sourdough bread

Everyday Sourdough Bread

Easy Sourdough for Every Day

Sometimes in life, a good breakfast comes in handy. And by sometimes, I mean every single day. Breakfast is one of those means that I just can’t live without and make sure that my family has a good meal before they go about their busy days.

Our morning routine includes rousing the kids from their slumber, making sure they get dressed, and providing a health breakfast for them as they go about their day at school and beyond. For us, that means making them something every day. Either in the form of eggs and toast, oatmeal, or fresh fruit and milk, we make sure they have something we know is good for them before they head out the door.

… It’s not always easy, but we try!

Enter the Sourdough

Making bread at home is a lifesaver in the breakfast department. Homemade bread is so much more nutritious than most of the store bought stuff. It’s so much more flavorful too. Whenever we run out of homemade bread the kids ask if I can make some real quick. While I can’t just wiggle my nose and pull out a fresh loaf from the oven, I can plan ahead and have something made for next time.

Note that all the equipment that I’ve used for this bread is listed at the bottom of this post!

That’s probably one of my favorite things about baking bread. People often think that it’s difficult or that you have to be super precise but the truth is, baking bread is really a forgiving process and once you figure out all of the puzzle pieces, you can rearrange your baking cycle and come up with a schedule that really works well in your favor.

This bread was no exception.

I started it on a Tuesday after the kids got on the bus. I just mixed the ingredients and took the dog for a walk.

mixing
ready for autolyse

When making bread at home, one of the most impactful things you can do is let it rest. “Autolyse” comes from the word “autolysis” which means “self digest”. In other words, the dough starts to eat the nutrients in the ingredients and gluten starts to form and flavor starts to develop. This autolyse period is often forgotten or skipped with great detriment to the overall result of your loaf in terms of crust, crumb, and flavor.

I let this dough autolyse for about half an hour before adding the salt and the diastatic malt powder, then I mixed it in the KitchenAid for about 10 minutes on first speed (the one past “mix”).

A brief word on diastatic malt powder. I use it exclusively for sourdough breads. The diastatic malt powder acts as a “slow burn” type of fuel for the bread. It provides the bacteria in the bread the food that it needs to keep the bread going in the right direction over the period of a few days. I don’t use much, usually just .5% (in this case it amounted to only 3 grams) but it’s enough to make a difference.

After mixing the dough I let it rest at room temperature while I left for work. I normally come home around lunch time to take the dog for a walk so at lunchtime I put the dough in the fridge until I was ready to continue.

covered and ready to chill

When I got home from work took it out of the fridge and let it acclimate to room temperature for about 2 or 3 hours. Then I did a few rounds of stretch and folds spread about 45 minutes apart.

After the third stretch and fold I shaped it and put it in a floured proofing basket, covered it in plastic and put it in the fridge.

The next evening I finally was ready to bake, so I remove it from the fridge and preheated the oven to 450˚F for about 45 minutes.

everyday sourdough brad scored for baking

I carefully slid the bread on to the covered Emile Henry cloche and baked it with the lid for 28 minutes (let me real, it was half an hour!) and without the lid for another 15.

Once it was baked I removed it and put it on a cooling tray for about half an hour before tasting it. It was worth the wait and made for a delicious breakfast this morning!

Everyday Sourdough Bread Recipe

Starter build
100g whole wheat
100ml water

Dough
150g whole wheat
300g AP flour
275ml water
14g salt
3g diastatic malt powder

Take all of the ingredients minus the salt and malt powder and combine.
Cover and let autolyse for 45 minutes.
Knead in the mixer or by hand until well developed. This was about 10 minutes in the mixer at first speed (the one past the ‘mix’ speed).
Cover and begin bulk fermentation.
- Do 3 stretch and folds at 45 minute intervals.
Cover and put in the fridge overnight or bulk ferment at room temperature for another 2-3 hours.
Place on to a slightly floured surface and pre-shape.
- Cover with a clean towel and bench rest for half hour.
Shape and place in a proofing basket for 2-3 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Remove from the fridge and pre-heat the oven at 450˚F for 45 minutes with your baking vessel in place.
Flip bread on to parchment paper, score, and carefully load in the oven.
Bake with the lid on for half an hour and with the lid off for another 15 minutes.

Items used in this Everyday Sourdough bread

13.01.17 By nick Leave a Comment

How to Make a Sourdough Starter From Scratch: Day 2

In the previous video, I showed you how to “start” your sourdough culture. In today’s video, I’ll show you how to clean and feed your culture. By this time tomorrow, your culture should start showing more signs of life by having bubbles and becoming more airy!

Presently your culture shouldn’t look too different than it did yesterday. It may have a hint of a sour odor, it may have released a little bit of water, and it may also look exactly the same. There are variables to its behavior, namely flour type, contents in your water, and temperature at which it was kept.

16.11.16 By nick Leave a Comment

Bread Cloche: Why you should get one NOW.

