Basic Sourdough Loaf

The sourdough bread method is the traditional way to bake bread which our ancestors did for thousands of years, basically since the cultivation of grain, which dates back to Cain in the Bible (see Genesis 4:2).

The sourdough starter has become known exclusively for use with round, crusty, tangy, sourdough loaves, and perhaps to some, sourdough biscuits. But if you examine the usage of sourdough starter in history, you'll find that the starter would better be known as liquid yeast (referred to simply as "yeast" before baker's yeast was isolated and packaged) and can be used in just about any kind of bread recipe with very little, or no sour taste.

From my research on traditional foods and the nutritional wisdom of our ancestors, I have determined that the sourdough bread method is the most nutritious way to consume bread. You can read more about the science behind that in my post where I began my series on sourdough bread;  Getting Started with Your Starter. Here you'll also find the recipe for the sourdough starter along with instructions on the its care.

But as the practical and frugal modern day cook, the main reason I've chosen the sourdough bread method is because it's doable. It's affordable, does not need lots of unusual and expensive flours, and involves very little time. My basic loaf doesn't even require any kneading!

Most of what I have learned about sourdough bread came from The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, which I outlined in my book review here. I highly recommend purchasing and reading this book if you are interested in beginning the sourdough bread method.

A few notes about my sourdough bread method:

1. This is my personal recipe that I've created from my research and trial and error. In general I don't have a problem with folks copying my recipes to their blogs. But in this case please link back to my blog for the actual recipe.

2. You will notice I have some white flour in the bread. Historically people actually ate white flour (they sifted it through sheets), even as far back as biblical times. (According to Jesse Hawkins of The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread). Because of this I have chosen to use some white flour in my recipe. If our ancestors did not always eat whole grains, then I don't feel like I have to consume whole grains exclusively. Also, considering the high cost of whole grain flours, this is a way to save money. Feel free to experiment with this recipe by adding more whole grains, or all whole grain flour. However, the reason I have not included an option for a completely whole grain loaf is because I have experimented with this and the recipe needs to be altered in order for it to turn out right.  I am successful with this I will post the recipe here on the blog. If you follow the recipe exactly your bread should turn out. If you are looking for a 100% whole grain sourdough loaf, you might try a different recipe. (If you grind your own wheat and use soft  winter wheat, a 100% whole grain loaf should probably turn out from what I know of that kind of wheat.)

3. I use oats in the recipe. These are important for a lower gluten content a oats are naturally gluten-free, though they are sometimes contaminated during processing. Historically wheat had a lower gluten content than the varieties we consume today contain, so adding a gluten-free grain to your recipe will yield a loaf that is more comparable to the traditional bread our great-grandparents consumed. You could also use barley, but oats are considerably cheaper and easier to find, especially if you purchase them from Aldi.

4. Honey, maple syrup, or sucanat are good in this recipe, but I personally always use white sugar and this is why; I don't feel this tiny amount of refined sugar is any kind of compromise considering the quantity of other ingredients. I would rather use my expensive raw honey and grade B maple syrup for a healthy dessert recipe.

5. With proper care of your starter, your bread should not have much of a sour taste. This is a normal bread loaf and not meant to be like San Franscisco-ish sourdough bread.

Basic Sourdough Loaf

1 1/3 cup purified or distilled water (chlorine will inhibit the action of the yeast and good bacteria)
2/3 cup starter
2 Tablespoons real maple syrup, or honey, sucanat (whole cane sugar), or regular sugar
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or melted coconut oil
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick oats (I use quick cooking since the pieces are smaller)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

About 1 tablespoon thick natural fat such as butter or palm shortening to grease the pan.

In a large glass or ceramic bowl (or high quality plastic), whisk together the first 7 ingredients. Stir in white flour with a wooden spoon until evenly incorporated. For a finer crumb, you can need the bread at this point as you would normal bread. A friend of mine modified my recipe to include kneading and she likes it better this way.

