Why to make sourdough at home
There are numerous reasons to bake your own bread: freshness, taste, control of ingredients, higher quality ingredients, no preservatives or dough conditioners, customization of flavors, lower carbon footprint, creative outlet, and stress relief.
In spite of all these reasons, people can be intimidated to tackle bread. It does take a long time to make it but most of that time is hands-off time. In fact, I’m usually sleeping while making my sourdough!
Additionally, there are several health benefits to choosing homemade sourdough bread over conventional store-bought bread.
Sourdough bread has a lower glycemic response. This can be a better choice than white bread for someone watching their blood sugar. If it is paired with olive oil or avocado slices, the effect is even better.
Some studies show that the increased fermentation time also increases the bioavailability of fiber, phytochemicals, and minerals possibly because of the prebiotic compounds produced in the bread. The strongest effect is with fermented whole-grain sourdough. However, whole grain sourdough is a tricky loaf to make, it is dense, and not as popular with most people. Regardless, white or wheat, the absorption of zinc, copper, magnesium, and iron are all increased after sourdough fermentation compared to unfermented bread.
Additionally, for people with gluten sensitivity or even celiac, certain preparations of sourdough have actually been shown to be functionally safe for those with celiac according to this study.
How to make artisanal sourdough bread at home
For a basic sourdough loaf I have found that Clever Carrot has the best beginner instructions but some additional tips may be helpful.
First things first. People get very superstitious and magical about their starters but it’s actually easy to make your own. And even if you have a fancy starter shipped to you from across the world, eventually it will be made up of your local yeasts because that’s just what happens over time, and it’s ok.
Making your own starter is easy
First, you will need to weigh equal parts of flour and water (yes, you should get a kitchen scale if you don’t already have one, really, it makes this much easier). Start small. For example, in the morning, add 25 grams of water and 25 grams of flour, mix with a wooden spoon, cover and wait till that evening when you will repeat.
TIn the evening, you will pour off half of the starter and again feed with 25g of water and 25 g of flour. Getting a viable starter may take up to 2 weeks. You will know your starter is ready when a small amount of it, poured into water, floats.
Once your starter is strong enough to float, you will only need to feed it after you have used some for bread baking.
I was always annoyed to hear people tell me to throw out half of the starter before feeding it again. I can’t stand wasting things and this was actually a subconscious deterrent to me to making sourdough. Turns out this actually is not necessary. You can make a quick sourdough pancake with the “discarded” starter by adding a little salt or even sugar if you prefer something sweet. Just fry it up in some oil or butter in a skillet and voila! It won’t be very sour in the beginning, as it develops it will become sourer, and this is a good way to monitor what is happening with the flavor as it gets stronger.
If you don’t make bread every day, just store your “fed starter” in the fridge. Bring it out a day or two before baking, and feed it twice a day until it is again strong enough to float. When it floats, it is ready to make bread again.
If you go on a long stretch of ignoring your starter in the back of your fridge, it may look grey and liquidy when you pull it out. Don’t worry, that’s just “hooch”, an alcoholic breakdown of the starches. You can stir it back in and then pour off 75% of the volume and make a pancake with it (it will be very sour). Then feed the remaining 25% as you normally would, 1:1 ratio by weight of water and flour. I find the less starter I reserve, the more vigorous the remaining starter becomes.
When you are ready to make your bread, measure your water into a large bowl. This is easiest with a kitchen scale. Good scales are available for $10-$20 and I feel like they are really helpful in making a consistent loaf of sourdough bread. It makes the whole process so much easier if you can just pour and weigh, instead of scooping and measuring ingredients. Most bread recipes are in weight by grams too so you will be glad to have a scale if you plan to do this more than once.
Simple Sourdough Recipe
Add the sourdough starter (50g) and dissolve it into the water (525g).
Add the flour (700g) and salt (14g), by weight.
Mix those 4 ingredients into a sticky tacky dough and let it rest (autolyze) for 20-30 minutes. The flour will absorb the water and start to develop the strands of gluten. You will notice it is much easier to stretch and fold after this first resting period.
You will then complete 3-4 more “stretch & fold sessions” roughly every 30 minutes. One session consists of stretching the dough and folding it onto itself, rotating 90 degrees and repeating 3 more times till you’ve stretched every side of your soon-to-be loaf. You will notice after each session, the dough becomes stronger, holding the shape of a tight ball better and better.
As you are stretching and folding, the gluten strands are getting stronger which results in better volume in your baked bread. You need strong gluten to hold the air created by the yeast. This is what makes the signature sourdough air bubbles. Note: if you add whole wheat to your dough, it will not get as fluffy because the bran will essentially cut some of the gluten strands making them weaker.
After this stretching and folding, line your baking pan with parchment paper, place your bread in the baking pan, and pop it into the fridge overnight. Then go to sleep, with dreams of sourdough fairies in your head.
In the morning, it will be ready to bake. Pull it out of the fridge as you preheat the oven.
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, and cook the bread for 30 minutes in a covered pan.
After 30 minutes you will remove the cover, lower the temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for an additional 25 minutes. If your oven is inconsistent, you are going for an internal bread temperature of 208 degrees. Sometimes I use a meat thermometer to test the temperature if I’m not sure.
The pan I like to use is actually a fish poacher. I prefer the longer baguette shape for cutting and making sandwiches, and it works well for that. You could also use any covered pan that can safely go in the oven with its lid and handles. If you want the classic round loaf, just use a Dutch Oven like this one.
Lastly, as hard as it may be to wait, you must let the bread cool for at least an hour. I find this is easier to do if I let people in my house know that it is actually still cooking as it cools off. And that’s it!
Now you know how to make your own simplified sourdough bread.
Some of our favorite ways to eat sourdough are with lemon curd, olive oil & dukkha, olive oil & balsamic vinegar, as avocado toast, or as a sandwich with your favorite items. Whatever you top it with, it will be delicious!
What are your favorite ways to eat sourdough?
