Sourdough Bread Basic Recipe

1000g Heritage White Flour or Heritage Bread Blend (*These two flours are easy to work with and will make great bread to get you started. After you get familiar with this process you can use this same recipe to replace some of the flour Heritage White Flour or Heritage Bread Blend Flour with Heritage Whole Wheat Flour or Rye Flour to make whole wheat or rye bread). 720g Water, chlorine-free, 90F (if you have city water you can boil it and let sit for 24 hours) 1 Tbsp Salt - Real Salt or other unrefined salt 250g Active sourdough starter

Presoak the flour with all the water for one hour. (Autolyze the flour) (Add all the water to the flour and mix into a shaggy dough, then cover.)

After the presoak, add the salt to the dough and mix enough to combine it. Add the sourdough and mix thoroughly to combine into a smooth bread dough.

Mixing the sourdough into the presoaked flour is a little challenging part of this recipe. It can be done by hand or mixer. By hand you should use the “pincher method” of pinching and turning the dough. If you use a mixer you may have to stop the mixer and use a wooden spoon to stir the presoaked dough and starter together to get it started to combine when you continue mixing.

When mixed into a smooth bread dough, place the dough in a large mixing bowl and cover for a bulk ferment of several hours depending on the temperature of the room. If the temp is more than 70F it will grow to double in size in a few hours. If it is less than 70F it will take longer so keep an eye on it.

Once it about doubles in size, stretch and fold by grabbing the dough and pulling it up and to- ward the center in four stretches at 90 degrees each, top, left, bottom, right. Cover and repeat the same stretch and fold in twenty minutes. (The dough needs twenty minutes to relax between stretch and folds). You can decide how many stretch and folds to do, anywhere from 2-5 is common. The dough will get stronger with each stretch and fold.

Divide into two equal portions, shape and place in bannetons (or a bowl), or bread pans. Cover with a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

Start oven set to 425F – 450F. if you are using a Dutch oven place the Dutch oven in the oven when you start the preheat. A good half hour preheat is required for Dutch ovens.

Dutch oven method- slash the dough with a razor blade and place it in the preheated Dutch oven. Cover and bake for about 25 minutes. For a darker crust, remove the cover from the Dutch oven after 15 minutes.

Bread pan method - slash the dough and place in the oven. Reduce the heat to 350F and bake for about 40 minutes.

At the end of the bake time check inside temperature of bread with thermometer. It should read 195-205F when done.

Remove from pan or Dutch oven immediately and let cool on a rack that will allow air to circulate under the bread.