Hi Bold Bakers, recently I made my first ever sourdough starter.
Well that’s not technically true, I’ve made it before but this is the first time
I’ve kept it alive.
It’s really easy and I did a recipe video on how you can do it too.
So here’s the thing, I made this a few weeks ago and now it’s ready to use.
So I’m gonna take this and make the world’s easiest loaf of sourdough bread.
Simple technique, bare bones, I guarantee everyone out there can make it.
And joining us behind the camera this week is my husband Kevin.
Yep, I’m right here again and George is definitely asleep.
So for accuracy with sourdough I do like to use a digital weighing scale, but I do have
the cup measurements on my website.
Whatever you like.
So the first thing we’re gonna weigh out is our sourdough starter.
Now come here to me Kevin, I want you to see how good this guy is looking.
This is Breaddie Vedder.
We called him Breaddie Vedder because we love Pearl Jam in this house.
And look how bubbly and alive this is.
So we’re going to scoop this into our nice big bowl.
So once you use your starter you’re going to have to feed him again and all of that
information is on my website.
So the next thing we’re going to add in is the water, now you want blood temperature
water.
Now how you can tell that is you put your finger in, and you can’t really feel your
finger around the water, that means it’s the same temperature as your blood.
Yeast loves this sort of warm water to help it grow.
And then what I like to add into my bread is a little bit of olive oil.
And then all you want to do is just mix these ingredients together.
So now let’s talk about flour.
I’m using a bread flour for this sourdough.
So here’s the thing, that little bit extra gluten as compared to all purpose flour gives
you a better crumb, a butter texture, it’s chewier.
Definitely use bread flour for this.
Now I know I’m gonna get a lot of questions, can I use all purpose flour?
Technically yes, you can use all purpose flour, you might need a little less liquid, but for
best results go with bread flour.
And then a nice bit of salt, salt is really important for the flavor of your bread.
There you go, the simple ingredients you need to make bread.
And as you can see there’s no dairy in here so it’s vegan which is great.
So now I’m gonna remove the scales.
So now the mixing of the dough, this is the simplest part.
This is a no-knead dough so you don’t need a kitchen mixer to make it.
So here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to remove my rings because i’m going
to mix it by hand.
You can use a wooden spoon or spatula, but the reason I use my hand is because I can
see exactly what’s going on in the dough, if it needs more water or anything like that.
It always varies because your flour is different from my flour, things like that, so if you
go in with your hands you can tell what’s going on and you can make your adjustments
early before you’ve mixed it too much.
So my dough is all coming together, I have a nice clean bowl and a big ball of dough.
So here’s what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna put this over to the side.
I’m gonna bring in a little bit of olive oil, just a drizzle.
And then just coat your bowl with olive oil and then pop back in your dough.
The reason that we do this is because we’re gonna proof our dough in this bowl.
And we want to make it easy on the dough to rise, we don’t want to stretch out the dough.
So putting a little bit of oil there will just help it glide up the bowl when it’s
proofing.
Ok perfect, you can tell early on when you get your hands in there if it’s a good dough
and I can tell that this is.
So right now I’m gonna cover this with cling wrap, nice and tight, just to keep the air
off the dough.
And then I’m going to lay over a towel.
So here’s what you want to do, this is a no knead dough remember, so you’re going
to have to ferment it.
So we’re going to let our dough rest for around 12-18 hours, and over this time period
the gluten will get stronger, the bubbles will form, the flavor will develop, then we’ll
be able to shape and cook off our bread.
So because this takes a long time, I prepared one yesterday so it’d be ready in time for
this.
Gemma question for you: what is Sourdough?
So that’s a good question.
Sourdough is bread that’s leavened with wild yeast found in the atmosphere, and that’s
what your starter is.
It is wild yeast that you fermented over time, it’s just flour and water.
You feed it and it creates this yeast, so for your bread there’s no need for commercial
yeast you’ve actually made your own.
So it’s really fantastic, it adds better flavor, texture.
Sourdough is just the superior bread, when you make a loaf, there’s just something
really rewarding about it.
So this has been fermenting for over 18 hours roughly.
If you don’t use this after at least 24 hours pop it into the fridge and you can use
it for up to three days.
But definitely put it into the fridge after 24 hours.
So now I want you to see this, this is the beauty of sourdough bread.
Look at this, do you see that Kevin?
Do you see all those lovely bubbles?
All the gasses?
I can smell it too.
This is what time yields us, these lovely, big, pockets of air.
And this is why we want to use a bread flour because bread flour holds those much better,
it’s stronger.
So here’s a question I get a lot about bread dough, maybe somebody left it for 24 hours
it starts to get a smell, they say to me, can I use this it smells kind of bad.
But that’s the thing, that’s not a bad smell, that’s a good smell.
That smell is booze, fermentation, flavor.
That’s exactly what your dough should smell like.
So you can still use it, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s great.
So now our dough is ready to be turned out of the bowl.
Do you see that?
Do you see those gluten strands?
This is beautiful.
So often when you turn a bread dough out of a bowl I say knock out the air, but for this
one we’re not going to.
We are kind of but differently, I’ll show you.
We’re just gonna fold the dough onto itself.
The reason I do this is to strengthen the dough.
You’ll see this method a lot in sourdough making, people talking about folding their
dough.
And it’s just to make it that little bit stronger.
