I just got back from visiting Suki — you can't even imagine how hot it is in this picture. We weirdly paid no attention to the thermometer (basically it was 100 degrees out) and opted for a fried chicken picnic by the river.
Of course I had a wonderful time with them!
Before I left home I made this bread and we harvested honey (and plan to harvest yet more tomorrow! I'll keep you posted on IG!).
I know you want to me to tell you about making sourdough, but I have to resist getting into all the particulars. You'll have to do what I did: keep looking up various methods by actual experts, and trying different things.
Suki and I talked about how we learned to bake sourdough. I think we arrived at the same place of doing it our own way (that is, we each have our own way!) by the same means, trying to follow different methods and just seeing what works. (Search for sourdough baking and click on King Arthur, The Perfect Loaf, Full Proof Baking; go to Instagram and follow the sourdough hashtag.)
Like so many things, you just have to do it and see what happens, but always test against your previous experience (no matter how little you have — you have to build on what you know and remember your mistakes and your successes).
One thing that frustrated me from the get-go is that all the instructions for the home baker are for one small sourdough loaf. I've been baking bread for my whole married life and I cannot contemplate for one instant making one measly loaf of bread!
I feel like I've wasted my time if I don't make four loaves; three feels like an efficiency lapse.
So early on I put my normal yeast-dough knowledge to work. Here are my tips (you really have to know how to bake yeast bread to follow, and I do have lots of tips on that — I know, I know, not as much as you would like!):
- Treat your starter like it's the sponge you've developed with your yeast. Start at that point in your process (where you've proved your yeast with about a cup of water and enough flour to make a loose dough or batter — just think of your small amount of starter as your yeast). Just pretend and keep mixing your dough as usual, after that sponge step.
- Let the mixed dough rest. This is the autolyse (it isn't really, because you've mixed everything, not just the flour and water, but still, the rest allows the grains to absorb liquid and for the gluten to begin lining itself up).
- Use more liquid than you think. If you want to wrap your mind around baker's percentages and use a scale, you can. Lots of info out there to explain it. But you know how to make bread — if you've listened to me over the years, you've paid attention to how a good dough feels in the mixer or under your hands. Add that much water or a little more. Don't get caught up in the high hydration craze for now. Aim at 65-68% hydration for now, which is not a stiff dough but is not wet either.
- Use more salt than you think or than you are used to from your yeast recipes. For 8 cups of flour I use almost 2 tablespoons of salt.
- After the rest (20-40 minutes), mix or knead well. I use the stand mixer.
- In your first rise (“bulk rise” or “fermentation”), try doing some stretch and folds or coil folds (you can look both those up) 30 and 60 minutes into it. A good demonstration is here — but I would never make this small amount of dough. You can leave your dough on the counter and skip the bowl or container. Just cover with a tightly woven wet cloth in between handling.
- Make sure your dough rises fully the first time. Don't skimp on this step. It should look soft and big, but not flabby. If you got to the flabby stage, handle it extra gently and next time turn it out sooner.
- Gently turn your dough out, folding and stretching it if it's been in a bowl; if it's on your counter, just use your bench scraper to divide it and fold it into rough shapes for the loaves you have in mind. When I fill my Kitchenaid 5 qt. mixer with all the flour it can handle, I get enough dough for 4 sandwich loaves (my pans are on the smaller side for loaf pans) or 3 boule-style loaves.
- Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Shape for your loaves. For the best rise and crumb, do something that resembles folding it in thirds, giving it a turn, and folding it again or rolling it on itself. It should resist you slightly (that's the gluten structure) so don't force it to deflate, but do firmly get it folded up on itself so that the gluten strands create a matrix for your nice bubbles. Place seam-side down in your loaf pans or seam side up in your bannetons or baskets lined with cloth napkins or tea towels (scrupulously clean of course). I like to use rice flour for dusting and find that I don't need the liners for the wooden bannetons.
- Here's the trick for sourdough — if you're making bread in loaf pans, proceed as usual, letting the dough rise at least 50% and baking as you usually do, then popping in a hot oven (375-400°) for 40 minutes or until the instant-read thermometer reaches 200°.
