For the Overnight Starter:

• 1 cup (8 ounces) warm water, 75°F to 80°F
• â…› teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 ½ cups (7.5 ounces) bread flour
• 1/3 cup (2.5 ounces) stone ground rye flour

For the Dough:

• 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) warm water, 75°F to 80°F
• ½ teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 ½ cups (11 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
• Âľ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. To make the Overnight Starter: Dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir in the flours using a rubber spatula or your hand and a dough scraper to make soft dough.
2. Cover tightly and place the starter in a draft-free place for 10 to 16 hours.
3. To make the Dough: Pour the water into a large wide bowl. You’ll mix and knead the dough in this bowl. Add the overnight starter and the yeast. Let is soften for a minute or two. Add the flours and salt.
4. Using a rubber spatula or a plastic dough scraper, stir the water into the flour.
5. Scrape the edge of the bowl and stir until all of the flour is moistened. Keep scraping and folding the dough over onto itself for 3 to 4 minutes until you have a moist, sticky mass. Let the dough sit for 5 to 10 minutes. As the dough sits, the starches in the flour will absorb some of the water in the dough.
6. Generously flour a work surface or large silicone baking mat. Scrape the sticky dough onto the floured surface, then sprinkle it with some flour. With floured fingertips and a dough scraper, scrape the dough into a round shape. Lift up the dough with one hand, stretch it then fold it over itself. Keep lifting and folding for 4 to 5 minutes. The dough will start to come alive under your hands but it will still be very sticky. Resist the urge to add too much flour.
7. Gather the dough up into a loose ball. Place it in a bowl or plastic container. Cover and let the dough ferment and rise until double in bulk, for 2 ½ to 3 hours.
8. Scrape the dough out onto a well floured work surface or large silicone baking mat. With floured hands, gather the dough into a round shape by tucking in the dough on each side. Then place your hands under the top edge of the rough ball of dough. Pull it towards you, dragging the dough along the work surface to stretch it tightly.
9. Generously flour a cloth-lined banneton. Or line a 12-inch bowl with a clean linen towel. Flour the towel generously. Slide your hands under the formed dough and plop it into the banneton or cloth-lined-bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let the dough proof until it has gained 50% in volume. It will be soft but still spring back slowly when pressed with your finger. This may take from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how warm your kitchen is.
10. Thirty minutes before baking, put the oven rack on the second shelf from the bottom of the oven and place a baking stone on the rack. Place a small pan for water on the floor of the oven and preheat it to 475°F.
11. Uncover the loaf and invert it onto a peel or the back of a baking sheet that has been sprinkled generously with rice flour. If it seems to stick to the cloth in the banneton or bowl, use your fingers to pry the dough gently from the basket. Don’t worry if you slightly dent the loaf. Unless the surface is torn, most dents will disappear once the bread is baked.
12. Make 4 slashes across the top of the loaf, 2 horizontal and 2 vertical, to form a large square in the center. Dust lightly with flour if you like.
13. Pour about ½ cup of boiling water into the pan in the oven then slide the loaf directly onto the baking stone. Bake for 20 minutes. Then rotate the bread so that it bakes evenly for another 35 to 40 minutes. Bake until the crust is a deep, dark brown and the bread makes a nice hollow sound when tapped on the bottom, for about 55 minutes to an hour. Or, insert an instant-read thermometer into the bread, and if the internal temperature is 205°F to 210°F the bread is done.
14. Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.

Recipe by Priscilla of

Anyone can make naturally fermented or sourdough bread. The process of making crunchy, tangy sourdough loaves is rewarding, but it requires time, patience, and practice. Many home bakers who love making sourdough bread have a routine; they make sourdough bread every week to keep their starter active and to improve their skills.

To create delicious and beautiful sourdough bread you need to pay attention to a few things.

An Active Starter

You need an active, bubbling sourdough starter. (See recipe and tips from KingArthurBaking.com on page 10-11) This process takes time. It may take anywhere from 7-14 days to build a strong enough starter to raise a loaf of bread.

When you make your dough, your starter must be visibly active with large bubbles. A healthy strong (or ripe) starter will double or triple 6-8 hours after feeding.

Elastic, Springy Dough

The elastic network of proteins in yeast dough traps gases to make dough rise. Because there are fewer yeast organisms in natural starter than in commercial yeast, you must capture all the gas that escapes. To do this, your dough needs to be properly kneaded or folded until it is springy and elastic.

Warm Temperatures

Yeast loves the same temperatures as people do, 70°F - 80°F and yeast will be in heaven. In cooler temperatures, the yeast becomes sluggish.

Bread dough will rise very slowly at cool temperatures. At warm temperatures, the yeast becomes very active. And bread dough will rise quickly. Because there are fewer yeast organisms in natural starter, being aware of your room temperature is very important. Unless directed otherwise, keep your dough covered in a warm draft-free place. This will help it rise.

Dough made with natural starter may take twice as long to rise as dough made with prepared yeast. Maintaining steady, warm room temperatures is important when working with sourdough bread dough.

A Gentle Touch

When handling sourdough bread, use a gentle touch. Resist the urge to aggressively punch down your dough or flatten it out before shaping. You need to preserve the gas bubbles in the dough to help it rise during baking.

Steam in the Oven

A burst of steam in the oven helps sourdough bread rise when baked. Your covered ¶ŕŔֵ羺 bread baker traps moisture from the dough and turns it to steam. Properly prepared sourdough will bake into a well risen loaf with a crisp crust in your covered baker.

