Rosie’s Sourdough from start to end

Rosie has worked out a great and consistent recipe for using our flour to create delicious loaves of bread. Here is her method for looking after the sourdough starter, a very simple rye sourdough, and a go-to for the wheat sourdough.

Acquiring a Starter

The quickest way to get a starter is to ask a friend who bakes sourdough to give you some of theirs, however that isn’t always a teneble option. Luckily, making a sourdough starter is very easy! The Real Bread Campaign have a non-nonsense approach which you can find here.

Looking after your sourdough starter

1. Keep your jar of starter in the fridge for safe storage.
2. Remove from the fridge one day before you need it and add 50/50 water and flour (i.e. if you need 200g starter in your recipe add 100g of flour and 100g of water,). Mix thoroughly, cover with a teatowl and leave at room temperature.
3. You should see bubbles forming over the next 12-24hrs.
4. The starter is ready to use if a spoonful floats when dropped in a bowl of water.
5. Remove the quantity you need, and replace the remainder in a sealed container in the fridge.

You only need one starter for all of your baking needs! Just add whichever flour you need for the loaf you are making at the time, and start again with another flour next time

Rye Sourdough

Ingredients

Makes x1 loaf

600g rye flour
400g water (room temperature)
300g starter
15g salt

 

1. Mix the flour, water, starter and salt. This will produce a very soft dough.
2. Spoon into an oiled tin. For a more interesting loaf, coat the base of the tin with either coriander or caraway seeds.
3. Leave to rise in a warm place until the top springs back to the touch, approximately 3-5hrs.
4. Bake at 220ºc for 25 minutes.
5. Remove from the tin and return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes at 200ºc.
6. The bread is ready when a tap on the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow.

Wheat Sourdough

Ingredients

Makes x2 loaves

1kg wholewheat flour
250g starter
650g water (room temperature)
20g salt

 

1. Sift bran out of the flour to your taste.. This can be used later to dust surfaces.
2. Mix the flour, water and starter until combined
3. Leave it to rest for 20-30 minutes
4. Add the salt and mix again
5. Fold the dough by pulling each side in turn out and over, pressing it into the middle. Fold the dough four to eight times.
6. Repeat this folding process once every 30 minutes, for 2-2.5hrs.
7. Tip the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide in two. Shape the dough into a rough square and fold each corner into the centre, then fold the new corners into the centre again.
8. Lift the dough and, turning it upside-down, place it on an unfloured surface.
9. Roll the dough into itself to create a spiral sausage shape. Taking the narrow end of the dough, roll the dough into itself again.
10. Follow our YouTube video here to see steps 7-9
11. Place in an oiled loaf tin or lightly floured basket for 1.5hrs at room temperature. For a slower rise, leave in the fridge overnight for 10-12hrs.
12. Preheat the oven as hot as it will go
13. Score the top of the loaf, to ensure that the crust splits neatly. If you used a basket, turn the bread out onto an oven proof surface such as a cast-iron frying pan.
14. Fill a pan with boiling water and place in the base of the oven at the same time the bread goes in.
15. Bake for 22mins at the hottest oven temperature, then for 20-25mins at 210ºc.
16. The bread is ready when a tap on the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow.