Cook A Long Sourdough  (Copy)

Whats a starter?

“A starter is a microbial ecosystem made up of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria that have colonised the mixture of flour and water” Vanessa Kimbell.

For both of these to thrive will depend on many different factors - the type of flour you are using, the environment you are in, the soil the grains where grown in, as well as other factors such as the water, heat in the room, the bacteria on your hands and so on.

However the bacteria predominantly comes from the flour you use to refresh your starter and all flours have different characteristic and bacteria to them.

The wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria are what causes the sourdough to ferment.

The most common yeasts are Schoromyce cerevisae and Kazachstania and the bacteria that is usually most dominant in sourdough is lactobacillus.

How to make a starter? There are MANY different ways to make a starter and I will talk through some.

RECIPE FOR X 2 SOURDOUGH LOAF TINS     

The main recipe for this sourdough comes from Vanessa Kimbell - the queen of sourdough and in my opinion someone with the most knowledge and science behind her.

This makes x 2 loaves

Ingredients:

800g white bread flour

200g wholewheat bread flour

Levain (100g grain mix, 30g starter and 100ml water)

approx 750 - 850ml warm water (add in just over ¾ and see how the bread feels before adding in the rest if needed)

15g fine sea salt 

INSTRUCTIONS

Take starter out of the fridge the night before and refresh. To refresh you get a clean pot and add in roughly 30g of starter, 100g flour and 100ml water - mix together and cover with a tea towel and leave for 6-8 hours. In the morning it will be ready to use.

LEAVAN/ LEVAIN -

Now take a large tablespoon (approx 30g) of your refreshed starter and mix with 100g of mix grain flour and 100ml of water (at 26-30 degrees) and leave to ferment for an hour or 2 in a warm place. You should be able to see that the starter has bubbles and is active.

MIXING -

Now in a large bowl pour in the flours (white and wholegrain) add in your leaven and 3/4 of your weighed out water and mix together to rough dough. - Why only 3/4 of your water? Because ideally you don’t want to add in all your water in one go, there is an expression in baking which is “the wetter the better” however once you have added all your water in you cant take it out and if you don’t know how your flour is going to react its always best to do it in stages - I usually start with using about 70% hydration (so that 700ml approx 3/4 water) and then add in the rest in stages - you might well find you don’t need all of it - I find its usually around the 750ml mark.

Its good to add it in stages whilst the gluten is being developed as this will encourage a more open structure and crumb to your loaf. At this stage you are simply just mixing the dough roughly together - however getting rid of any very floury parts. Remember to keep  twisting and squeezing the dough, keeping your hands watered to help prevent sticking - leave for 10-20 mins covered with clean damp tea-towel to Autolyse.

AUTOLYSE

To autoyse is to simply leave your dough to rest for 20 mins - 2 hours - the reason being is during this time of rest the gluten develops and simple sugars start to form as starch is broken down. You will notice when you come back to the dough it will feel smoother and more elastic.

SALT - MIXING - BASSINAGE

Next add in the salt (always use good quality salt - I use Maldon) — a nice way to do this is through doing something called a Bassinage. This simply put is just adding your salt but with some of the water you have reserved from your initial mixing. So simply sprinkle your salt all over the bread and then lightly sprinkle over some water and wet your hands. Now with a twisting, squishing motion mix the salt into the bread. You can do little kneads here but you are really focusing on just mixing. Now leave for 15-20 minutes.

NOTE - if you were to add in flavours to your bread it would be at this stage you would do so ie cooked porridge oats, seeds, herbs etc

LITTLE MIX

Simple mix the dough again as you have previously. Adding your wet hand in and twisting and stretching as you go - you will feel the dough has totally changed in consistency and is pulling back a bit and much smoother.

I then leave the dough for a further 5-10 minutes before roughly shaping it into my prepared loaf tins (tins lined with some non stick baking parchment inside.

PROVE - OR BENCH REST

Again like all of bread making there are so many variables but generally speaking I leave it out for a good 2-3 hours before putting it into the fridge. It should have puffed up by about a third. Place into the fridge overnight.

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees and place your bread inside.

It should take between 30-40 minutes until firm and if tapped on the bottom it sounds hollow and feels firm.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

STORAGE

Sourdough is best left to cool completely before slicing

Once your sourdough has cooled, store in a linen or cotton bread bag, or wrapped in a clean tea towel. You can also buy gorgeous bees wax bags that keep the bread brilliantly too.

SO TO RE CAP ROUGH TIMINGS -

Refresh night before

Make Leaven and leave for 1-2 hours (think re temperature)

Mix - Takes a few moments and leave to autolyse for 20 - 30 mins can be up to a couple of hours

Bassinage - leave for 10 - 30 minutes

Little Mix and shape into tins with shower caps on

Prove - up to a couple of hours unto puffed up by about 1/3

Fridge over night

Pre heat the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes

Leave the bread to cool a little while so that it doesn’t go laggy