough. It will help to keep the dough from sticking (you can also do this with flour!)
It can be tough to get the measurements perfect, but especially water. I found if I pour the water last and into the same area of the bowl I can use a TSP or TBSP measuring tool and scoop some water out a little at a time to get the right amount.

Step 1: Make the Levain

Suggested times: 8:00am or 8:00pm *(if you refrigerate your levain and don’t feed it everyday, then I suggest starting the night before. In my experience it takes about double the time to rise)

Levain is an off-shoot of sourdough starter, made by combining fresh starter with flour and water and letting it ferment. It rises into a bubbly mixture that is used to create fermentation in the bread dough made later.

38g of starter
76 grams of flour (I use organic bread flour)
76g of water

Mix into a clean jar and leave it at room temperature of 74-76 degrees for 5 to 6 hours with fresh starter, or overnight with refrigerated starter.

*then feed your starter using 20g of the remaining starter, 100g flour, 100g water and let it rise overnight just like your levain before refrigerating.

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Step 2 : Autolyse

Suggested times: 12:00 pm or 4 hours into levain rise
- 9:00am if you let your levain rise overnight

The autolyse technique mixes flour and water to draw out the sugars from the flour, making the dough more flexible. The desired temperature is 78 degrees

938 grams of flour (I use organic bread flour)
603g of water

Mix flour and water in a large bowl making sure nothing dry is left. The dough will be shaggy. Using a scraper, make sure all dough is scraped together into the bottom of the bowl. Let it sit for an hour, covered, while levain finishes rising.

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Step 3: Mix

Suggested time: 1:00 pm or 10am ish

This step starts the fermentation process by combining the autolyse dough and fermented levain. Determine the temperature of the water used in this process by the temperature of the autolyse dough mix.

50g water (check the temperature of dough-if warmer than 78, use colder water and vice versa)
18g of sea salt
190grams of levain (should be all of it)

Add the ingredients on top of the autolysed dough. Using wet hands, pinch all the ingredients together. Transfer the dough to a container or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation. Another option is to mix ingredients using a stand mixer and bread hook attachment. Cover the dough for the bulk rise.

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Step 4 : Bulk Rise

Suggested time: 1:00pm – 5:00pm or 10:00am - 2:00pm

The bulk rise will last about 4 hours. During the bulk rise, you will perform 4 sets of stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart to strengthen the dough. After these stretches, let the dough rest and continue to rise anywhere from 20% – 50%. There should be some bubbles on the top of the risen dough.

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Image and Rights to Image from The Perfect Loaf

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Step 5 : Divide and Preshape

Suggested time: 5:15pm or 2pm (4 hours after mixing)

Flour a work surface and wet your non-dominant hand. Using a scraper, gently scrape all the dough out of the bowl. With a bench knife (in dominant hand) divide the dough into two pieces. Turn and pull the dough into a circle shape. Let the dough rest for 25 minutes.

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Step 6 : Shape

Suggested time: 5:35 pm or 2:25pm

Lightly flour the top of the dough and the work surface. Stretch the bottom of the dough toward you, then up about 2/3 to the top. Repeat on the right and left sides. Grab the top and stretch it away from you, folding it down to the bottom of the dough. Flip the dough so that the seams are on the bottom, and lightly drag the dough toward you to create some surface tension. Once the shape is created, use the scraper to flip the boule into the proofing container seam side up.

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Images and Rights to Images from The Perfect Loaf

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Step 7 : Rest and Proof

Suggested time: 5:40 pm to 9:30 am if overnight, or fast-proof 2:25pm - 5:25pm or when dough is bubbling slightly and bouncing back slowly during the poke post (see below).

Same Day Proofing:

Leave the covered dough to rise at a warm temperature until sufficiently proofed. The amount of time the dough is left to proof at warm temperature depends on the dough makeup and temperature. It is generally between 1.5 to 3 hours.

Overnight Proofing:

Leave the covered dough to rise in the refrigerator overnight. The dough is baked right out of the refrigerator (can also be brought to room temperature).

Using the poke test, determine when the dough is ready for baking.

If the dough springs back quickly, it needs to proof longer
If the dough springs back slowly, it is ready to bake
If the dough never springs back, it is over-proofed (as seen below)

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Images and Rights to Images from The Perfect Loaf | Using the poke test on over-proofed sourdough bread dough. A finger press results in an indentation that never springs back.

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Step 8 : Bake

Suggested time: 8:30 – 9:00 am

Place a Dutch oven on the bottom third of the oven, then preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Next, take the dough out of its container by placing parchment paper on top of a cutting board (or any solid surface) and flip the dough onto the parchment paper.

Use a razor blade or serrated knife to cut slits in the dough. The cuts should be about 2 inches deep. Slide the dough back into the dutch oven.

Bake for 20 min with the lid on
Bake for 30 min with lid off
Place dutch oven back in the oven for the next loaf and repeat

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Resource from the Perfect Loaf

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Links for tools

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