Is there anything better than the smell of fresh bread?
Well, I guess the taste of fresh bread is right up there. (Duh)
I’ve always dabbled with making fresh bread, but always with the help of my bread machine. I was never completely happy with the loaves that came out of my bread machine, though. The crusts always seemed thick and overcooked, and the recipes in the book provided never made a really great loaf.
After finding my favourite whole wheat loaf recipe, I proceeded to use my bread machine to make the dough only. I would then bake my loaves in the oven in a normal bread pan. Happy with the results, I wasn’t completely satisfied with my bread making journey. I had to get my hands dirty.
Enter: Homemade Sourdough Bread.
Sourdough scares me. You have to make a starter, which you keep in the fridge, and feed every week.
How weird is that?
The more I thought about it, though, the more I wanted to try it. If I mastered this, we could have a fresh loaf of sourdough bread each week! (I should interject here that for our honeymoon, my husband and I stopped over in San Francisco for a few days. We hit up the Boudin Bakery a few times for their amazingly delicious sourdough. If you’re ever in San Fran, I suggest giving it a try. There are also tours of the facility and free bread tastings. Yum!)
I found a recipe for the starter and proceeded to make it.
Sourdough Starter
Recipe from Sugar Crafter
2 cups warm water
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
In a large glass bowl (not metal or plastic!), pour in the water. Dissolve the honey in the water. Add in the yeast, and let that dissolve as well. Gradually stir in the flour, and then cover the bowl with a clean, moist dish cloth. The mixture will begin to bubble almost immediately.
Let mixture sit for about 12 hours. I prepared mine late in the day and let it sit until morning.
In the morning, stir your mixture and remove half (but don’t throw it out! We’ll work with that later!). Add 1/2 a cup of warm water and 1 cup all-purpose flour. Mix well and cover with a clean, moist dish cloth. Allow to sit for about 4 hours.
After 4 hours, stir and remove half again (We’ll use this one, too, so don’t throw it away!). Again, add 1/2 a cup of warm water and 1 cup all-purpose flour. Mix well and cover with a cloth, letting it sit for another 4 hours.
After 4 hours, you’re going to want to stir it and keep it in a glass container in the fridge, feeding it once a week. Basically, you’re going to take out a cup of the starter to make your bread once a week, and into the starter you’ll add 1/2 a cup warm water and a cup of flour.
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Yes, it’s totally time consuming, but fresh bread is totally worth it. And, if you’re like me, it gives you a chance to spend the day listening to The National CDs on repeat.
Now, what to do with those removed portions? Well, we’ll make a sourdough bread, of course. I know it’s not going to be as sour as sourdoughs are supposed to be, but I hate to waste it. Note, however, that if you need bread NOW, this is not the recipe for you! Not including the time it takes to make your starter, this recipe takes up to 6 hours!
But let me tell you, there is nothing like homemade bread!
Sourdough Bread
Adapted from Williams Sonoma
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 tsp. instant yeast
1 cup sourdough starter (recipe above)
1 tbsp. honey
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tbsp. margarine, melted
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cornmeal mixed with 1 tbsp. whole wheat flour
In a large glass bowl, whisk together the warm water, yeast, sourdough starter, and honey until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for about an hour (the mixture should get bubbly and rise a bit).
Remove the plastic wrap and add melted margarine, eggs, salt, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix with a spatula until combined – you’ll need to use those arm muscles for this! Add in 2 more cups of flour and mix as much of it in as possible. Once you give up, like me, dump it all out on the counter.
Start stretching and kneading that dough, adding in small handfuls of flour as needed so it’s not sticky. After 10 minutes of kneading, your dough should be beautiful!
Place the dough into a lightly oiled glass bowl and let it rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. While it’s rising, prepare your baking sheet. Mix together the cornmeal and whole wheat flour and spread onto the baking sheet.
Once the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and divide into 2 portions. Gently stretch and fold the sides of the dough to the bottom, forming an oval and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge, allowing it to rise for about 4 hours.
After 4 hours have passed and your loaves have risen in the fridge, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place a baking stone in the oven 10 minutes before you’re ready to bake your loaves.
Remove the dough from the fridge and remove the plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, slash a few slits across the top of each loaf.
Place your baking sheet on top of the baking stone and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 400 degrees and allow to bake for 25-30 minutes more, until the tops have browned and the loaves sound hollow.
Place loaves on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before slicing – if you can wait that long!
Since you’re using part of your starter before it’s ready, the first loaves might be smaller, the second loaves will be bigger and fluffier, and the next loaves will be fantastic. Just keep trying!
