My Sourdough Hobby Made Simple

I’ve talked on my blog about how important it is to have hobbies that aren’t art. In other hobbies, we can learn so much about ourselves as artists. It can even serve as inspiration for our art.

Today, I want to talk about my new favorite hobby, which is making sourdough bread. Last fall I was in the third trimester of my high risk pregnancy and looking for a distraction. As if sensing this, my sister-in-law Jamie dropped off a sourdough starter and sent a kit of supplies and a recipe book to my house. She had recently gotten into sourdough and was addicted. At first I was intimidated. To me, sourdough sounded complicated. After several tries, I began to get the hang of it. It was great to be able to ask Jamie questions too. I soon understood why the hobby was so addictive. Making sourdough has been very therapeutic for me. There’s nothing better for the soul than warm bread, and the smell of it baking all day.

Today, I want simplify and demystify sourdough for you in case (like me) you’ve been intimidated to try it out. After making many many loaves, I’ve found it’s simpler than I ever imagined.

Why Make Sourdough

Aside from being a fun hobby, it’s actually said to be very good for you. First off, it only has 3 ingredients - flour, salt, and water. It has zero junk or additives. It’s also vegan. Other benefits are good bacteria (like that found in yogurt), high antioxidants, low glycemic index, and lower gluten content. That’s a great combo for disease prevention as cited in this WebMD article.

I don’t even buy bread from the store anymore. If we’re going to eat carbs, I like the idea of eating them in their purest form as homemade sourdough.

What You Will Need

Kitchen Scale

5.5 Qt. Round Dutch Oven

2 Large Jars

Bread Flour (for dough)

All-purpose Flour (for feeding starter)

Salt

2 Proving Baskets

Dough Scraper

Butcher Block (not necessary, but helpful)

Parchment Paper

Acquiring a Starter

My starter’s name is Tabitha. The best place to get a starter is from a friend. However, you can also order one online here.

Feeding Your Starter

The popular method seems to be to feed your starter daily and leave it on the counter. But who has time for that?

Instead, I keep mine in the fridge and only feed it once on the weekend. To feed it, discard half of your starter. (How much doesn’t matter. You just don’t want your starter to grow so much it overflows.)

Then, weigh your empty jar on your kitchen scale (in grams) and set to zero. Next, weigh your jar with starter in it. However much starter you have is how much flour and water you will add. (Ex. To 100 g of starter, you will add 100g of water and 100g of all-purpose flour)

And that’s it! Pop back in the fridge. If you loose track of when you last fed your starter, you’ll need to feed it when a pungent dark liquid forms on the top called ‘hooch.’ If this happens, it’s okay. Hooch isn’t bad. Just stir into your starter and feed.

What you do want to look out for is black or pink mold - anything with a fuzzy texture. I only had this problem when trying to make my own starter. It seems the fridge method prevents mold. If mold does happen, discard immediately and get a new starter.

Making the Bread

When making bread, it’s all about timing because you have to schedule out each phase. No step is particularly difficult. Below is the schedule I follow.

Day 1

What a fed starter looks like that’s ready to use for dough. It can be helpful to place a rubber band where the starter is in the morning to keep track of growth.

Late morning: Get your starter out and feed it using warm water this time. Leave on the counter all day. It should bubble and double in size by late evening. If it doesn’t, try placing under your stove lights or in a warm part of your house.

8:30 pm (process takes around 45 mins): Make your dough.

I use the recipe from Artisan Sourdough Made Simple (an amazing book by the way). I just don’t use their cooking method because I like my bread less crispy.

I always make two loaves, and either freeze the second or give to a friend.

100 g Bubbly Active Starter

700 g Warm Water

1000 g Bread Flour (I like King Arthur)

18 g Fine Sea Salt

*Recipe makes two loaves.

Instructions

1. Whisk starter and warm water together in large bowl with a fork.

2. Add flour and salt. Knead until well combined. (I use a stand mixer with a bread hook for this step.)

3. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 30 mins.

4. Work into a ball in your bowl.

5. Cover with a damp towel and let rest overnight for 10 hours. (I put the dough in our bedroom at night because it’s the warmest room in our house. If your dough doesn’t rise, it’s usually because it’s too cold). In the morning, the dough should have doubled in size and should be bubbly.

Day 2

What my dough looks in the morning after rising overnight.

9 am: Form and Bake Your Loaves

For the baking method, I was inspired by Ballerina Farms. For some reason, her dough recipe didn’t work for me though. It gave me really flat loaves. I also found it to be overly complicated.

Instructions

1. Dump dough onto lightly floured butcher block. (You can use any countertop too. I find the butcher block to be easier to clean.)

2. Divide dough in half with dough scraper. Work into two round loaves.

3. Working clockwise on a lightly floured surface, fold edges of each loaf towards center. Repeat until loaf is nice and tight.

4. Place each loaf in a proofing basket (seam side up) and cover with a damp towel. Rest for 30-60 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees with dutch oven inside.

6. Dump each loaf (seam side down) out of proofing basket and onto a square piece of parchment paper.

7. Rub top of each loaf with flour and cut an “X” through surface with a knife.

8. Lift edges of parchment paper to drop loaf into hot dutch oven,

9. Pour a little water in bottom of dutch oven, underneath parchment paper. (How much water doesn’t matter. I use about a cup.)

10. Bake for 40 minutes with lid on, then 10 minutes with lid off.

11. Repeat with second loaf.

Your baked bread should be fluffy, soft, and have holes in it. From what I understand, the more holes the better!

Storage

Wrap in foil and place in a gallon ziploc bag in the fridge. Freeze if you don’t consume within 5-7 days.

Varieties

Once you get into making sourdough, you can start to mix in all sorts of things like chocolate chips, dried fruits, nuts, or cheese. Believe it or not, you can also use your starter to make other bread recipes like focaccia or even pancakes. For more recipes, I would again reference the Artisan Sourdough Made Simple book.