Sourdough
A lovely friend gave me some of her sourdough starter a little while ago and since then I've been really enjoying crafting my own loaves.
The long drawn out process of sourdough really appeals to my current lifestyle. My dough needs little bits of attention throughout a 36hr period and that works so well.
Here's what I do.
Night Before
In a container with a lid place
- 75g water
-75g flour
- 1 tbs of starter
I got my starter from a lovely friend but you can make your own. I haven't tried it and it looks pretty difficult but is surely not impossible!?!?
Also, in a bowl place
- 400g flour
- 260g water
This makes a pretty wet dough which can sometimes go flat so you've got to play around with the water level. Maybe less maybe more. This is called the autolyse and it is a fancy name which means I Have No Idea.
Then I leave those two bits overnight.
Next Day
In the morning/when i remember after getting home from school drop off I mix the two bits together and give it a good kneed for about 10 mins.
I use a slap and stretch method which is really fun to do and lets ALL the angry vibes out. Basically you grab the ball of dough, slap it on the bench and then pull it off the bench so that it stretches out. Other than sounding like something you might do to induce labour it is the thing to do if you want lovely sourdough holes in your loaf.
Then I give the dough about an hour while I put the baby to sleep and do some laundry. I have left the slap and stretch till after said baby was alseep but only do that if you want your baby to wake up while you are 3 minutes in with tons of dough on your hands. It will happen.
After about an hour (which really means when I remember I'm making sourdough today) I add 10g of water with a tbs of salt. They say sourdough really needs the salt and it's true. It really brings out the flavour of the dough. Do not leave it out or you will feel like you're eating polystyrene.
I plop the salty water in and then kinda squeeze the dough with my fingers. Don't worry about it too much.
Then comes the bulk ferment which goes for 2-4 hrs. or 6 or 8 or whenever.
Every half hour or so I do a manoeuvre called the stretch and fold which also brings on bubbles and not babies. You pick up one side of the dough and then stretch it over the top. Do this 4 times from each side and you're good to go.
After that's done I shape the dough ball into a nice smooth dough ball and pop it in a little tea towel blanket in a bowl in the fridge and say goodnight.
Next Day
In the morning (again usually after school dropoff) I heat up the oven as hot as it goes and then put the dough ball in my dutch oven. Once the oven is hot I pop the dutch oven in for about 20 mins with the lid on then 20-30 with the lid off. I know it's done when the outside is lovely and dark brown.
Then you have to wait and not dig into that juicy hot loaf till it's cool. But once it is...slice it up and slather it with butter. oh yeah.
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