Sourdough Bread Recipes

Use your favorite sourdough bread recipe in your ¶ŕŔֵ羺 bread baker. Select a recipe

with the amount of flour recommended for your bread baker. Just remember to account for the flour in your starter, which is usually half the amount of starter. In other words, 1/2 cup of starter contains approximately 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water. Account for the 1/4 cup of flour in your calculation of how much flour your recipe uses.

Homemade Sourdough Starter

Recipe and tips provided by:

Ingredients:

To begin your starter:

• 1 cup King Arthur Whole Rye (pumpernickel) or Whole Wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cool water

To feed your starter:

• scant 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup cool water (if your house is warm), or lukewarm water (if your house is cool)

Directions:

Day 1:ĚýCombine the pumpernickel or whole wheat flour with the cool water in a non- reactive container. (If you have only all-purpose flour, you can use it. But it may take an additional day or two to get going.) Glass, crockery, stainless steel, or food-grade plastic all work fine for this. Make sure the container is large enough to hold your starter asĚýĚý it grows; we recommend at least 1-quart capacity. Stir everything together thoroughly; make sure there’s no dry flour anywhere. Cover the container loosely and let the mixture sit at warm room temperature (about 70°F) for 24 hours. See TIPS* for advice about growing starters in a cold house.

Day 2:ĚýYou may see no activity at all in the first 24 hours, or you may see a bit of growth or bubbling. Either way, discard half the starter (about 1/2 cup), and add to the remainder a scant 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, and 1/2 cup cool water (if your house is warm); or lukewarm water (if it’s cold). Mix well, cover, and let the mixture rest at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 3:ĚýBy the third day, you’ll likely see some activity — bubbling, a fresh, fruity aroma, and some evidence of expansion. It’s now time to beginĚýtwo feedings daily, as evenly spaced as your schedule allows. For each feeding, stir down the starter and measure out a generous 1/2 cup. Discard any remaining starter. Add a scant 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, and 1/2 cup water to the reserved starter. Mix the starter, flour, and water, cover, and let the mixture rest at room temperature for approximately 12 hours before repeating.

Day 4:ĚýMeasure out a generous 1/2 cup of starter and discard any remaining starter. Repeat steps fromĚýDay 3.

Day 5:ĚýMeasure out a generous 1/2 cup of starter and discard any remaining starter. Repeat step fromĚýDay 3. By the end of Day 5, the starter should have at least doubled in volume. You’ll see lots of bubbles; there may be some little “rivulets” on the surface, full of finer bubbles. Also, the starter should have a tangy aroma — pleasingly acidic, but not overpowering. If your starter hasn’t risen much and isn’t showing lots of bubbles, repeat discarding and feeding every 12 hours on day 6, and day 7, if necessary — as long as it takes to create a vigorous (risen, bubbly) starter. See TIPS*.

Once the starter is ready, give it one last feeding. Measure out a generous 1/2 cup of starter and discard any remaining starter. Feed as usual. Let the starter rest at room temperature for 6-8 hours; it should be active, with bubbles breaking the surface.

Remove however much starter you need for your recipe — typically no more than about 1 cup. If your recipe calls for more than 1 cup of starter, give it a couple of feedings without discarding, until you’ve made enough for your recipe plus 1/2 cup to keep and feed again.

Transfer the remaining 1/2 cup of starter to its permanent home: a crock, jar, or whatever you’d like to store it in long-term. Feed this reserved starter with 1 scant cup of flour and 1/2 cup water, and let it rest at room temperature for several hours, to get going, before covering it. If you’re storing starter in a screw-top jar, screw the top on loosely rather than airtight.

Store this starter in the refrigerator. Feed it regularly; we recommend feeding it with a scant 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water once a week.

TIPS*

Why do you need to discard half the starter?ĚýIt seems so wasteful... But unless you discard starter at some point, eventually you’ll end up with a very large container of starter. Also, keeping the volume down offers the yeast more food to eat each time you feed it; it’s not fighting with quite so many other little yeast cells to get enough to eat. You don’t have to actually discard it if you don’t want to, either; you can give it to a friend, or use it to bake. There are quite a few recipes on KingArthurBaking.com using “discard” starter, including pizza crust, pretzels, and waffles, and even chocolate cake. If you’re still uncomfortable dealing with discard, though, try maintaining a smaller starter: the smaller the starter, the smaller the amount of discard.

Why does this starter begin with whole-grain flour? Because the wild yeast that gives sourdough starter its life is more likely to be found in the flora- and fauna-rich environment of a whole-grain flour than in all-purpose flour. What if all you have is all-purpose flour, no whole wheat? Go ahead and use all-purpose; you may find the starter simply takes a little longer to get going. Also, if you feed your starter on a long-term basis with anything other than the all-purpose flour called for here, it will probably look different (thicker or thinner, a different color) and act differently as well. Not to say you can’t feed your starter with alternate flours; just that the results may not be what you expect.

Should you use bottled water?ĚýUnless your tap water is so heavily treated that you can smell the chemicals, there’s no need to use bottled water; tap water is fine.

A note about room temperature:Ěýthe colder the environment, the more slowly your starter will grow. If the normal temperature in your home is below 68°F, we suggest finding a smaller, warmer spot to develop your starter. For instance, try setting the starter atop your water heater, refrigerator, or another appliance that might generate ambient heat. Your turned-off oven — with the light turned on — is also a good choice.

Regarding the duration of everyday feeding, here is some great advice: “Conditions vary so widely that 7 days can be far too little. I’ve learned the key is to watch for a dramatic and consistent rise in the jar — at least doubling between 1 and 4 hours after feeding. This could be 7 days or less after you begin, or it could be three weeks (for me it was 12 to 14 days). Bakers may want to watch for this phenomenon, rather than watch the calendar.”

Ěý

/pages/bread-101