I’ve been hacking around my kitchen for quite some time trying to figure out how to make my loaves look as good as they do at a bakery. At one point, I broke one of our tea kettles on purpose and tried to inject steam in to the oven via high temperature plastic tube in to the oven during the baking process. You can imagine how that went. I also tried using an electric steamer to inject vapor in the oven and the bread. I’ve tried lava rocks in pans, covered bricks, pizza stones, baking steels, baking on the grill, dumping water in the oven throughout baking, and several other hair brained attempts all with very little success. Then one day I tried a bread cloche and was blown away. “Why didn’t I try this before?!” I thought to myself. That was the golden ticket. An “oven inside an oven” where the bread’s own moisture would be used to create the perfect environment for a golden, crispy, crunch, bubbly loaf.

After baking with a cloche almost exclusively for a couple of years, I found the Emile Henry cloche while browsing through Amazon. I decided to reach out to them and they sent me a demo unit that I used for this post.

I’ve used other cloches in the past but this one is a little lighter and much more attractive than my old clay setup. The Emile Henry cloche is made in France and seems to be very well made. It’s “fire engine red” coating is nice to look at and the whole thing is much lighter than I expected. When I first received the box I thought they hadn’t sent me the right thing since it was so light, but it punches way above its weight in the oven.

This would be the perfect gift for bakers!

I used my trusty 30% whole wheat sourdough loaf to put this cloche through its paces and made two loaves.

The recipe is as follows. You need 200g of starter so prepare it the night before. If you don’t want to use a starter but would rather use commercial yeast, add 100mL to the water you add and 100g to the AP flour weight.

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The night before you bake, feed your starter so it’s mature and ready to go on bake day.
Mix your flours and gently stir to combine them, and add the starter to it.
Start incorporating your water and save about 150mL for now.
Mix the flour and water until you have a dry mass, and add just enough water so that everything comes together. Cover for about 15 minutes and let things relax a bit then add the remainder of your water.
Knead until things start to come together and then cover again for about half hour to 45 minutes.
Knead again for just a minute and cover again for half hour.
Knead again for just a bit and cover again, this time let it remain undisturbed for about 3 hours.
When it has visibly grown in size and bubbles start to form, dump it out to a lightly floured surface and divide in two.
Gently pre-shape the dough and let it relax for 10 minutes.
Shape your dough to its final shape and place in covered proofing baskets for another 1-2 hours.
In the meantime, place your cloche in the oven and pre-heat to 475˚F for 30-45 minutes.
Gently turn one loaf on to a parchment paper lined peel and score the loaf.
Carefully load it in to the cloche and cover for 15-20 minutes and bake the remaining 10-15 minutes without a lid.
Again, carefully remove your loaf from the oven and load up loaf number 2. Repeat the baking process.
Let the loaves cool before cracking in and devouring!

Thanks to the Emile Henry Cloche, this loaf came out crusty and hitting all the right notes. The cloche took approximately half an hour to heat up before I slid the bread in to it.

I’ve made several breads on this cloche and have not yet been disappointed. It traps the steam in the cooking chamber and helps your bread stay moist during the first half of the bake, which aids in oven spring and crust development.

While they sent me this demo unit to review, I’ll be keeping in my regular lineup from here on out!

7.12.15 By nick Leave a Comment

Toasted Seed Sourdough

Whenever I have a little time to focus on baking, I’m usually happy with the creative process and the resulting loaves that come out of the oven. This toasted seed sourdough is no different.

Adapted from Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread book, this loaf provides a slightly nutty flavor and aroma, adds a little sweetness, all the while maintaining its rustic “country bread” characteristics. I think it’s definitely a nice change to my normal routine and I believe you will be happy for trying it.

The adaptations I made were to add sunflower seeds, in addition to sesame seeds, to the mix and to lower the total amount of seeds from 1 cup to about 3/4 of a cup. I also did not fully toast the seeds before incorporating them as I was a little skeptical and thought they would burn if I’d let them bake any longer. I was right and really don’t know how Mr. Robertson roasts his sesame seeds for half an hour at 400F without scorching them and making his space smell of burnt seeds.

This bread is pretty fun to make I found it a rewarding experience. Give yourself time to let your dough work, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy the process.

It’s really a good loaf and sure to be a nice addition to any meal. I look forward to having it tomorrow morning with eggs and little spice!

Seeds:

1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

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Loaf:

200g levain (100% hydration)
100g whole wheat flour
800g AP flour
650Ml water
22g salt

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Note: Before beginning, your levain should be ready to go and at approximately 100% hydration.

Process:

Preheat oven to 350F
Build the bread sans-seeds and mix it all together until all ingredients except the salt is incorporated.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum and spread seeds evenly. Place in oven and roast. Check every 3 minutes and shake/re spread the seeds until oils start to release it before sesame seeds start to burn. This happens quickly so pay attention! Once seeds are done (7 minutes more or less) remove from oven and cool completely.
Add seeds and salt to bread and combine until fully incorporated.
Stretch and fold another two times every half hour and then let bulk ferment for 2 hours.
Divide your dough in two and pre shape. Then shape and place in proofing baskets for another 2 hours.

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Preheat oven to 450F and make sure your le cloche is in there.
Score your loaf and load on to pre heated oven. Leave covered for 15 minutes and bake for another 20-25 minutes without a lid.

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