Sourdough Bread

To read about the benefits of Sourdough Bread, see my post on how to make a sourdough starter. Although I have included cup measurements, for best results, I recommend making sourdough by weight as the density of sourdough starter can be very variable.

(makes four loaves)

Ingredients

• 26 oz sourdough starter (about 3 cups)
• 43 oz wholemeal flour (about 9 cups)
• 1 tbsp yeast (optional but it gives a slightly less dense loaf)
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 30 floz warm water (3 ¾ cups) - I make it with two parts tap water to one part boiling water.

Method

• The night before, prepare your sourdough starter.
• Mix flour, salt and optional yeast in large bowl.
• Add warm water to the starter and mix

• Add the combined water/starter to bowl of flour/salt/yeast and mix until no dry flour remains. (If using shop bought flour you may need to add an extra 2-4 floz water.)
• It should be thick but runny enough that it spreads when you stop stirring.

• Divide evenly between four 2lb loaf tins and leave to rise for 8-12 hours.

Before and after rising.

• Bake at 200°C/GM4/400°F for 35 minutes.
• When ready, turn out immediately and leave to cool before slicing.

Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starter makes use of naturally occurring yeasts and removes the necessity of using shop bought yeast. Sourdough also has the benefit of reducing the phytic acid content. (Phytic acid can inhibit absorption of various nutrients.) Sourdough bread does not go stale as quickly as yeasted bread.

How To Make Sourdough Starter

You will need

• a large bowl or jug
• a tea towel or other cloth to cover bowl/jug
• water
• wholemeal flour (rye is reputed to be easier to start from scratch than wheat)

Making Your Sourdough Starter

• Place a cup each of flour and water in bowl/jug, stir, cover and leave to stand overnight.
• Each day for around a week, add equal amounts of flour and water, stir, cover and leave overnight again. (I recommend half cups to avoid being overrun with starter.)
• After a while it will start to get frothy and smell a little "beery". It will hopefully look something like this:

• After a week to ten days, if your starter has become frothy then it is ready to use.

Maintaining Your Sourdough Starter
Once you have used your sourdough starter, you no longer need to keep it at room temperature. (You can if you want but you may need to stir it every day to prevent it going mouldy.) I put mine in a small plastic tub in the fridge until the day before I will next need it. The night before I want to use it I mix up equal volumes of flour and water according to how much sourdough starter I will need in my recipe and stir in the starter from the fridge. The next day once I have used the starter, I put the remainder in a clean tub and back in the fridge.


See also:

• Sourdough Bread