Sourdough Bread

Name: Sourdough Bread
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 8 oz "Fed" Sourdough Starter; 12 oz warm water (100-110F); 2 tsp active dry yeast; 1/2 oz sugar; 2 1/2 tsp salt; 21 1/4 oz all-purpose flour (or bread flour)

chris.zurhorst @cook_3192488

Manorville, New York

This is a recipe from King Arthur Flour. It comes with the sourdough starter that can be ordered from them as well as finding it online in their website. It is a very good base recipe for making sourdough breads.

Maintaining a proper sourdough starter is definitely a commitment. If you keep starter out at room temperature you will have to feed it every day. If you keep it refrigerated like I do, you will only have to feed it once a week to maintain it however you have to remove from fridge and feed it at least 8 to 12 hours before you want to make bread with it. And with both ways; always feed after use.
Making a starter from scratch takes a lot of time before you can use for first time. I suggest getting a few ounces of a established starter from someone who has one already or order it from King Arthur Flour.
Sourdoughs have different flavors depending on where you live. The sourdough bread I make in New York will taste different than a sourdough made in San Francisco.

chris.zurhorst @cook_3192488

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Ingredients

8 oz"Fed" Sourdough Starter
12 ozwarm water (100-110F)
2 tspactive dry yeast
1/2 ozsugar
2 1/2 tspsalt
21 1/4 ozall-purpose flour (or bread flour)

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Steps

1

Combine all ingredients in mixer. (Referred to as "straight dough method")
2

Ensure to scrape down sides of bowl to ensure all ingredients get incorporated.
3

With dough hook, mix on medium low speed (2 or 3 depending on mixer) for about 8-12 minutes until a nice soft dough ball forms. This develops gluten in the bread. Dough should pull away from sides of bowl (known as cleanup stage)
4

Dough should be tacky feeling. If it seems to tacky, add small Mounts of flour a little at a time while kneeding. Don't add to much extra
5

Note: I add more starter than what recipe calls for; I put about 10-12 ounces of starter based on how I feel, how my starter smells and looks, and just because I can, I started adding more on occasion to experiment to see how different the bread turns out. To me a little more starter makes bread turn out better. Feel free to give it a go if you feel daring.
6

Place dough into a large lightly greased bowl and tightly cover with plastic wrap.
7

Allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes.
8

Gently divide dough in two. It will deflate a little.
9

Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves, or for longed loaves, two 10" to 11" logs or baguettes. Place on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour,
10

Note: I used two cloche to do bread in. This is a stone container that will give that stone oven bake to the bread and gives a great crust to it. I make my two logs and place in stone cloche then cover for the second rise. After rise I remove top, cut my slashes on top And lightly spray water from a spray bottle then recover for the bake. This creates a steam that helps develop bread and crust.
11

Preheat oven to 425°F.
12

Spray loaves with lukewarm water. Cut 2 or 3 slashes diagonal across top. Don't go to deep
13

Bake bread 25-30 minutes. If using cloche, uncover for last 5 minutes of bake to allow crust to be one a deep golden brown
14

Remove from oven and cool on rack before cutting
15

Enjoy!!!