2023, new year new start....... sourdough start 😉

[HeadyBearAdventures]

For those who don’t have a starter, and aren’t interested in the maintenance, I thought I’d post up a bread recipe I use when I want next day bread.
I just started it, so I’ll update with pictures of the process as it happens!
This recipe uses a “pre-ferment”, so you get a lot of the depth of flavor you would from a sourdough.

Pre-ferment:
800 g All Purpose -or- Bread Flour (6.25 C)
544 g Water @ 80°F/27°C (2.33 C)
A little less than 1/4 tsp instant yeast (a single packet is 2.25 tsp)

The night before you want to bake, measure out your ingredients, and put a few tablespoons of the water (note: this is from the 544 grams, do not add additional water) in a separate dish.
Sprinkle the yeast on top of that water.
In a large tub or bowl, mix the rest of the water with the 800 g of flour, by hand (no mixer, but a spoon or spatula is helpful) and when the dough starts turning into a shaggy mess, dump the yeast water in there as well.
If there’s yeast residue in the dish, just snag a clump of dough and use it to wipe out the dish, then toss it back in the pre-ferment. Stir everything until there’s no more loose flour.

–At this point you’re gonna get dirty. –

Using clean DAMP hands, reach in, lift up the back end of the dough, and stretch it over the top all the way to the front. From there, stretch the right edge up and over the left, the front over the back, and then the left over the right. Now pinch and squeeze all over the dough to make sure there are no dry pockets or soggy parts. You should be squeezing hard enough that your fingers come all the way together through the dough. Repeat stretching and pinching until everything is homogenous.
Now cover the bowl or bucket with a wet towel and stick it someplace safe like inside the oven with the light on, or on top of the fridge… basically anywhere you would germinate seeds😉
Leave it alone for about 14 hours.

Here’s mine before it went in the “OFF” oven, at 6:15. I’ll be back with another post tomorrow morning!

Okay! After 14 hours, here’s the biga:

It’s bubbly, wobbly, and it smells like beer.

Now we mix the
Final Dough
200 g AP -or- bread flour (heaping 1.5 C)
206 g Water @ 105°F/41°C
2 g instant yeast (1/2 tsp)
22 g fine sea salt (1 heaping tbsp)

Combine these ingredients the same way you did the pre-ferment, and when the dough is consistent again, mix the preferment and the fresh dough together, using the fold and pinch method.

Here’s the fresh dough

This is an example of “folding” or “stretching” the dough.

Bread fold

You can see me rewet my hands… they have to be damp all the way up the wrist, or the dough sticks to you.

Alternate pinching and folding until the dough is homogenous in appearance, texture, and temperature.

Cover and put it back in the oven. I placed a piece of tape to indicate where the dough starts, and I’m looking for triple that by around 11 (3 hours).
Every 20 minutes, for the first hour, apply another set of four folds like in the video. So you should do 3 total folds in the first hour. No kneading!

See you in a couple hours! (BTW the “no” sticker on the oven is to keep my roommate from accidentally turning it on while my bread is in there…it’s happened.)

10:55 OH HO! Troubleshooting
It’s cooler than average in my kitchen, so the dough has not tripled in volume by the time I expected.
That’s gonna throw things off pretty significantly, but it gives me the opportunity to show how resilient bread can be. Like waiting for trichomes to change, I’m just gonna watch this until it triples… I’m on the yeasts’ timeline.
I have a client to see at 1, so there’s no way I can have this shaped, proofed, and baked before I need to leave. I’m going to do something called “ritarding” the dough (yes that’s spelled right). Basically, when I feel the bulk fermentation is finished, I’m going to shape my loaves, and put them in the fridge. This will extend the proof time by 2-2.5 times, allowing me space to go see my client and come home, at which time I’ll bake.

Not enough time for a shaping video, I
so here’s a link to a great article about shaping. He proofs with the seam side up, but I do not. Here’s my shaped loaves in the proofing baskets. They go in with the “seam” side down:

Now, in a perfect world, one the loaves are shaped, they would proof on the counter at room temp for about 1 hour, instead of in the fridge.
After that, invert the loaf into a Dutch oven that has been preheated to 500°, put the lid on, and bake at 500 for 25 minutes. Then take the lid off, and bake for 15-20 more, until you have a rich mahogany crust. Cool the loaf on its side, or on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Proofed loaf:

Et voila!

This loaf produces a pretty dense crumb, and silky soft bread, so it’s awesome for sandwiches!
The extra space around the edges could be an issue with proofing, dough tension, or potentially the outside of the loaf got a little dry during the rise. Not perfect, but damn good.