How to Make BETTER Sourdough Bread (full recipe)

this isn't the video i was going to make today but it's okay because instead we're making this beautiful loaf hello lovely people nicole here i was all ready to kick off my bread making tutorials with a video for beginner bakers but that's when my oven decided to quit on me so i'm going to come back to that beginner recipe once my oven's fixed meantime i'm going to take all you intermediate and advanced bakers through the steps of making my sourdough country loaf and will bake this bread in my rothko b40 which is basically the coolest bread oven out there for home bakers i got mine from pleasant hill grain who i'm partnering with on this sourdough series they are the exclusive us seller of the belgian made rothko ovens plus some other really awesome baking equipment i've put links below so you can check it all out this bread of course can be baked in a standard oven and later i'll show you how to improve your bake in a conventional oven but first let me introduce you to my country loaf i make this with 25 freshly ground whole wheat and 75 strong white bread flour with roughly 73 percent hydration hydration is the ratio of water to flour the higher the hydration the more open the crumb and the crisper the crust it also means faster fermentation because the microbes can move around easier in liquid environments basically anything over 65 hydration is considered high hydration but of course the wetter the dough the harder it is to handle so the recipe i'm going to show you today is a great loaf that's packed with flavor and nutrition but won't cause you too much frustration in the making that said all these techniques can also be applied to even higher hydration bread now this recipe will make two large loaves about one kilogram each because frankly i don't see the point of going through all the steps of making sourdough to only come out with one loaf i always make two we eat one right away and then i slice the second and it goes straight in the freezer which is scientifically speaking the best way to preserve the freshness of your bread okay here's our ingredient list for the lemon we'll need 25 grams of starter 100 grams of strong white bread flour and 100 grams of water for the rest of the dough we'll use 750 grams of strong white bread flour 250 grams of whole wheat 700 grams of water and 20 grams of salt for the whole wheat i use a combination of ein corn and spelt but you can choose whatever whole wheat you love for that 25 i have a como grain mill i can mill my grains at the flick of a switch and honestly guys if you want to level up your bread then freshly milled grains are a game changer you won't believe how much flavor and fragrance you've been missing out on until you start milling your own grain in this loaf i find that spelt brings a nuttiness while the iron corn really perfumes the loaf with a gorgeous toastiness i want to do a whole video dedicated to ancient grains their flavor their nutrition how they bake up so stay tuned for that but now let's make some bread here's my timetable friday night i make the lemon saturday i make the dough and sunday morning i bake my bread so just before you go to bed on friday night make the lemon leave it on the counter covered by a plate or a towel and when you wake up the leaven should be within the peak of its microbial activity that means you should see lots of bubbles on the surface it should have risen substantially but i wouldn't fret if you don't hit that coveted dublin by the way i made a recent video on sourdough starter it was a deep dive into understanding what those microbes are what they actually do and how best to care for them i'll also link it below so into a large bowl add all of your 11 plus 650g grams of water note that you're reserving 50 grams of water for later now the ideal temperature for the water is between 72 degrees fahrenheit which is room temperature and up to about 86 degrees fahrenheit water temperature is one great way you can control the rate of fermentation according to the season in the heat of summer you can drop the temperature below room temperature and in the winter i increase mine up to around 100 degrees fahrenheit see like everything with sourdough your own environment will present its own set of variables it's winter here where i am so my kitchen is cold overnight i have stainless steel countertops which are always pretty cold so in the winter i'm constantly trying to introduce warmth but i also realize that fermentation is just going to happen a lot slower here's a key takeaway sourdough bread is a constant practice of responding to ever-changing variables the more you make sourdough bread the better you'll become at understanding how your starter and your dough behave when it's hot out when it's cold when you're working with different flowers every time you bake there are a new set of circumstances and your baking will improve as you learn how to respond to those circumstances and the only way you do that is with practice now to our leaven and water add all of our flour the full 1000 grams which i previously whisked together in a separate bowl can you see the difference between the iron corn and the spelt it's amazing how different wheat varieties can be like i said i'll be going deeper into that in another video now it's time to combine everything work it until there's no dry flour left a curved flexible bench scraper like this is really useful for getting the last bits of dough off the sides and now we're going to let the dough rest for 30 minutes this is called the autolease when you give the flour