But for your lovely crusty loaves, right away or after about an hour rising on your counter (depending on the temperature in your house — maybe in summer this would be less and in winter, more), refrigerate your shaped dough, loosely covered with the ends of the napkin or towel lining the basket, for at least 8 hours and up to who knows, a day or even two. Heat your oven on high (450°) with your baking stone on a middle rack and get your pan of boiling water ready. Turn your cold dough onto a piece of parchment paper on a baker's peel, score it, and slide it onto the stone. Or sometimes if I have two loaves to bake at once, I have two pieces of parchment on big baking pans (like cookie sheets) and turn the dough on those, having them as far apart from each other as they can comfortably be.
Suki uses a cast-iron combo-cooker — like this one. I just rely on the steam from a baking tray with boiling water on my oven floor and have had good success with another one on a high top rack. - After about 16-18 minutes, remove the steam pan(s) or lid of the combo cooker (or Dutch oven if you're using that) and reduce the temp to 425°or 400°. Bake for 15-20 minutes more or until the instant-read thermometer registers 200°.
Cool your loaves completely. If you are freezing loaves, let them cool for a good 6 hours at least before you do so.
I am happy to answer questions in the comments! The main point is that if you already know how to bake bread, you can do this!
Bits & pieces
Please stop me before I knit a fence using giant knitting needles made from curtain rods but so help me it's gorgeous. So is the place where the artist lives.
It took me so long to listen to this short clip of two chants, one Hebrew and one Latin, that I forget who pointed me to it and why… but it's incredibly beautiful, isn't it?
Melody Lyons on mothers wondering what their apostolate or mission might be.
A plastic surgeon speaks out on the child abuse that is “sex-change” surgery. Like abortion, there is a vague “wave your magic wand” idea about what actually goes on. Even though this is hard to read, I think for us to be able to speak knowledgeably about our opinions, we need to know the information that leads this doctor to say that these approaches are “totally unacceptable.”
The personalism of John Henry Newman.
The Scientific American had an article almost five years ago, about fetal tissue research, that is worth bookmarking.
From the archives
The binder will help you organize your home school.
Got cucumbers? Make bread-and-butter pickles!
Today is the feast of St. Matthew!
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Auntie Leila’s Facebook (you can just follow — my posts are public — sometimes I share articles here that don’t make it into {bits & pieces})
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Or the boards of the others: Rosie’s Pinterest. Sukie’s Pinterest. Deirdre’s Pinterest. Habou’s Pinterest. Bridget’s Pinterest.
And the others on IG: Rosie’s Instagram. Sukie’s Instagram. Deirdre’s Instagram.Bridget’s Instagram.Habou’s Instagram.
Dixie says
I love the binder planning post. I have a “Master” binder for myself and then one for each kid each year, with yearly, weekly, and daily plans, and sections for all their work in each subject. It is so nice to have it all in one place, instead of half on the computer and half on the kids’ loose, scribbled pages, and it keeps everything organized as you go along so that you aren’t confronting (many) piles of papers at the end of each year. Everything goes together. It’s also just all so much clearer to me if I can have all the schedules in front of me physically on the table when I’m doing planning each week, instead of having to toggle through different files and things on the computer. And the kids get the satisfaction of checking each thing they do off with a pencil!
Esther says
Thank you for all the great sourdough tips! I am inspired! Knitting a fence -not so much but it is pretty amazing.
Caitlin L says
Good to “see” you again! It’s been bloody hot where we live too. Absolutely brutal. You couldn’t pay me to brave a picnic– bravo!
Am I missing something in the fetal tissue article? It seems to be in enthusiastic support of harvesting.
Leila says
The article is very clear about harvesting and the “need” for new tissue. It’s almost impossible to convince some people that this goes on. Either they say that your sources are not legitimate or that there are the two lines from the 50’s and no more.
It’s actually very helpful to have this source to refute those claims.
Caitlin L says
I see, thank you! I am indeed sheltered; I didn’t realize anyone still denied this.
Anamaria says
Thanks for the great links! I’m looking forward to reading them. I found this photo project interesting- I haven’t finished the interview and it’s not super insightful so far but look how much more beautiful the women look after! And that’s in the first three months postpartum, when a lot of women feel the worst about themselves! https://mymodernmet.com/vaida-razmislavice-becoming-mother/?fbclid=IwAR0sxlOhYjgSlZqzhCYQVsgup18N75a0CeVpVufAl6YKreUwC6QNjF2_ZYc
Emily says
MMMMM Beautiful bread! I’m going to have to try this, soon…autumn always brings out my desire to bake….
