Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe

A freshly baked loaf of sourdough, from a starter nurtured in your own kitchen, is nourishment in more ways than one. Emilie Raffa

Whether you are a newbie or an expert sourdough bread maker, this simple, fail-proof recipe is amazing. I’m going to break it down step-by-step with photos because if you are like me a visual is all you need to know you are on the right track. The full recipe is posted near the end of this post.

Your end product a moist, sour, crusty loaf of sourdough bread. Every loaf comes out tasting a little different and no loaf will look the same.

Perhaps thats a part of the reason I enjoy making this so much, there’s no way to mess it up! It still amazes me that you can get such a great tasting treat from three simple ingredients – water, flour and salt. Ok let’s get started. I like to start this process first thing in the morning (or even better in the evening just before going to bed) as it usually takes all day to rise properly.

Basic Sourdough Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sourdough starter (instructions on getting one started, here)
• 3 cups flour of choice (Einkorn or Red Fife are the best choices, but others can be used)
• 2 cups water (warm)
• 1 to 3 cups flour of choice (as above)
• 2 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1-2 tbsp oil for greasing (I prefer coconut oil)

Directions:

Pour 1 cup of starter into a large glass or plastic mixing bowl. Add in 3 cups of flour and 2 cups of warm water. Mix vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cover with tea towel, plastic lid, or plastic wrap (just make sure it’s not completely sealed), place on the counter in your kitchen and allow to rise for 2 to 8 hours (or even overnight) until its doubled in size. The longer it’s left to rise, the more sour your bread will be.

After this has doubled in size (or first thing in the morning if you’ve let it rise overnight) remove the cover. In a separate bowl, combine one cup of flour and the sea salt. Add this mixture to your dough and mix well. Slowly add in more flour, little by little, until your dough comes together and is hard to stir with your wooden spoon (make sure to keep your dough on the stickier side, as it will result in fluffier bread).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 to 15 minutes (you can take breaks if you wish). Add additional flour as needed only to keep it from sticking. Give the dough a rest while you clean out your mixing bowl. Ensure to dry it well and then lightly grease it with the oil of your choice (I used coconut oil). Go back to your dough and knead for an additional 5 minutes.

Sourdough is not a quick bread; it requires hours of resting and rising, then a few minutes of stretching and folding before another rise. Arina P Habich/Shutterstock

***If you are wanting to make bread into standard loaves instead of round loaves like here, see notes above at this step.

Place the dough in greased bowl, flipping it once to ensure the top of your dough is greased. Cover and let rise another 1-2 hours until it’s doubled in size.

Once it’s doubled in size, take a sharp knife and carefully cut the dough into two parts ensuring that they are very close the same size. Shape dough into nice oval loaves and set on greased cookie sheet (allowing room for each loaf to expand). Cover and allow to rise until they doubled in size (anywhere from 2 hours to as long as 14 hours if you wish)

When they are ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the cover, slash the tops in the design of your choice and bake for 15-30 minutes until golden brown and sound hollow (ensure not to under bake or over bake your bread). Remove loaves to a cooling rack. Allow to completely cool before slicing (if you have the will power, haha!)

Store in airtight container on the counter or package up for freezing.

* Recipe Adapted from pinchmysalt.com

This article was originally published on HealingTheBody.ca