time to fully absorb the water this activates the enzymes in the flour that stimulate the proteins to start gluten development gluten by the way is a protein not a carbohydrate like lots of people think i'll link a video i did on what exactly gluten is but basically doing an auto lease will result in better texture and rise if i were using even more whole wheat like 50 or higher i'd lengthen this initial rest period up to an hour because it takes a lot longer for whole grain to hydrate um excuse me you said this was an auto lease and an auto lease is just flour and water you added 11. what's up with that i'm glad you asked i like to call this a fermentalise which is a term i stole from the fabulous cookbook the sourdough school by vanessa kimball who is a rock star sourdough teacher she says that she's not seen any visible difference between auto leasing with 11 or without oh for mentolies and there's another reason why i personally do it see lots of recipes will tell you to add the leaven and the salt after the auto leaves do you have a problem with that i do salt draws out water which inhibits fermentation so adding the salt and the yeast at the same time just makes no sense to me with a fermentalise your yeast has time to take hold throughout your dough before you add your salt i guess that's a good reason can i get back oh right hello so after the rest period it's time to add your salt and the remaining 50 grams of water we reserved you do this in three or four increments i dimple the bread with my fingers add a little water and a little salt and pinch it in until it's all absorbed the water helps the salt dissolve and that helps me incorporate it into the bread more evenly it's also bringing the total hydration up just a little bit higher to open up that final crumb just that much more but this is the time to pay attention to how your dough is behaving is it capable of absorbing more maybe your flour is not as thirsty as mine and it doesn't even need the whole 50 grams maybe it can use more use your own power of observation to make that call by the way in addition to flavoring the bread salt is important to the overall texture of the dough which you'll be able to see right away it will become stronger and less sticky see how the dough is pulling back the salt has improved the overall elasticity and now that our dough is complete it's time for bulk fermentation for beginners we'd be doing a series of stretch and folds right in the bowl because it's much more manageable than kneading we are going to do stretch and folds here too but since you guys are more advanced we're going to first start with this lovely people this is a technique called slap and fold you take your dough slap it down on the counter pull it back and then fling or fold the end in your hands over the opposite end that's sticking to the counter while pulling your hands apart at the same time slap down pull back pull apart and fold this builds strength into the dough and you'll see as i do this that the dough will go from shaggy and messy to smooth and strong typically it takes me about six minutes because yes i have timed it now why is this better than traditional kneading well when you're working with a higher hydration the dough is a lot stickier this method means i don't have to stop every 30 seconds to clean dough off the heel of my hand okay you can see the dough has built up some strength but there's still room for improvement put the dough back in the bowl cover it with a towel and set your timer for 30 minutes [Music] now that the dough has relaxed we're going to do four stretch and folds north south east and west [Music] we're going to rest the dough again for 30 minutes and then check the strength of the dough with a window pane test i stretch the dough as thin as it can go until it breaks i think this can still be stronger so i do my second set of stretch and folds north south east and west and rest for another 30 minutes now it's looking a lot stronger it doesn't need any more folds i'm just going to leave it covered on my counter to finish bulk fermentation by the way if i was adding nuts or olives to this bread i would incorporate them in now i may make a quick video soon on the best method for even distribution of inclusions so look out for that soon now one of the great mysteries of sourdough baking is how to know when to end bulk fermentation when is it time to shape the dough bulk fermentation usually takes three to five hours but because so many variables can affect it the best advice i can give you is to look for some visual cues one thing you can do is check the temperature of the dough i use this little thermopop which i bought for roasts but works just as well for dough for wheat breads the ideal temperature is between 75 and 78 degrees fahrenheit i also see that the dough is no longer slack it's trapping gas it has a bouncy quality to it the sides are rounded and pulling away from the bowl now i'm ready to shape the dough and you really want to use as little flour as possible because any excess flour is going to draw moisture out of your bread this is all i use the entire time i shape at this hydration it's probably a lot less than you might think you need right now i'm going to pre-shape these into loose rounds and let them rest covered on the counter for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to relax before i really shape them getting a nice tight shape is really important when you're doing a long overnight proof like we are in the fridge if you're going to proof your dough at room temperature and bake it the same day you have more