Last week I gave you a sourdough starter recipe, but am giving you another, more complicated one without yeast. My son Dean feels that it is harder to make a sourdough starter in Hilo and he has tried making it unsuccessfully as he feels our weather and humidity are not the best conditions. He thinks that when close to the equator, most countries eat flat bread without depending on bacterial leavening. He also feels that the best sourdough starters come from places like San Francisco where it is cooler and the ocean breezes come into the city, making it perfect for sourdough. Kamuela may also have the ideal climate for making sourdough.
Here is King Arthur Flour’s sourdough bread recipe. However, the last time I went shopping, there were no King Arthur brand flours available.
Their recipe for sourdough starter is much more complicated and uses a lot of flour (and discarding everyday) but we have a lot of time on our hands, don’t we? As long as we have flour to make it.
Sourdough
Starter
1 cup (2123 grams) whole rye or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cool water
To feed your starter:
Scant one cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Day 1: combine the flour and water in a non-reactive container, making sure it is large enough to hold your starter as it grows, at least 1 quart capacity.
Stir well so there is no dry flour. Cover the container and let sit at a warm room temperature (70 degrees) for 24 hours.
Day 2: Discard half of the starter, about 1/2 cup. Add scant one cup flour and 1/2 cup cool water. Mix well, let mixture rest at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day 3: there should be bubbling, a fresh, fruity aroma and some expansion. Weigh out 4 ounces, discard the rest of the starter. Add scant 2 cup (4 ounces) flour and 1/2 cup cool water to the 4 ounces of starter. Mix, cover, and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours before repeating.
Day 4: Weigh out 4 ounces starter, and discard remaining starter. Repeat by adding 4 ounces flour and 1/2 cup water.
Day 5: Weigh out 4 ounces starter, discard any remaining starter. Repeat by adding flour and water. By day five, the starter should have at least doubled in volume. There should be lots of bubbles and 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 for day six and day 7 if necessary — as long as it takes to create a vigorous starter.
Once the starter is ready give it one last feeding. Discard all but 4 ounces. Feed it with flour and water. Let the starter rest at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours, it should be active, with bubbles breaking the surface. When ready, you can take one cup for the recipe below into a permanent home, a crock or jar, feed it, let it rest at room temperature for several hours, then store in the refrigerator, feeding it with one scant cup flour and 1/2 cup water once a week.
Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread
Makes 2 loaves
1 cup ripe sourdough starter
1-1/2 cups lukewarm water
5 cups (602 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
Combine the starter, water and 3 cups (12-3/4 ounces) flour. Beat vigorously for one minute.
Cover and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight, for about 12 hours.
Add the remaining 2 cups (8-1/2 ounces) flour, and the salt. Knead to form a smooth dough.
Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it’s light and airy, with visible gas bubbles. Depending on the vigor of your starter, this may take up to 5 hours (or even longer), depending on how active your starter is. For best results, gently deflate the dough once an hour by turning it out onto a lightly floured work surface, stretching and folding the edges into the center, and turning it over before returning it to the bowl. Adding these folds will give you a better sense of how the dough is progressing as well as strengthens it.
Gently divide the dough in half.
Gently shape the dough into two rounds or oval loaves, and place them on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise until very puffy, about 2 to 4 hours (or longer, give them sufficient time to become noticeably puffy). Don’t worry if the loaves spread more than they rise; they’ll pick up once they hit the oven’s heat. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.
Slash the loaves. If you’ve made round loaves, slash on each side of it, or slash in the pattern of your choice. For oval loaves, two diagonal slashes are fine. Make the slashes fairly deep, a serrated bread knife wielded firmly works well here.
Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it is a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven and cool on a rack.
Store bread, loosely wrapped in plastic, for several days at room temperature, freeze for longer storage.
I heard an interesting explanation on PBR’s Splendid Table, that we are now baking bread because we are at home now, nowhere to go, so the many hours it takes to rise the bread is a good way to pass time.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.
