Ingredients
- 100g sourdough starter – Give or take 10g. Bread made with active starter will rise faster, but fridge-cold works too and is often what I use. Even relatively fresh discard will eventually rise, but it may require some patience.
- 435g filtered water – Give or take 20g. I use filtered water because unfiltered water can have contaminants and chemicals that kill the yeast, but it may still work if that’s all you have access to. I use water from a Brita pitcher and that has always worked for our family’s bread! If your starter is coming from the fridge, slightly warmed (not hot!) water will help to wake up the yeast.
- 520g hard red wheat – Hard white wheat should work too. If you don’t have fresh-milled flour, a high-protein bread flour will probably work, though you may have to tinker a bit with the hydration ratios!
- 15g fine sea salt – Give or take 5g. Don’t use iodized salt or salt with anti-caking agents as they may kill the yeast. Do not omit the salt – I once forgot it and it was the blandest bread I’ve ever made. Salt is flavor, my friends!
Instructions
- Combine starter and water in a large bowl.
- Add the flour and salt. If you have an open grain mill, like the Mockmill, you can place the bowl below your grain mill to catch the flour as it comes out. No need to dirty an extra dish!
- Mix the starter, water, flour, and salt together to combine. The dough will be thick and a bit sticky. Just do your best to get all the dry bits incorporated. It will smooth out as we do the stretch and folds.
- Autolyze: Cover the dough and allow it to autolyze (rest) for about an hour. If you’re crunched on time, 15 minutes will do. If you accidentally forget about it and leave it for up to 2 hours, it will be fine. Just proceed with the stretch-and-folds as normal.
- If you’re going to be gone for a while (or need to go to bed), just stick the dough in the fridge until you’re ready to resume. Give it an hour or two to come back to room temperature, then proceed with the stretch-and-folds.
- First Stretch-and-Folds: Perform 2-6 sets of stretch-and-folds, 15-30 minutes apart. See the video above for the technique. Basically, with a wet hand, we’re lifting one side of the dough and bringing it to the other side, rotating the bowl 90° each time. If it still feels loose after one full rotation, go around again. If the dough starts to get sticky, wet your hand again. After each set, place the dough seam-side down and cover. If your stretch-and-folds are spaced a bit more than 30 minutes, don’t sweat it. Just keep going, or if you’ve already done a couple sets, consider yourself in the bulk ferment stage.
- Bulk Ferment: Cover and allow the dough to ferment until doubled, usually 6-12 hours. When it’s done, it should be domed, jiggly, and give when you poke it, but still bounce back a little. The amount of time it takes will depend on the temperature of your kitchen and whether your starter was active when you started.
- Second Stretch-and-Folds: Before you do your second set of stretch-and-folds, prepare a banneton by coating it with rice flour or line a bowl with parchment paper. Once that’s ready, use your hand to gently loosen the dough from the bowl by making one pass around the edge. To do the stretch-and-folds, stick both your (wet) hands under the middle of the bread, like you’re going to pick up a cat. Lift straight up, out of the bowl. It should fold over your hands, just like a kitten getting picked up by its mother. As you bring it back down, let it fold on itself. See video above for a demonstration. Turn the bowl 90° and repeat.
- If you’re using a parchment-lined bowl: Turn the bowl 90° and repeat, but as you bring it back down, put it in the parchment-lined bowl, seam-side down.
- If you’re using a banneton: Turn the bowl 90° and repeat, but as you bring it back down, put it in the banneton seam-side up. Do a quick set of envelope folds, bringing one edge to the middle, then the opposing edge, turn 90°, and repeat, pinching it all together.
- Fridge Rise: Place the bowl or banneton in the fridge. Don’t be fooled by the name – it won’t rise much. We’re letting the gluten relax a bit and the chill from the fridge will give it a better oven spring. If you want to bake right away, put a Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 500°F for one hour.
- To bake up to 72 hours later, cover the bowl/banneton (a plastic grocery bag or shower cap works great for this) in the fridge and wait until one hour before you’re ready to bake to preheat the oven and Dutch oven to 500°F.
- Score: Take the bread out of the fridge. If you’re using a parchment-lined bowl, just score with a bread lame or sharp knife. If you’re using a banneton, you’ll need to dump the bread out onto a piece of parchment paper, then score. I find that deeply scoring at a 45°-angle produces a lovely ear, but a quick slash will do the trick!
- Bake: Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid. Quickly lift the bread up by the parchment paper and place in the Dutch oven. Replace the lid right away. Bake, covered, at 500°F for 30 minutes. Then drop the temperature to 450°F and bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes more, until the internal temperature is 204-208°F.
- Rest: Remove the bread from the Dutch oven by lifting the parchment paper. Place on a cooling rack and slip the parchment paper out from below the bread to allow air to circulate freely. Let it rest 1 hour before cutting into it to allow the crumb to set.
Notes
- The amount of time it takes will depend on the temperature of your kitchen and whether your starter was active when you started. Warm kitchen with active starter = faster (6 hours, maybe even less if very warm), cold kitchen with cold starter = slower (12+ hours).
- If your bread has over-proofed, it will begin to break apart during the second stretch-and-folds. If this happens, stop messing with it. If it’s only a little bit over-proofed, stick it in the fridge for an hour or two then try again. If it has no structure, pour it on a sheet pan and make focaccia!
- For a crustier, darker bread, bake uncovered for longer (possibly reduce the covered bake time if you find that your bread is burning on the bottom). For a softer crust, increase the covered bake time and reduce the uncovered time. You’ll find the sweet spot for your family!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Fermentation & Rest Time: 11 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Dairy-Free, Pescatarian, Vegan, Vegetarian