Sourdough Bread Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup starter active and bubbly
• 1-1/3 cups water
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions

Feed a sourdough starter, making sure it is bubbling and active, four to twelve hours before beginning the dough. In a large mixing basin, using a wooden spoon or perhaps your hands, combine warm water, active starter, flour, and salt. To allow the water to hydrate the flour, cover the dish with a lid or plastic wrap and let it sit for half an hour.

Stretch And Fold

Snatch the dough by the edge and pull upward, spreading it apart as you go. This could be challenging, and to get the dough to stretch, you might need to kind of bounce it. Reposition the dough that’s in your hands in the center. After giving the bowl a quarter turn, perform one more stretch and fold. Do this two more times. One round is thought to have occurred.

After 30 minutes, finish off another round of folds and stretches. For an additional thirty minutes, cover and let the dough rest. Finish one final stretch and fold in half. Use a plastic wrap, moist towel, or lid to cover. After the dough has doubled in size, let it ferment in a warm area. Depending on your kitchen’s temperature, your starter’s maturity, and other factors, this could take anywhere from six to twelve hours (or longer). Take care not to let it to ferment too much.

Shape

Transfer the dough to a sanitized surface that has been lightly floured. Roll up the dough by folding it over itself. Then spin it gently in your direction to form into a ball. It’s optional to leave the dough out, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes. By doing this, the dough is kept from adhering to the tea towel throughout the overnight rise. Flip and form. I accomplish this by pinching the two sides together, folding them over to meet in the middle, and then repeating with the other two sides. It gains more oven spring (a good rise) as a result of the surface tension this produces.

Turn seam side up and transfer to a bowl or banneton using a floured tea towel (flour is usually used; all-purpose flour would work just as well). Tie the ends of the plastic cover or store it in a plastic bag. Place the dough in the refrigerator to rest for 12 to 15 hours. You can also let the bread to rise for three to four hours at room temperature. Since scoring is made easier and the oven spring seems superior, I prefer to employ the lengthier rising period in the refrigerator.

Bake

For one hour, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Just before baking, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Put the dough onto a parchment paper-lined sheet. If preferred, dust with flour and score using a razor blade or lame. My preference is to create an expansion score, which is a large score, and a cute design for the other score.

Place the sheet of parchment paper with the dough into the preheated oven with caution. Take care to avoid burning your fingertips. Reattach the lid, then slide the oven into the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the lid, reduce the oven’s temperature to 475, and bake for a further 15 to 25 minutes, or until the food is golden brown.