Wet a dish towel and cover the bowl with the cloth. Set on the counter overnight or up to 12 hours (might be able to go longer - haven't tried it yet). Check the dish towel in the morning to see if you need to rewet it. (If it is not wet the dough will get crusty and dry out).

When ready to put your loaf in a pan, very liberally grease a standard 9x5 bread pan, or a small casserole dish with high sides. I used palm shortening for the grease. It should be very thick or else the bread will stick really bad.

On a very clean counter, splash some water. Wet your hands. Reach into the bowl and mash the risen dough into a ball. The water will help your hands to not stick. Place the dough on the counter and mash into a large circle. 

Wet hands as needed to prevent them from sticking to the bread. (I rinse my hands off about 4 times during the whole process to keep them from sticking). Fold the dough in on itself like an envelope. Check the counter; make sure it is still good and wet. Mash the dough into a circle again (you will notice it is getting tighter). Fold it up like an envelope again. (Some sourdough recipes suggest folding it more than 2 times, but when I did it 3 times the dough sort of "broke" and got mushy and didn't bake right...strange.)

Place your lump of dough into the bread pan. You might need to stretch it out a bit with your hands to make it fit better. Cover with a wet dish towel. Let rise until the top of the dough is rounding over the top of the pan. This took my yeast only 4 1/2 hours, but my kitchen is warm. It could take up to 8 hours depending on your local yeast and the temperature and humidity of your house.

Just set in the pan and ready to bake.

Do not let it over rise or it will start falling over the edge of the pan. This loaf was perfect. I found that if I let it rise too long on the counter it would not rise well in the oven while baking and the texture was not right.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 35-40 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown. The bread should have risen very tall while in the oven.  Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing (if you can wait that long!)

{This post is linked up at Sunday School, Homemade Mondays, Traditional Tuesdays, Teach Me Tuesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, Tasty Traditions and Fabulously Frugal Thursday.}

Let me know if you have any questions or need help getting started with the sourdough method!

The Sourdough Bread Method; Getting Started with Your Starter

The sourdough starter has become known exclusively for use with round, crusty, tangy, sourdough loaves, and perhaps to some, sourdough biscuits. But if you examine the usage of sourdough starter in history, you'll find that the starter would better be known as liquid yeast (referred to simply as "yeast" before baker's yeast was isolated and packaged) and can be used in just about any kind of bread recipe with very little, or no sour taste.

The flour and water you mix together for your starter in a sense become a trap to catch wild yeast that lives in the air. When your starter is ready to use it will smell like packaged yeast during proofing, with or without a slight tangy scent. (Click here to skip ahead to my sourdough bread recipe.)

Why Sourdough?

Most store-bought bread is filled with unhealthy additives to make it soft, taste good, and have a long shelf-life. Making your bread at home is one step the frugal, healthy cook can make to improving the nutrition of her family. But wheat flour contains gluten, a protein difficult to digest by humans, and whole grain flours contain phytates, nutrient blockers designed to help protect the grain until the optimum conditions are met for germination.

Traditionally almost all bread was created with a starter yeast and soured as it slowly rose, a process that predigests the gluten, dissolves the phytates, and makes the vitamins and minerals found in the grain (those being protected fiercely for germination) bioavailable to our bodies. Souring also makes the bread lower glycemic. When baker's yeast was isolated and marketed to the public it significantly shortened the rising time for bread. This appealed to a lot of people, but especially bakeries. Yet the nutritional consequences of eliminating the sourdough method of preparation were not studied and are becoming more and more well-known today as gluten allergies and sensitivities are popping up all over the place, in addition to health problems (like malnutrition, believe it or not) related to consuming whole grains that are not properly prepared.

