Adventures in Sourdough, Chapter 3: Sourdough Bread n:o 1

The starter was removed from the fridge and fed in the evening, then left on the counter. In the morning it looked perky so I went for the following bake.

The recipe this time was 1 dl of the starter, 2 dl water, 1 dl high-fibre flour, 4 dl all-purpose flour and 3/4 tbsp salt.

The high-fibre flour is, according to the label, apparently not the same as whole wheat, but is somehow ground from the portion nearest the husk, consisting of 75% kernel and the rest is the inner part of the husk. Compared to all-purpose it’s very slightly browner. This flour is also the base of the starter.

The starter at this point had the colour and consistency of runny dough.

Again kneading and folding, adding some high-fibre flour in order to reach slightly lower hydration.

The dough was shaped into an approximate round, then left to rise on the counter under a towel drenched in warm water which was then wrung out. Letting it rise under a damp towel does seem to work, since none of the loaves baked so far have developed a crust while rising, which sometimes happens if you leave dough to rise for a long time.

After about 4 hours it looked like it had achieved a moderate rise, so the oven was heated to 250 degrees C and a cast-iron frying pan was placed on the bottom of the oven to heat up.

When the oven had heated the loaf was removed from the bowl it had risen in. The process showed me that in order to avoid the loaf getting slightly stuck, using parchment paper or similar to rise in is not a bad idea, but also not strictly necessary.

The loaf was folded once over and reshaped into a round, then thrown on a baking plate lined with parchment paper.

The frying pan was filled with 2.5 dl of water and left at the bottom while the baking plate was placed in the middle of the oven.

The heat was lowered to approximately 200-210 degrees and the loaf baked roughly 30-35 minutes.

This achieved a rise that doubled the size, height wise, creating a moderately UFO-like shape in the process. The crust was fairly dark and the loaf had a hollow sound when knocked upon and was therefore deemed to be done and removed from the oven and left to cool. To achieve a slightly lighter crust, one rung lower in the oven might work. Then again, the crust wasn’t dark enough to be burned, so it’s a matter of taste.

This one tasted quite good, so I’m going to name it Sourdough Bread n:o 1.

This series of sorts turned into an investigation of baking procedures with the dough based on mostly the same basic recipe. The variations will be presented in the following chapters.