Sourdough Loaf

Quantities for 2 decent sized loaves.

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Ingredients

For the Dough

• 200g ripe starter (also known as levain)
• 100g strong wholemeal flour (wheat)
• 900g strong white flour (wheat)
• 700ml + 50ml water
• 20g salt

For Dusting

• Rice flour
• Any wheat flour (plain / strong / white / wholemeal )

Special Equipment

• Two tea towels that can get dirty.
• Two bannetons (proofing baskets). Or collandars or wicker baskets.
• Cast iron pot with lid. Or a baking tray with another inverted on top for a lid.
• Traditional razor blade. Or a very sharp knife.
• Bench knife. Or a plaster/wallpaper scraper, placemat or thin chopping board.
• Flour shaker (not essential).
• Oven thermometer (not essential).

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1. Mixing

09:00

• Set a timer for 30 minutes
• Mix together the starter, flour and 700ml* water together in a bowl.
• Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rest

*If this is your first go, reduce the amount of water to 600ml

09:30

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes
• Sprinkle 20g salt over the top of the dough and pour in 50ml water. Squeeze the dough with you hands to merge it all together.
• Cover the bowl and leave to rest

2. Folding

10:00

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes. Wet your hand under the tap (helps stop sticking). Grab underneath the dough and pull to stretch it out, then fold the stretched dough in half. Spin the bowl 90° and repeat, stretching the dough the other way. Repeat until you've gone full circle (4 folds in total). Cover with a tea towel.

10:30

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes. Repeat the process as before, folding the dough on top of itself 4 times. Cover with a tea towel.

11:00

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes. Fold again, same as before. Cover with a tea towel.

This process of regular folding is instead of kneading, which isn't really possible with this recipe because the dough is so wet (high hydration to bakers).

11:30

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes. Fold. Cover with a tea towel.

The dough is getting smoother, shinier, airier and more elastic. You might see bubbles forming on the surface.

12:00

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes. Fold. Cover with a tea towel.

12:30

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes. Fold. Cover with a tea towel.

13:00

• Set the timer for 45 minutes. Fold. Cover with a tea towel.

13:45

• Reset the timer for 45 minutes. Fold. Cover with a tea towel.

3. Pre-shaping

The next parts take a bit of practice so don't worry if it ends up a sticky mess, it'll still make tasty bread.

Tips

Use short, sharp movements.

Keep you fingers together like paddles.

Avoid poking the dough with your fingers (it'll stick).

Avoid touching un-floured parts of the dough (it'll stick).

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14:30

• Reset the timer for 30 minutes.
• Tip the dough onto your kitchen worktop (it might take a minute to fall out) and use a bench knife to cut it in two.

The next steps are similar to the technique shown in this video from 2:52 - 4:54.

• Use the bench knife to drag one piece towards you. Keep on dragging and you'll notice the dough forms a cylindrical shape, and the surface becomes taut.
• Sharply pull the bench knife out from under the dough, using the edge of your palm on the other hand to keep the dough from moving.
• Repeat, this time starting from the end of the dough cylinder.
• After a few drags in alternate directions, the dough should form a round ball shape.
• Repeat with the other piece of dough and place it a bit of a distance from the first one.
• Cover both pieces with a tea towel.

4. Shaping

15:00

• Set the timer for 2 hours

Watch the final shaping method from 4:56.

• Line two bannetons (proofing baskets) with tea towels and dust liberally with 50% rice flour / 50% plain flour.
• Lightly dust the worktop and the top of the dough with plain flour. The dough pieces have probably spread out on the worktop, but the edges should still be rounded.
• Using the bench knife, flip one of the dough pieces upside down onto the floured surface.
• Keeping your fingers together, grab underneath both sides of the dough and stretch it out left and right.
• Fold one end over, overshooting half way, then fold the other end over on top of that.
• Grab underneath the two corners nearest you and pull, stretching the dough out in the other direction.
• Starting from the end furthest away from you, roll up the dough towards you like a swiss roll, trying not to touch its sticky top side.
• Pinch the seam together and roll the dough in more plain flour.
• Place into a banneton, seam side up (this will become the bottom of the loaf) and wrap the tea towel over to cover the dough.
• Do the other loaf and leave them both to proof.

5. Baking

17:00

• Preheat the oven to 240°C/460°F with the cast iron pot and lid inside.

Make sure your oven is properly hot before baking, it might take longer than 15 minutes. Oven temps are often not what they say - it's worth spending a few quid on an oven thermometer to check.

17:15

• Take the pot & lid out and close the oven door quickly.
• Carefully tip one of the loaves upside down into the pot. You'll need to gently peel back the tea towel if it's stuck.
• Score the top in a pretty pattern using short, sharp motions with a traditional razor blade or very sharp knife. Careful not to burn your arms on the side of the pot. It's very hot.
• Put the pot in the oven with the lid on.
• Set a timer for 18 minutes.

17:35

• Reset the timer immediately for 18 minutes.
• Remove the lid from the pot but leave both in the oven.

17:53

• Remove the pot from the oven and tip the loaf out onto a wire cooling rack.

Repeat the last few steps for the second loaf. Ideally leave the loaves to cool for 1 hour before cutting into them...