I bake this bread often. Very, very often. And there is a reason for that.
It’s simple but still so tasty. I never get tired of it.
The key to success is a mature starter and to let everything take its time.
The time required to bake this bread is at least 7 hours, but most of the time it manages itself. You can drink a glass of wine or maybe three, move the lawn, do some cross training or whatever you prefer between the different moments.
You don’t need any fancy equipment for this recipe. Just a pair of big bowls, a spatula, a kitchen scale and maybe a bench knife or scraper.
I will give you a complete list later on.
You don’t have to knead the dough either. At least don’t much. You only have to fold it a couple of times. So if you are a bit lazy, this is the bread recipe for you. I promise it is much easier than kneading.
It doesn’t have any prominent taste, so it suits to all kind of food.
You can change the recipe to get the flavor you want. It’s the perfect all-around bread. Did I say it was a no-knead bread?
OK, let’s start.
You need the following.
Two medium sized kitchen bowls.
Two kitchen towels to line the bowls.
One large mixing bowl.
A bench knife.
A kitchen scale.
Two big plastic bags.
800 g wheat flour (11.5% protein content).
50 g rye flour.
25 g sea salt.
300 g mature sourdough starter.
550 g water.
An oven with two plates.
Is the kitchen scale necessary? No, not really. But I urge you to buy one if you don’t have one already. Measuring with cups and scoops is very inaccurate. You don’t have to buy anything expensive. There are scales on Amazon for less than ten bucks. They will probably do the job.
If you still don’t want to buy a scale you can try the following:
5.5 cups wheat flour.
0.5 cup rye flour.
2.3 cups water.
4 teaspoons salt. 1.5 – 2 cups mature sourdough starter.
Mix the flour, sourdough starter, and water. Wait with the salt.
You don’t have to overdo it. Just make sure that all the flour is hydrated.
Cover the bowl and store somewhere warm for an hour.
Sprinkle salt over the dough and start to fold it in the bowl. Grab the dough and pull it gently towards the center. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn before each fold. Wet your hands with water if the dough is sticking to your fingers.
Eight times should be enough. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Repeat the folding process and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Repeat the folding process one last time and let it rest for 60 minutes.
Lightly flour your work surface and dump out the dough. Divide it into two halves with your bench knife.
Turn each half of dough on the counter while pulling it towards you at the same time. This way you will form a circle with a bit of tension on the top. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Add some more flour on your work surface. Flatten the dough rounds gently with your hands.
Fold one side against the other and repeat with the other.
Repeat the turning process until you get a circular form again.
Let the dough rest for a few minutes before you place it seam-side-up in a floured towel lined kitchen bowl. In the picture, I have put the dough in a proofing basket. Instead of forming the dough into a round shape, I have gently rolled it into an oblong shape. You may also notice that it’s placed seam-side-down. I do that sometimes instead of scoring it. The bread will then hopefully burst up in the seam during the baking process.
Place the bowls with your shaped doughs in plastic bags. It’s not enough to cover them with kitchen towels. The final fermentation will take a few hours, and there is a risk that the surface will dry out.
Placing the dough in plastic bags will prevent that.
Allow the loaves to rise until they have doubled in size. How long that will take is very hard to say. It depends very much on the surrounding temperature. For me, it usually takes 3 to 4 hours at normal room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 500ºF / 260ºC with two oven plates. One to bake the bread on and one just below.
Take out one of the loaves from the plastic bags. Cut a piece of parchment paper that fits over the top of the bowl. Place it on a pizza peel or a rigid piece of paper. Invert the peel and parchment paper and place it over the bowl. Flip the whole thing over and remove the bowl. Now your dough is resting on the peel with parchment paper. I have “stolen” this idea from Maurizio Leo’s page The perfect loaf which I highly recommend. Note that the following photos are from another baking session where I have used a bowl instead of the above basket. I have included the to show how I flip the dough onto the parchment paper.
You can also try to score the center of the loaf with a very sharp knife or a razor blade.
Now you just let the dough and parchment paper slide off the peel into the oven on the upper plate. Pour some water on the plate below. Use an oven mitt, so you don’t get burned. The steam from the water will help the loaf to rise and also give it a nice golden brown color.
