Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread
This bread uses a ripe, active starter for its rise. It doesn't use any yeast, so is a purist sourdough loaf.
Servings: 2 loaves
Equipment
- Cast-iron Forms with Lids or forms that fit in a cast-iron Dutch oven or steam oven
Ingredients
- 340 g sourdough starter (293g)
- 290 g all-purpose flour (388g)
- 64 g whole wheat flour (55g)
- 297 g water (256g) At room-temperature.
- 9 g fine sea salt (8g)
Instructions
- Mix sourdough starter, flours, and room temperature water.Knead until mixed thoroughly.Cover and let stand 20 minutes.
- Add the salt and knead it together thoroughly.Cover and let stand for an hour.
- Put on a floured surface, push out to a rectangular square, fold in threes, turn 90 degrees, fold in threes.Cover and let stand for an hour.
- Shape in the rough shapes you want (boule, sausages for rectangular pans).Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Shape, put the seam, crown up in a floured towel or couche, cover, and let rest for 1 hour.
- Turn on oven to 475F/245C.If using a steam oven, turn to 100% steam.If using cast-iron baking vessels, put them in the oven to pre-heat.
- Continue to let the bread rest for another hour.
- If you use cast-iron, toss them in the pan, put on the lid. f you don't use cast-iron, put them on baking paper, slide it directly on a pizza stone into the steam oven.If neither, use as heavy a cooky sheet as you have.If you don't use cast iron with a lid, put a bowl in with a cup of water (assuming normal oven sizes).Bake for 35 minutes total.
- If you want a deeper crust, take the lid off.
- Either way, bake for 10 more minutes.
- After another 10 minutes (45 minutes total), take the bread out of the oven.Take them immediately out of the baking pan or form.Put on a rack and let rest for at least 5 minutes.
Notes
Based on a recipe by King Arthur Flour: Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread, though I use more starter instead of flour, and a bit less salt. The original’s ratios are 454:692:85:397:12.5. The one I now use are 340:290:64:297:9, but I’ve used the one between parentheses of 293:388:55:256:8
