A Sourdough Masterclass for Home Bakers

here's how to make my favorite loaf of sourdough bread and after four years of making this recipe I've got a few improvements so to feed your sourdough starter this is what I usually do the night before I want to bake bread I take my starter out of the fridge I usually have about one tablespoon of starter in a jar it's about 25 grams and I just feed that in the evening and then by the morning the starter will be bubbly and active and ready to use so this is how I feed it I take 50 grams of room temperature water and add that to the starter jar you can use cold or room temperature water because it's going to have a long time to ferment overnight so if the water is too warm then the starter will probably be too active so use cold or room temperature water give that a stir and then add in 50 grams of flour I'm just using the same bread flour that I'll be using for my bread recipe nothing complicated here just 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water that will give me 100 grams of starter for the recipe and then a little bit left over for the next time mix everything together until there aren't any dry bits of flour left in the starter then Mark the top of the starter with the rubber band so you can see how much it grows overnight then the next morning you should have something that looks like this it should be doubled in size and ready to use now it's time to mix all the ingredients for the dough I just mix them all in the same bowl at the same time to keep things easy start by adding 300 grams of water right to your mixing bowl then add 10 grams of salt kosher salt or sea salt both work great for this then with a wet spoon add 100 grams of that active sourdough starter right into the water then stir it completely to combine the starter with the water so the way I feed my starter 50 grams of flour 50 grams of water I'll have just enough starter for the recipe 100 grams and then I'll have a just a small amount of starter left over that I'll keep in the fridge for the next time I want to bake it's about 25 grams of starter left over so the next time I want to bake bread I'll just take this starter out of the fridge feed it again and it'll be ready to use in the morning it's a continuous cycle now to finish this dough add 450 grams of bread flour on top of the water and starter mixture then mix everything together thoroughly until there aren't any dry bits of flower left once a cohesive dough starts to form that's when you'll be able to move on to the next step you're now entering the bulk fermentation stage or the first rise you've mixed together your starter with the other ingredients so the dough is beginning to rise we're going to be doing a few things during this bulk fermentation phase but the first thing is to cover your dough and let it rest for 30 minutes after that 30 minute rest your dough is going to be a lot easier to work with after the 30 minute rest we're going to do the first set of stretch and folds this will help develop gluten in the dough and it's a good alternative to kneading imagine there are four sides to your dough a north south east and west side grab the north side of the dough stretch it up into the air and fold it over the top of the dough grab the west side of the dough stretch it up into the air fold it over the top give it a turn again grab the South Side stretch it up and fold it over turn the dough One Last Time Stretch the east side of the dough up into the air and fold it over the top that stretching and folding motion creates strength and structure within the dough developing the gluten as you go we're going to do two more sets of those before we're done right now cover the dough up again and let it rest for 30 minutes time for the second set of stretch and folds you're going to do the same thing as the first time around but being a little bit gentler with the dough this time grab the north edge of the dough stretch it up and fold it over go to the West Side stretch it up and fold it over same with the South Side stretch it up and fold it over and then the East Side stretch it up and fold it over that's the second set cover it up and let the dough rest for another 30 minutes and now for the final set of stretch and folds we've got just one more to go gonna do the exact same thing as the first two sets only stretching it four times one in each corner of the dough except you want to be very gentle this time you might start to feel the dough filling up with air at this point which is a good sign that fermentation is happening you might even start to see a few bubbles on the surface of the dough after finishing the last set of stretch and folds take the dough out of the bowl and put it onto the counter this is a step that I didn't used to do but now I do it all the time flip the dough over so that the smooth side is facing up and the seam side is facing down and then gently shape the dough into a tight ball this is going to help the dough while it's rising during bulk fermentation to rise upward in a uniform shape I really like this step you can skip it if you want to and just leave the dough in the bowl but I like to flip it over so the smooth side is facing up at least Now cover up your dough and let it rise until it's almost doubled in size for me this took about three and a half hours on this particular day but it could take more time or less time for you depending on the temperature of your kitchen three and a half hours later my dough did double in size so it was ready to move on to the next step which would be the shaping process the first part of the shaping process is called the pre-shape step I keep this step a little bit simpler than I used to make it by not using any flour on the counter go ahead and use flour if you want to but I don't think it's necessary area take the dough out of the bowl and put it onto the counter with the Sticky Side facing down and the smooth side facing up we're going to keep the top of the loaf on the top and for the pre-shape you're just going to round this out on your counter until it forms a tight ball of dough whether or not you're shaping this into an oval shaped loaf or a round loaf for the pre-shape just shape it into a round ball once you've pre-shaped the dough into a tight ball just let it sit on your counter uncovered for 30 minutes this is also a change from what I used to do I used to cover it up with a kitchen towel but if you leave it uncovered for a half hour it's going to form a slight skin on top of the dough that'll actually help you more during the final shaping process it'll form a nice non-stick surface so let your dough rest on the counter uncovered for 30 minutes 30 minutes later it's time for the final shape get out your bannetin basket I've dusted this one with bread flour just to keep it simple this is one of the only specialty tools you'll need to make the sloaf of bread a banerton basket is really useful to take this round ball of dough and shape it into an oval shape here's