Baking with Sourdough

Baking with sourdough creates delicious, healthy breads that can delight anyone who tries them. Sourdough baking is a recent adventure for me—one I had thought about for years. After making more than a dozen loaves, experimenting with different flours and two separate sourdough cultures, all using a simple no-knead process, here are some notes.

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Capturing Your Sourdough

Where I live, it was surprisingly easy to create my own sourdough starter—or rather, to capture a few wild yeast spores that smelled unmistakably like sourdough.

You'll need:

• a mason jar
• a rubber band
• a piece of cheesecloth or any loose-weave cloth

Instructions:

1. Add 2 tablespoons of organic flour (white or whole wheat both work) to the jar.

2. Add about 1 cup of water.

   • Water matters. If you have spring water, use it.
   • Filtered or rainwater can also work depending on your area.

3. Stir well. The consistency should be runny.

4. Cover the jar with cloth and secure with a rubber band.

5. Set the jar outside or around the garden. Let it catch some fresh air.

   • A little sunlight is good.
   • At night, bring it inside to keep wildlife out.

6. Repeat for a few days. Stir and smell it daily until you notice a faint sourdough aroma.

Once you smell that familiar tang—you have a starter.

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Keeping Your Starter Happy

• Store the starter in a mason jar with the lid loosely screwed on.
• Keep it at room temperature if you bake every few days.
• If you bake less often, keep it in the fridge.

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Preparing the Dough (One Day Before Baking)

1. Prepare a large ceramic or glass bowl, lightly coated with olive oil.
2. In a separate mixing bowl add 4 cups of flour, for example organic white wheat for a lighter bread or 3 cups white weat and 1 cup dark rye, add 2 or 3 pinches of sea salt
3. Add 3/4 cup of sourdough starter into a measuring cup (for example 2 cups capacity), make sure you shake and mix it well first and fill to a total of 2 cups with cold spring water. Make sure to keep at least 1 cup of starter in the jar.
   • Feed the starter jar with 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 cup of water.
   • Stir well, replace the loose lid, and store it on the cupboard.
4. Add liquid started water mix into mixing bowl with flower and light stir with a wooden spoon until a consitent blob as formed. Transfer the blob into the bowl that you covered with olive oil in step 1.
5. Cover the bowl with the dough with a towel and secure it with a rubber band for fermentation and store in a cup board.
6. Let the dough rest for about 24 hours.

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Bake Day!

1. The dough should have risen significantly.
2. Turn it onto a floured surface and fold it over a few times. Using a rubber spatula helps greatly to slowly get the dough to leave the bowl and drop onto the flowered surface.
3. After folding the dough over, return it to the bowl, add a little flour to prevent sticking.
4. Cover again with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 2 more hours.

During the final rise:

• After 1.5 hours, place your Dutch oven (with lid on) into the oven.
• Preheat to 475°F (245°C).

Baking:

1. Carefully remove the hot Dutch oven (always use oven mitts).
2. Remove the lid and gently drop the dough inside.
3. Wiggle the pot slightly to even out the shape, don't worry too much about the shape, the bread will naturally take shape during baking.
4. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the lid and bake for 15 more minutes to help a nice crust form.
6. It should be easy to get the bread from the dutch oven, a wooden spatula helps, drop bread on a cooling rack or wooden board. Let it cool before slicing.

Your bread is ready, enjoy with a little butter or jam or both, cheese, avocado, or mayo? I will post a simple receipe to make delicious and healthy mayo in your own kitchen, for a fraction of what the chemicals from the grocery store would cost you.

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More to Come ...

I'll share notes on different breads, flours, and baking schedules in future posts — but this is the basic process.

Enjoy your bread!