leeway on how tight that final shape is now if shaping is your nemesis and it was for me at one stage then i recommend focusing on an oval shape rather than a round getting tension into an oval is a lot easier let me show you flip over your pre-shaped dough using a bench scraper and then stretch the closest end towards you and the furthest end away from you then make a trifold one end coming to the middle and the other end folded over that one then pick up the dough and place the short ends parallel to you starting with the closest end gently roll the dough away over itself jelly roll style pulling the outer skin down and under as you do it then take your scraper and lift flip it over and place it seam side up let's see that again with the second [Music] dough [Music] [Music] now i cover them and let them rest for another 15 minutes before i do the final stitch i pinch up the outer layer of the dough and sort of lace it together in the [Music] middle don't forget to tuck in the very ends as [Music] well now i lightly oil some cling film and place that right over the tops of the dough leaving a lot of slack in the middle for the dough to expand as it proofs in the winter i keep the shape dough on my counter for about an hour before i put it in the fridge for the overnight proof this gives the dough time to get the fermentation going again after i've poked and prodded it we're going to cold proof the bread overnight in the fridge which will increase the flavor the slower fermentation gives the loaf a nice tang that signature sourdough flavor i put my dough on the top shelf of my refrigerator which is the warmest part of the fridge and i leave it there for about 12 to 15 hours in the morning as soon as i wake up i fire up the oven your dough does not have to come to room temperature before it goes in the oven in fact you will risk overproofing it i go directly from fridge to oven and cold dough is a lot easier to score now if i were using my conventional oven i would preheat to 485 degrees fahrenheit in my rothko i set the dial to 250 degrees celsius that's 482 degrees fahrenheit since the shelves are made of stone actually refractory brick or fire brick they really hold the heat so as soon as i put my bread in i dial the oven way down to 150 degrees celsius scoring the dough is critical it gives the bread a point of weakness through which to expand and reach its full potential by the way that yellowish discoloration on the dough is just from the oil on the cling film it will not affect the final crust in any way remember to hold your razor blade at a 45 degree angle when you cut if you don't do this it will expand wherever it finds the weakest point which won't look great in the end more importantly the crust could set too quickly and you won't get the full expansion which means you'll have a denser crumb so scoring is key but perhaps even more critical when baking great sourdough is steam steam is important because it keeps the outside of the dough soft and supple enough to fully expand during the first half of baking that's known as the oven spring [Music] if you don't introduce steam the crust will set too quickly and you will likely end up with a dense flat loaf steam also gives your crust that beautiful crackling texture with lots of little bubbles that is the signature of a great artisan loaf now if you're working with a conventional oven using a dutch oven is perfect because when you keep the lid on for the first 20 minutes or so you are trapping the moisture that's coming out of the bread and it's pretty much self-steaming then you take the lid off for the remainder of the bake lower the temperature and let it get brown and crispy if you're using a baking stone then a preheated roasting pan is critical when you put the dough in add water to that pan and close the oven after 20 minutes or so remove the roasting pan and let the steam escape the oven i'll be diving into these techniques in more detail in my beginner's sourdough video now when i first got my rothko i did a little experiment and didn't add any steam to the bake as you can see the crumb was very lackluster no real rise the crust hardened before the oven spring the crust was dull not shiny then i added steam pods and of course that changed everything for all you guys working with a rothko or thinking of getting a rothko i'll be doing a whole video on how to use this oven all my tips and tricks for maximizing its performance but right now let's talk about this amazing bread we just baked it's got a gorgeous crust a beautiful crisp ear it smells amazing and let's take a look at the crumb open and airy good even distribution of holes and the texture is soft but chewy this is my kind of bread if you have any questions drop them in the comments below let me know what you'd like me to cover as i continue with this sourdough series if you'd like to support the channel which helps me bring you more content there's a link for that too see you back here soon

Channel: TRUE FOOD TV

Views: 135,824

Rating: 4.9121637 out of 5

Keywords: sourdough bread, sourdough bread recipe, open crumb sourdough, sourdough country loaf, how to make sourdough bread, sourdough master class, rofco oven, whole wheat bread recipe, slap and fold, bassinage method, einkorn bread sourdough, spelt sourdough bread, bulk fermentation sourdough, proofing sourdough bread, scoring bread with lame, autolyse sourdough, nicole jolly, pleasant hill grain, komo mill grinder, science of sourdough, cold proofing bread dough

Id: s4ZGeRQDOZw

Length: 19min 22sec (1162 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 13 2021