And the Oscar goes to... Bread Pitt.......Aka, my guide to sourdough!
For those who don't know, sourdough is used for making bread w/out using chimical yeast.
Making your own bread is the mother of all DiY.
And you know that lately I developed an insane passion for DiY, but when this all started?
I've always had a passion for baking, i loove making cupcakes and cakes and pizza and bread.... I am a nurse, but there's a little baker inside me!
SO when last september my aut gave me this little amount of sourdough I was like a child in a candy shop!
She gave me instruction on how to refresh it and a recipe for bread.... but I went my own way and bought a book with like 50 recipes with sourdough. So here is my advice for you, if you're starting sourdough.
First things first. You can make your own sourdough. It's not that hard, is just water and flour and you'll find lots of recipes.
Then you'll have to keep it alive. My best advice for you is to keep your dough in an airtight container in the fridge. My aunt keeps it outside, and you can totally see the difference.
Refresh. She told me to refresh it twice a week, but I am a lazy girl. Keeping your dough in the fridge helps you a lot if you're lazy like me. Refreshing you sourdough means mixing it with a little of flour and water.
Before making your bread you HAVE to refresh your dough with at least 100g of flour.
Bread making.
I've tried a lot of recipes, but the best one is by www.pappa-reale.net
This bread has a thin but crunchy crust and you can eat it even 4-5 days after making this.
Ingredients:
200g of sourdough
600g flour of your choice
350g water
1 teaspoon honey
1-2 teaspoons salt
Last time i made this with wholemeal flour and it was AWESOME. you can either make it half and half.
Warm up your water and use it to dissolve your yeast. The recipe calls for no lumps, but i must say I've always left some lumps :P
Put your honey in and try to dissolve it. Mix salt and flour. I like my bread to be salty, so i always put a little more salt than 2 teaspoons, from 15 to 20 grams of salt.
Mix your yeast with flour. Leave at least 50g of flour for your pastry board. Mix with your hands until it's even and make a ball. Put it back in the bowl and lat it rest for at least 1 hour.
Now let's have a little chit chat about pans. If you let your bread rise and cook w/out putting it in a pan you can be sure that is going to be stiff and hard and won't rise. I like to use a plumcake pan, and you can see how high and beautiful my bread is. You can either choose a glass pan or silicone or a simple non-stick pan.
I use a glass pan covered in wax paper, but i think that non-stick pan is the best.
So after an hour you take your dough and put it in your pan, and let it rise from 6 hours to overnight.
Cooking your bread. Preheat your oven at 480°F. Make sure is hot. Put your bread in and set the timer to 20 min. Then low your oven to 390°F and let you bread cook for at least 25-30 mins. The crust HAS to be golden brown.
Enjoy your bread.
Remember: Practice makes perfect!
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