So you live in the tropics, where it’s mostly wet and warm. You wanna try your hand at making sourdough bread but you just keep failing. Is it me, or is it the weather? What is it?
You wonder.
This week, I show you how to make sourdough bread from start to finish! And you’ll never need to fear failing again, I promise!
I started making sourdough bread a little over a year ago now and I was always failing. You'll always find me diligently following a well known, tried and tested recipe, dutifully doing what it says to do. But, in the end, I would still fail. And I recall feeling so disappointed, discouraged and defeated. I even remember thinking to myself, "Maybe, I’m just not cut out to be a baker!" But you know what? That’s a lie! And if you’ve been telling that to yourself, stop! You can be as good a home baker as anyone else!
The trick is really to keep the dough cool instead of keeping it warm like you see in a lot in other videos, especially if you live in the tropics where you have a persistently warm climate. Where I live, it’s just hot and humid all year round. It's summer in Singapore 365 days a year! And if you don’t get the dough temperature right, you pretty much can’t get anything else right.
So the first thing you gotta remember is this - you have to start with cold ingredients, like straight from the fridge if you can. Even your flour must be cold, if possible.
Another way to ensure you achieve that is to get an infrared food or cooking thermometer. With it, you can then monitor the dough temperature and make sure that it never, ever exceeds 25°C.
With that in mind, here's the recipe for a basic sourdough loaf.
INGREDIENTS
Bread flour 240g
Whole Wheat flour 60g
Ice cold water 210g
Sourdough starter 60g
Pink salt 6g
METHOD (approximate timings)
DAY 1
1000 - Feed starter - 20g LSD: 20g flour: 20g water
1400 - Mix the bread flour, whole wheat flour and ice cold water in your stand mixer for 3 minutes at low speed. Cover and leave it in your fridge for one hour.
1500 - Add sourdough starter, mix it in at low speed for a further 3 minutes, cover and leave in your fridge for 15 minutes
1515 - Add pink salt, mix it in at medium speed for 5 minutes, cover and leave in fridge for another 15 minutes
1530 - Stretch and fold (1)
1545 - Stretch and fold (2)
1600 - Stretch and fold (3)
1630 - Coil fold (1)
1700 - Coil fold (2)
1730 - Coil fold (3)
1830 - Pre-shape the dough
1900 - Final shape the dough into a bâtard, cradle it carefully into floured banneton, cover and fridge it overnight for it to develop flavour.
*Always check on dough temperature to ensure it never exceeds 25°C
** Pop dough in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool it down or use ice packs to keep it cool. Turning on the air-conditioner will also help keep dough temperature low.
DAY 2
0700 - Preheat oven at 250°C, together with oiled dutch oven, for half and hour to one hour
0800 - Remove sourdough from the fridge, score it, mist it to improve oven spring. Put it on a bread sling and into the dutch oven, cover with lid and bake for 20 minutes.
0820 - Remove the lid and bake uncovered for a further 20 minutes at 230°C or until desired browning is achieved.
0840 - Remove sourdough from dutch oven, leave it to cool on a rack for 5 hours or more.
1340 or the next day - Slice the sourdough into desired thickness.
When mixing ingredients together in the stand mixer, don't worry if the dough doesn't come together nicely in a ball. It’s actually more important to check on the dough temperature to make sure it doesn’t exceed 25°C. And don't panic if it does, just stop the mixer, remove the dough hook, put it in there, cover and pop the whole thing in the fridge for fifteen minutes or so to cool it down.
You'll also notice that we're doing 3 sets of stretch and folds and 3 sets of coil folds. These help to strengthen the dough so that it'll be nice and smooth. But, more importantly that the dough will be able to trap all the carbon dioxide and rise up nice and high. Just remember to always wet your hands first so the dough doesn't stick to your hands.
During bulk fermentation, transfer your dough to an oiled container so that it has room to grow and expand. I usually use extra virgin olive oil to oil the container.
Intervals between each stretch and fold or coil fold is essential for the dough to rest, relax, expand and become stronger so investing in a good kitchen timer is essential. Once you set the timer, you're free to do other chores whilst waiting for the dough to be done.
Pre-shaping the dough is also an essential step of the whole process. It's basically suggesting to the dough the final shape you want it to be. Letting it rest for at least 20 minutes or half an hour helps the dough to relax so that it'll take to the final shaping more easily and hold that final shape.
Depending on whether you’re making a batârd or a boule, the final shaping is slightly different. This week, I’ll be showing you how to shape a bâtard.
Remember to have your banneton at the ready. I usually put a disposable hair net on it then before I sprinkle some semolina or rice flour so the dough wouldn’t stick. I’ll also add some flour to the top of the loaf just to make sure it doesn’t stick to the banneton when I remove it the next day.
Another thing to note is this. Remember the seam side is always up when you cradle the dough into your banneton.
Then cover it with another disposable hair net, on top of that, a tea towel to absorb all the condensation. Finally, pop it in a big enough zip lock bag and leave it in the fridge overnight, for it to develop flavour.
Come next morning, oil your dutch oven with flaxseed oil - best for cast iron. Then, place it on the middle rack and preheat the oven at 250°C for about half an hour or so depending on your oven. Best to check the internal temperature of the oven, because not all ovens are created equal. Once the oven is hot enough, take the dough out from the fridge, lightly flour it, before transferring onto the floured oval bread sling… lightly flour the top as well and score it.
Once you’re done, remove the dutch oven from the preheated oven. Be extra careful, it’s super duper hot! Then, place the batârd into the dutch oven, lightly spritz the top with some distilled water to further improve its oven spring. Then, cover and bake it on the middle rack for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking for another 20 minutes at 230°C or until the desired browning is achieved.
After removing sourdough from the oven, let it cool on a rack for 5 hours or more, it's still developing flavour. Better still, slice the sourdough the next day.
Eat it with curry, sardines, or with diced tomatoes and herbs… it’s really up to your imagination.
And that’s how to make sourdough bread from start to finish and this method is especially great for persistently warm climates or tropics. I hope you learnt something useful today and if you did, I hope you share it with your friends especially those who are still struggling to make a good loaf of sourdough bread. It’s easy once you get the hang of it.
More great recipes coming your way, till then, have a beautiful day!
Love, Lynette Tan
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