And now what I want to do is form it into a ball and you can do that by pushing it into
your table and turning it into a ball.
Now, the majority of time I say to use a floured surface, but when it comes to shaping bread
I actually don’t put flour on my surface.
It’s so much easier to shape it without flour because it kind of gives it that traction.
So now let’s talk proofing.
So you can get one of those fancy proofing baskets online if you want, they’re like
$50.
Here I have a nice little bread basket that I found in the dollar store.
You can also use any kind of a bowl.
And what I’m going to do is line this with a nice clean napkin.
And I’m generously gonna flour this up the sides and on the bottom, be generous with
this because it not only stops your dough from sticking but it’ll give it a lovely
finish at the end.
There we go.
So pick up your loaf, put the seam side facing upwards and the smooth side facing down, and
lay it into your basket, just like that.
Lovely.
Then fold over the napkin so all the bread is sealed, we don’t want any air to get
in at the bread because it will form a skin.
So now let’s talk proofing, this does take a bit of time because it’s a big bread.
So roughly, depending on how warm your kitchen is, it’ll take between an hour and forty
five minutes to two and a half hours.
Over this time you want it to get nice and big, light, fluffy, airy, and then it’s
going to be perfect to be baked off.
Ok so while this is proofing Kevin and I are going to get a cup of tea.
So it’s been a full two hours so let me show you what your bread should look like
proofed.
So this is well risen, and you’re talking about one and a half to two times the size.
I can feel that the dough is not as cold as it was so that’s great.
And when you touch it, it’s light under your fingers and not as dense.
And another way to tell if it’s properly proofed is give it a little bit of a push,
and if the dough rises back slowly that means it’s ready to go into the oven.
If it bounces back really fast then it needs more time to proof.
So this is ready to go.
Ok now let’s talk baking, this is really important so I don’t want you to skip over
this part.
There’s a few methods you can do, so I’m gonna show you three.
Number one is baking off your dough in a dutch oven, now you’ve probably seen this online.
They make an amazing loaf of bread, what happens is that steam is created once you put on that
lid, it steams the bread and when you take it off it continues to cook.
And the lovely thick walls of the dutch oven really retain that heat.
Our second method is another way to introduce steam.
What you do is you put a cake pan with some boiling water in it, and when you add your
bread, the bread bakes it creates steam and it’ll give you a lovely shiny crust.
So our third option is a fantastic one and I do this all the time, it’s almost as good
as using a dutch oven.
In my oven I have a cast iron tray, use a thick baking tray if you have on.
So here I have a baking tray and carefully turn out your dough, this is a lovely shape
but go in with your hands and make it a tighter ball.
Just make sure it’s nice and round.
So using a sharp knife or a blade I’m going to score the top of the bread.
So I’m gonna do a score right down the middle, you can do any kind of design you like.
Gemma why do you score your bread?
So that’s a good question, you might think it’s just for looks but actually it’s
to let out steam while it’s baking.
If you don’t score your bread it can kind of burst or crack on one side so you want
to make sure you have some kind of marking on top to let that out.
Over my bread dough I am going to put a metal bowl.
Now, you need a metal bowl because it’s going to go into the oven.
Look at your kitchen mixer because that’s exactly what this bowl is.
So just put over your metal bowl and be careful not to touch the dough, just have it around
it.
This is perfect, this is our baking vessel.
So now baking bread, bread loves a really hot oven, so when you’re preheating your
oven preheat it to 450° F or 225° C, but then when you actually put in your bread,
turn it down to 400°F or 200°C. Ok so after 30 minutes you remove the bowl, you don’t
want it to steam the whole amount of time, just for 30 mintues.
So then you bake it uncovered for another 30 minutes in that nice hot dry oven.
Ta-da, look at this great loaf of bread.
Now don’t go anywhere because I want to show you a few things.
You see here how that crust is nice and shiny?
That is because we steamed the bread, this step is really important because it gives
you a nice shiny, chewy crust so you don’t wanna forget that.
If you look down here at the bottom of the bread, it kind of goes up like this.
That’s called oven spring and we got this because we put it on a nice heated tray, putting
it on cast iron did it a world of good.
And as you can see here our nice big score made our bread look nice and beautiful, so
really get in there with your knife and do a nice deep score.
This looks like a legit loaf of artisanal sourdough bread, like it’s amazing.
You can do this to at home.
So now here’s the tell of a great sourdough, pick it up and give it a nice squeeze, you
hear that?
A lovely thick crust and that’s what that dry heat does once you take off the bowl it
gives you that lovely crust.
It’s amazing.
So now let’s have a look at the inside because I want to show you all that time waiting,
what it creates.
So there you go, straight away we can see all of our hard working paying off, you see
those bubbles in the crumb?
That is from the fermenting process, from letting it sit overtime and the gasses building
up in the gluten.
One thing I love about sourdough is that each loaf is unique, so they’ll taste similar
and they’ll all have a similar texture but they’re all going to be totally different
and that’s what’s beautiful about them.
Oh my gosh, the longer you keep the starter, the better the flavor.
So in a few months time, your sourdough will be even more developed.
It’s beautiful, it’s sour, it’s salty, it has amazing flavor and the texture is fantastic.
And like any great sourdough this has a lovely thick crust, this is absolutely amazing.
So this is just the beginning of our sourdough journey, I have lots more to come.
Also make sure you check out the rest of my bread videos and I’ll see you back real
soon.