Sourdough #23

Ingredients

Tools

Preparation

1. Leaven

• Combine all leaven ingredients in a mason jar and mix well until it looks like batter (no dry flour in the mix).

• I mix the leaven in a mason jar so I can judge when it peaks, meaning it doubles in size. This usually takes 8 - 10 hours.

• Tip: Place a rubber band on the mason jar to mark the leaven’s “starting height”.

2. Dough & autolyse

1. When the leaven peaks, usually 8 and 10 hours later depending on starter potency and ambient temperature, mix the leaven with 700g warm water (80 ºF) in the large mixing bowl. Mix well with spatula or hand until the leaven dissolves completely.

2. Add in 100g whole wheat flour and 900g white bread flour (or all purpose flour). Mix thoroughly with spatula. Ensure there’s no dry flour even at the bottom of the bowl, and the dough should look very shaggy.

   Tip: Scrape the bowl to combine the dough into a ball — you want it all together for the next step.

3. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and wait 45 minutes for the mixture to “autolyse”.

3. Stretching & folding

After the autolyse is done, the dough should look integrated and you should be able to stretch it with your hands.

1. Mix 50g water (around 100 °F) with 25g fine salt.

2. Add the saltwater mix to the dough. Wet your hands, then pinch and squish until the saltwater is absorbed by the dough. Mix it as best as you can without needlessly tearing the dough membrane.

3. After the saltwater is absorbed, let the dough rest for 30 minutes, covered with the kitchen towel.

4. Wet your hands then stretch and fold the dough. Each time you do it, rotate the bowl 90° and repeat until you do it 4 times. Here’s a quick video example. Cover the dough and wait 30 minutes more.

5. Repeat the stretching and folding 3 more times, for a total of 4x, letting the dough rest covered for 30 minutes in between. On the final stretch and fold, you might notice small bubbles on the surface and the dough might be soft enough that you can replace the final stretch and fold with lifting and letting it coil under itself.

6. After the final stretch or coil, let the dough rest 30 minutes again.

4. Shaping & proofing

1. Turn out the dough very gently onto an unfloured surface. Do not lift it, let gravity yank it down.

2. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts with the bench scraper.

3. Flour the top of each half with whole wheat flour.

4. Using the bench scraper, swiftly flip one of the halves over so only the floured side is touching the surface.

5. Fold the dough in half unto itself, so the entire outside is floured.

6. First shaping: Using your hands and the bench scraper, pull the dough and rotate it, to create a tension and shape it into a ball. It does not have to be perfect, just tense enough that it retains a ball-like shape. If the dough is too sticky, flour your hands a bit. VIDEO TKTK.

7. Repeat with the other half of dough.

8. Dust the top of both balls with whole wheat flour, then cover them with cling wrap. Let the balls rest for 30 minutes.

9. While the dough rests, prepare your proofing baskets. Dust the lining with a thin coat of rice flour, or whole wheat flour if you don’t have it.

10. When you return to the balls, you might notice bubbles on the surface. Gently pinch and pop any that are the size of a dime or larger.

11. Final shaping: Flour the working surface with whole wheat flour. Flip one of the dough balls over with the bench scraper. Treating the dough ball as a vertical rectangle, pull on each corner and fold it into the center. After all four corners are folded, roll the dough unto itself as a burrito. Shape it a bit more with your hands and the bench scraper for a bit more tension.

    Tip: During the whole shaping, be gentle not to break the surface membrane.

12. Using the bench scraper, flip the burrito over into a proofing basket. Pinch to close the dough’s seam.

13. Repeat with the other ball.

14. Dust the top of the loaf with whole wheat flour to prevent the cling wrap from sticking.

15. Wrap the baskets with cling wrap.

16. Put the loaves in the fridge (near the bottom) for ~7 hours.

    1. Alternatively, you can experiment with 2.5 hours on the counter + 2 hours in the fridge.

The test if proofing is done, poke the loaf. If it comes back about 80% not too quickly, the proof is good! If it comes back 100% quickly it’s not done yet. If it stays sunken, it’s over proofed.

5. Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 500 °F with the dutch oven covered inside it. Let the dutch oven heat up for ~20 minutes.

2. Take a loaf out of the fridge and dust it with whole wheat flour while it’s in the basket. The part of the dough that’s exposed in the basket will be the bottom of the loaf.

3. Flip the loaf into your hand then place it into the dutch oven.

4. Using a bread lame (or Xacto knife, or box cutter, or just a knife) score the loaf with a cut. Make sure you’re going at least 1” deep or a bit more.

5. Put the dutch oven into the oven with the lid on.

6. Bake at 500 °F for 20 minutes.

7. Reduce to 450 °F and bake for 10 minutes.

8. Moment of truth! Take the lid off, and bake for an extra 15 minutes.

9. Afterwards keep baking until the crust is dark caramel colored, almost burnt and has visible small blisters. It’s usually 5 - 8 more minutes.

   Tip: If your oven allows it, bake the last 5 minutes with the oven door ajar to let any water steam out.