what I do sprinkle the top of the dough with a little bit of bread flour just to create another non-stick barrier on top of the dough then flip the dough over so the floured side is against the counter and the sticky side is facing up then gently pull the dough into a square shape just pull on the corners a little bit until it looks like a square then take the left third of dough and fold it over the middle third press down the seam a little bit then take the right third of the dough and fold it over the middle third as well pressing down the seam so the two sides meet then take the edge of the dough that's farther away from you and start rolling the dough towards yourself into a cylinder this is how you get that oval shaped Loaf the key here is you want to be gentle with the dough you don't want to pop any of those air bubbles but you also want to form a tight cylinder so it's a little bit of a balancing act then to clean up these two ends I like to take the flap of dough that's on one end stretch it out and then fold it underneath the dough flip the dough around take that other flap stretch it out and fold it under the dough this rounds out the two ends so you don't end up with those spirals on the end of your dough there's so many ways of shaping sourdough loaves there's so many different methods this is just the method that I like to use finish this off by flipping the dough over so that the seam side is facing up then place it gently into the bannetin basket now you're ready for the final proof I've always loved doing the final proof in the fridge I like to leave the dough in there all night long and I can just bake it the next day it makes it easy to kind of forget about the dough until the next day and I can fit it into my schedule better that way what I used to do was move the dough right now to the fridge straight from shaping to the fridge but what I like to do these days is let the dough sit here at room temperature for one hour and then I move it to the fridge this allows the dough to get a head start on the proofing process the dough starts to puff up and fill with air and I think I get a lot better results this way compared to when I used to put the dough directly in the fridge after shaping so dust the top of the dough then cover it with a kitchen towel and just let it sit here at room temperature for one hour after that hour your dough should be nice and puffy and ready to move to the fridge normally I move my dough to the fridge uncovered I don't worry about covering it at all that still what I do but if you want to cover up your dough I would recommend using a kitchen towel or some kind of cloth covering you could even use the liner that comes with your banatin basket A lot of people don't use the liner for the actual Bandit and basket anyway so why not use this to cover up your dough it fits the bannetin basket perfectly now move your bannetin basket into the fridge for a long cold proof overnight you can leave it in there for 8 to 24 hours without any kind of problem at all the next day 30 minutes before you're ready to bake go ahead and preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit I used to recommend 500 degrees Fahrenheit but some ovens don't even go that high and 450 degrees Fahrenheit seems to be a nice temperature that works for most people's ovens preheat your oven for 30 minutes and then take your dough out of the fridge when it's time to bake I have no problem taking it straight from the fridge and baking it cold no need to let it come back up to room temperature I like to loosen up the dough a little bit separating it from the sides of the bannetin basket on each side doing this gently is an easy way to get the dough unstuck from the bannerton basket if you have problems with that then take a piece of parchment paper that's just a little bit bigger than your dough and flip out the dough from the bannerton basket so it's right side up on the parchment paper brush off any excess flour that's on top of the dough and then it's time to score grab a razor blade or a bread lamb this is one of the small pieces of equipment I do recommend getting if you bake a lot of sourdough slash the dough from one end to the other end just like this this will allow you to get a nice ear on your Loaf and after scoring you can see all of those little bubbles inside of the dough this bread is going to taste amazing to transfer this into your Dutch oven just grab it on each end of the parchment paper you can move it parchment paper and all into the base of the Dutch oven any Dutch oven you're working with will be fine just make sure you don't touch the hot sides put the lid of the Dutch oven on to trap the Steam and bake this for 20 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit after 20 minutes remove the lid of the Dutch oven and reveal the oven spring on your loaf this is one of the best parts of baking sourdough bread in a dutch oven that reveal my bread opened up beautifully along that score Mark and now it's time to keep baking it until I got the nice brown color that I'm looking for Slide the bread back into the oven with the lid off this time and continue baking for 15 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit and then if you like the color this bread is done but if you're like me and you want it a little bit darker put it back in for another five minutes the total baking time for me was 20 minutes with the lid on and then another 20 minutes with the lid off at 450 degrees Fahrenheit once I managed to get this out of the Dutch oven and onto a wire rack I'm going to leave it there for one hour to cool it's good to let it cool for at least an hour before you slice in so the inside of your bread doesn't end up gummy no matter how many times I make this bread I'm always impressed by how crusty it is on the outside and just how soft it is on the inside and here is that beautiful crumb shot to me this is perfect sourdough bread the holes aren't too big they're not too small I think that extra hour of proofing time at room temperature before this dough goes in the fridge gives the bread an extra airiness and lightness to the crumb that I really like the light Tangy flavor of this bread makes it perfect to just enjoy a slice of this on its own with nothing added but if you add a slather of butter this just takes it to an other level if you're watching this far you're definitely going to be making this bread soon so feed your starter tonight so you're ready to make this bread tomorrow morning and if you don't have your own sourdough starter yet you should make one for yourself I'll show you how to make your own starter from scratch in just six or seven days watch the video tutorial right here

Channel: Grant Bakes

Views: 493,287

Keywords: sourdough, sourdough bread, how to make sourdough bread, how to make sourdough, sourdough masterclass, sourdough bread masterclass, grant bakes

Id: QWiouzzCUcs

Length: 12min 1sec (721 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 22 2023