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Adventures in Sourdough III - Kneading and Baking with your Starter

Submitted by Jena on 25 February 2009 - 1:23pm
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 This is not a recipe for the impatient.  It is, however, a delightful distraction if you work from home and want an excuse to take a few breaks.  The whole thing takes a couple days.  You prep, wait overnight, first knead in the early afternoon, second knead late afternoon, bake in the evening and viola!  Fresh bread just in time for dinner.

I am winging this mother and hoping for the best.  With that being said let us dive in!
 

Part 1 - around 10 minutes.

  1. Warm up a bowl - hot water into a Pyrex bowl until warm.
  2. Pour out "warming water" and add a fresh cup of warm (98 - 110F) water.  If you don't have a thermometer, this is a touch warmer that body temp - think "luke warm."
  3. Mix 1 1/2cups of the flour of your choice - I used whole wheat.
  4. Mix in 1cup of your starter.
  5. Cover with cheese cloth and place in a warm place for 12-24 hours.  Yes...HOURS!

 

Part 2 - Next day, around 25 minutes

  1. Mix in 1cup of flour (I used unbleached bread flour.)
  2. Mix in 1tbsp of oil or fat (I used duck fat)
  3. Stir in flour until the mixture is too stiff to stir with a fork.  If you are lucky enough to have a KitchenAid with a dough hook - you probably already know how to make bread.
  4. Sprinkle in some salt (around 1/2 -1tsp.)
  5. Turn on some form of entertainment that will last for around 20min.
  6. Knead with your hands on a clean surface adding flour when the dough gets sticky.
  7. Keep kneading....
  8. Keep kneading....
  9. Keep kneading...
  10. You want to knead until the dough springs back when you poke it.  It takes 13-25 minutes.
  11. Oil a big bowl.
  12. Place the springy dough ball in the bowl and turn it to cover with oil.
  13. Cover the bowl with wax paper and tape in place if needed.
  14. Place the bowl in a warm place until the dough doubles in size - around 3 hours, depending on the warmth of your place.

 

Part 3 - Second knead, form into loaf

It will look like this:
Sourdough doubled in size and then some!
 
Punch it down and knead adding a little flour to keep it from being too sticky.
 
Form it into a loaf like this:
Unbaked sourdough loaf-ball.
I slashed it across the top for a fancy effect.
 
Cover with the big bowl and place it back into its warm spot for an hour or two - it will grow!
 

Part 4 - Baking it... finally.

Pop that sucker in an oven pre-heated to 395F.
Bake for around an hour or until brown.  It will sound hollow when you tap on it.
 
The finished product:
Homemade sourdough bread and soup... totally worth it.
The bread was fluffy and mild; suprisingly not that sour.  I guess my starter has to age a bit.   Ryan said it reminded him of Roman brand bread.  I agree.  Next time I will be a bit more adventurous with my ingredients!
 
 
 
 

 

 

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