Today some people seeking to consume bread in a nutritious way are soaking their breads (the flour is left overnight in an acidic solution), sprouting the grains (the grain is tricked into sprouting, then dehydrated, then ground, then made into bread, all which sounds very time-consuming), and using the traditional sourdough method. I have done a lot of soaking (I still soak my baked oatmeal, though I am thinking about figuring out a version that uses my sourdough starter), I've never done any sprouting, and since reading the Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread book, I now use the sourdough method almost exclusively for my breads. 

As I detailed in my book review, the Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread was extremely informative and revolutionized the way I think of bread. Reading this book gave me the foundation I needed to start crafting my own sourdough bread recipes and become confident in the kitchen with adaptions and alterations. Please take a moment to read my book review here. I highly recommend purchasing this book if you are interested in beginning the sourdough bread making method.

Sourdough Bread Starter

1/2 cup flour of choice (I use whole wheat, or unbleached all-purpose flour, rye is also a popular sourdough flour, but I do not use it due to the cost)

1/2 cup distilled water

Additional flour and water.

Mix flour and water together in a quart mason jar or another glass or ceramic container you can do without. This will become your starter's "home" so don't use a container you use for other things in the kitchen.

Day one: Mix the flour and water in a mason jar. Cover your jar loosely with cheesecloth or other loose weave material (I used a piece of plastic netting folded several times). Secure with a rubber band. This will help keep dust and such out of the starter while still allowing the yeast to enter.

Day two: Feed the starter 1/4 water and 1/4 flour. Mix well.

Day three: Your starter should be starting to bubble by now. Feed the starter 1/4 water and 1/4 flour. Mix well.

Day four: Feed the starter 1/4 water and 1/4 flour. Mix well.

Day five: feed the starter 1/4 water and 1/4 flour. Mix well. After about 6 hours after feeding you can use the starter to bake bread! Click here to head over to my sourdough bread recipe.

Caring for your starter:

Once your starter is established, it's not as complicated as you might think to keep the it healthy. But here are some pointers that will help your starter thrive:

1. Feed your starter every day to keep it from tasting too sour. You can skip a day, or even two days if you are traveling, or forget, without the starter dying. But it will take a few days or a week of regular feeding again for the sour taste to diminish. 

2. Always use purified or distilled water when working with sourdough bread. The chlorine in tap water can kill the yeast and beneficial bacteria in the starter. I leave a pitcher of tap water on the counter. The chlorine evaporates after about half a day, and is safe to use for your starter.

3. Drain off the brownish water that forms on the top (known as the hooch). This contributes to the sour taste and is not necessary for successful sourdough baking. If you really love a strong sour taste, then just stir the hooch back into the starter.

4. Never use aluminum when working with sourdough. Even mixing the starter with an aluminum spoon can cause a chemical reaction and kill the yeast. Remember this when it comes time to bake the bread as aluminum baking pans are still pretty common.

5. You can place the sourdough starter in the fridge, or even the freezer, if you know you won't be baking for awhile. To use again, bring the starter to room temperature and give it a generous feeding. If it starts bubbling again, then it's healthy. You can make your bread after about 6 hours after feeding.

Maintaining a Healthy Starter:

 I've read that when you feed a starter you should feed it with this method: If you have 1/2 starter, feed it 1/2 water and 1/2 cup flour. However, once you have 3 cups of starter, if you feed it you will then have a huge amount of starter! I thought about the premise behind this -to feed the yeast- and figured that the yeast probably doesn't need to eat that much to be healthy. So I feed my starter (of any amount) about 1/4 to 1/2 cup portions of flour and water every day. This seems to work fine for me. 

Once you have your starter established you will want to add a little more flour than water when you are feeding the starter. Most recipes calling for starter assume that it will be the consistency of pancake batter. I found that the one to one ratio of water and flour is pretty runny. Once you've started draining of the hooch, your starter will thicken a bit, but think pancake batter when feeding your starter.

{This recipe is linked up at Sunday School,  Homemade Mondays, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Tasty Traditions, Fabulously Frugal Thursdays, and Small Footprint Fridays}