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Sourdough Bread Basic Recipe
Ingredients: Starter, flour, water, salt
Mix starter with some water and twice as much flour. Let rise overnight. Mix in more water, salt, and enough flour to make a good loaf. Knead and shape the loaf. Remove starter, the size of an egg, and reserve this. Let the loaf rise till double. Bake in a hot oven.

Well that's about it. After a few times, that is all you need to know. However there is much wonderful complexity in such simple directions.

Mix starter with some water and twice as much flour. To begin with, dissolve the starter with about 1/2 cup water. This will, in the end, give you enough dough for one decent sized loaf. Add about three times as much flour to water, or enough until the dough is firm but sticky.

Let rise overnight. Flour it well and let it rise, covered. An overnight rise is about right, this is very forgiving stuff. Just let it rise where you can leave it alone for a while, in a corner of the kitchen but not where it is too warm, not in the oven. You want the flavor to develop slowly and fully. It may rise substantially or end up as a pudding. That's ok too. A rise of six hours is fine, so is two days! The longer the rise, the stronger the flavor.

Mix in more water, salt and enough flour to make a good loaf. When you and the dough are ready, dissolve it in about 1 1/2 cups water and a tablespoon of salt (sea salt is best). Add enough flour until the dough is malleable. Mix well and turn it onto a well floured board.

Knead and shape the loaf. Keep kneading and adding more flour until the dough is smooth, firm and slightly tacky, about 10 minutes. You can push it out like a pizza and roll it for a moist loaf.

Remove starter, the size of an egg, and reserve this. When finished, tear off a handful for your next batch. It will keep, covered, in the fridge for several weeks. If you cannot make a loaf a while, mix a tablespoon each of water and flour into the starter every week so that the yeasts will have something to munch on until it's bread making time.

Let the loaf rise till double. Shape the loaf (long or round as you wish). Put the loaf in a pan into which you've sprinkled cornmeal, oatmeal, sesame seeds or whatever you like so that the dough won't stick to the pan. I've used a cast iron skillet, bread pan, and a metal colander. Cover and let rise until double. If the dough rises and you are not ready to bake, punch it down and let it rise again. I currently do my last rising in a wicker basket lined with linen. This results in a large, moist loaf easily turned onto the baking stone.

Bake in a hot oven. Heat the oven anywhere between 500 and 325 degrees F. Very hot ovens will give a thicker crust and moist loaf but not as much of a rise. Slower ovens will give a substantial rise and slightly drier texture, sometimes with a thin crackling crust. I often spray the inside of the oven with water just before I add the loaf and then spray once or twice more during the first ten minutes. Sometimes I put the loaf in at 450 and turn the oven down to 350. Sometimes I leave it in for 15 minutes and then turn it down. Sometimes I preheat an entire Dutch oven and cook the bread inside. Depending upon the oven temperature, the bread takes from 30 minutes to an hour to bake. When ready, the bottom of the loaf is solid and gives a hollow sound when tapped.


Comments
1. To slash or not to slash: I used to slash the top of the loaf a few times just before I put it in, but I found it still tended to split near the pan edge. Sometimes I don't slash at all and let the loaf rise as it may.
2. Flour: I use a mixture of rye, unbleached white and whole wheat. I vary the amounts depending on whether I am in the mood for a stronger or milder tasting loaf. At least half the flour will be unbleached white and there is nothing wrong with using only white. An all-purpose blend will also work, although there will be less gluten and consequently less body.
3. What happens if the starter gets used up? New starter is finicky but worth making. Mix a cup or so of flour with about a half cup of water; it will be a loose, very sticky dough. Leave it covered for between two and five days, until there is a strong winy smell. Use this "sponge" as your starter. Don't be surprised if your first few loaves with a new starter do not turn out well. I find that it takes several loaves before there is a good one; after that it just keeps getting better.
4 Recently, I have been letting the last rise happen in a closed container such as a Dutch over or slightly greased clay baker. When it is doubled I put it, covered, in a very hot oven. The dough rises to fill the container and has a thin crust that is quite tasty but not as hard as my freeform loaves. This would also work well in a oven without a baking stone.

This recipe owes much to the technique and inspiration of John Thorne. He has written Serious Pig and the superb Outlaw Cook. Both are must reads for all who are trying to make sense of their lives, never mind dinner. He and his partner Matt produce the wonderful newsletter Simple Cooking. It and they can found at www.outlawcook.com.

© Barry Lazar 2000 Email Flavourguy

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