Thrift at Home says
Oh Auntie Leila!!! Your sourdough discussion is so inspiring and exactly the level of info and encouragement I needed! I have been baking yeast bread for 20 years and sourdough for at least 10. My family doesn’t love my sourdough – it’s a very fuss-free method from Tassajara, but all the books/experts seemed wildly complicated and yeah, what’s up with the 1 loaf silliness when I’ve invested so much time and oven heat??!
So, I do have at least three questions now:
1. How often do you feed your sourdough? I aim for about once a week.
2. Do you keep your starter in the fridge? I keep mine in a jar in the fridge with a cloth cap – I recall reading that the cloth helps it to breath and the fridge keeps it slowed down (which is the pacing I want). I mean, I bring the starter to the kitchen counter when I want to wake it up and use it.
3. When do you start this process, the feeding that results in baked loaves?? I didn’t add up all the times you mentioned in your steps. Is this something you begin the night before you want to bake? The morning of? One of the reasons I started making sourdough bread for our daily bread was its timing is so much more flexible and with littles I just couldn’t commit to the more precise timing that yeast dough requires.
4. Also, slightly random question: do you have 2 fridges? We are only 5 in this house, but wow, I max out my single biggish fridge pretty often – I rarely have room for rising bread in there. I am very careful to avoid food waste – we really do use all the space. Would love your thoughts on fridge usage 🙂
Thank you SO much, again, for this post!
Leila says
Margo, let’s make them love it!
I’ll try to answer the questions — and I think you could try adding some dry milk powder to your dough to see if that helps with the taste and texture (not that I know WHY they don’t love it… )
1. I feed my starter when I pull it out. That is once every 10 days (like last week when I was away) or once every other day (if I make sandwich bread and then regular sourdough). I put a bit more than half of what is in the jar into my bowl. Then I feed each one, bowl and jar, in the 1:1:1 ratio, with very warm water, leaving them in a warm place to rise. Then I put the jar back into the fridge and proceed with what is now my “sponge” in the bowl (see #1 in the post).
2. Yes, in the jar in the fridge. I have one of those plastic tops for Mason jars. It isn’t airtight — it doesn’t seal.
3. Normally I start this process in the morning. My starter is fast so it takes about 3 hours to double to that “sponge” stage. Then I mix. The bulk rise goes for about 4-5 hours (longer in winter). I can pop it in the fridge if I want to get to it the next day. Otherwise, for sandwich bread I then shape before supper, let rise, and bake in the evening. For boules etc I shape and pop those covered bannetons into the fridge for baking the next day, whenever.
4. Yes, two fridges. Between the dough, yogurt, broths, and all the eggs and milk (and beer!), can’t do without my 2nd fridge! (I also have a chest freezer.)
Do you do the stretch and folds? Try them, plus make sure your bulk (1st) rise is TOTAL, juuuust before it is ready to collapse, before shaping your loaves.
Thrift at Home says
My sourdough is *very* sour and I use a big proportion of whole wheat. I spent 8 months in Russia when I was a teenager, and my sourdough reminds me strongly of the bread we ate there – so I love it. But also it’s annoying to be making bread that my family eats reluctantly – I do also make yeast bread, often to fill out a specific meal. After talking to a friend this summer who makes sourdough, I started only feeding my starter when I got it out to bake with it. Seems to have become less sour.
I will try the folding!
I have (ahem) 3 chest freezers 🙂 Not all full-size, mind you.
Molly B. says
I have been waiting for this post! I just had to wait a little longer to act upon the bread baking recommendations, as the post arrived as we were still working out the beginning-of-the-year homeschool routine. But my anticipation has been growing, and I finally remembered to wake up my starter in time to bake on a no-activity-outside-the-home day. Though school questions from my dear children did postpone the breadmaking…hence…bread and jam for my late dessert, instead of bread with dinner!
Aside – I have tried and tried, fussed and fussed, with various recipes, all to mediocre results. In addition to the helpful tips included here, Leila – this particular advice of yours was critical: “The main point is that if you already know how to bake bread, you can do this!” The declaration gave me the confidence to make sourdough with the skill set I already possess, but somehow was ignoring when fussing over fussy sourdough bread recipes (including the Cooks’ Illustrated one, which by my calculations requires a middle-of-the-night step? I could never figure out the timing of their recipe). So – thank you! This is the first loaf of sourdough bread that turned out as it is supposed to turn out. Beautiful looking, and presumably delicious, as I will test very soon.
Leila says
Yay! Awesome! So happy to be of assistance!
It’s a learning curve to be sure. But confidence is of the essence.