Turn down the temperature immediately to 480ºF / 250ºC and bake for 30 minutes. I usually lower the temperature to 430ºF / 220ºC after 20 minutes. If you think the bread looks a bit pale, you can let it stay in the oven an additional 10 minutes without a problem.
When done, use your oven mitt and take out the bread from the oven.
Let it cool on a wire rack.
Turn up the temperature and repeat the process with the other loaf.
I think this is the perfect beginner’s bread. You don’t need a dough mixer or any other special equipment. After you have baked this bread a couple of times, you can try to create your own “best” sourdough bread.
Maybe you can replace som of the wheat flour with whole wheat. Or maybe increase the amount of rye flour.
You can also increase the fermentation time to obtain more flavor to your bread. You can do that by letting it rise in the refrigerator overnight. There are no limits except your imagination.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab some of your kitchen bowls and start baking. And please tell us about your baking adventure with a comment below.
61 Comments
Thank you for sharing your recipe and process, this is gorgeous sourdough and you have offered some great tips as well 8)
Hi Tomas, thanks for another great recipe! I fed my starter at 8 am today; stir with the rest of the ingredients at 12 noon. At 12.10 I gave it a few stretches before leaving with family to the beach. Shaped the loaves at 4.30 pm right after I came home. Into the oven at 5.45 pm and got my 2 beautiful loaves at 6.30 pm. Room temperature was around 22 degrees centigrade. Everything was done in a hurry but still managed to get tasty beautiful loaves! Thanks heaps!!!!
I’m glad you liked it, Elena.
Thanks, Merryn. Glad you liked it.
Please tell me whether if I half the the ingredients portion will it have any effect on the final dough? Thanks for sharing info with your postings. Love it.
You can half the ingredients without any problems, Liana. I use to do that myself and I have never noticed any effect on the final dough. I’m glad you like the blog.
Is it necessary to use a banneton? Can’t you just do the final ferment in the Dutch oven /clay pot & then put it straight into the oven to cook from cold?
Using a banneton is not necessary. You can proof the dough in a dutch oven or clay cooker if you want. The only disadvantage is that you can’t pre-heat the dutch oven/clay cooker. On the other hand, it’s more convenient.
Kindly share the recipe how to make sourdough starter . I am a real beginner learning to make a simple sourdough bread. Thank you in advance
Hello, Jud. I don’t have anything written to share today. I’m working on an ebook that will describe how I mix and manage my starters, but I’m not ready yet. I will give it for free to all who sign up for my newsletter that I’m planning to start sending out in a near future.
Meanwhile, maybe you can try the following recipe.
Mix 2 cups of flour with 2 cups of water.
Cover it and let stand at room temperature for two days.
Add 1 cup of water and 1.5 cups of flour and mix it thoroughly.
Let stand at room temperature for one day.
Add 1 cup of water and 1.5 cups of flour and mix it thoroughly.
Let stand at a warm place or room temperature for one day.
Now, hopefully, you have a mature starter.
Wheat starters can be a bit tricky. You can boost it with some rye floor. one or two tablespoons should be enough.
You are always welcome to ask additional questions here, by mail or on Facebook.
Good luck.
Hi Tomas,
Thanks for your blog – I’m really glad I discovered it! I’m a keen novice sourdough baker from Australia, and up to now have been using a rye starter. However, I’ve just read your advice to Jud, with suggested recipe for a new wheat starter, which I’m keen to try. How would you feed and maintain this starter once it is mature, please, and do you use white or wholemeal wheat flour?
First of all, I’m so glad you liked my blog, Kay.
When it comes to wheat starters, they can be a bit tricky as I mentioned to Jud. Mostly I use white wheat flour. But I also almost always add a small amount of whole rye, perhaps a tablespoon, to keep my starter in a good mood. I have tried whole wheat and that works as well. I use to take out my starter from the fridge the day before I’m planning to bake. I feed it with flour and water to 100% hydration. That means if you add 100-gram flour you should also add 100-gram water. The total amount should be the same as the amount required in the recipe. So if the recipe calls for 100-gram starter you should add 50-gram flour and 50-gram water. This way you always have a small amount of starter left to put back into the fridge. I rarely feed my starter between my baking sessions as I bake every week. If you don’t bake that often it can be a good idea to feed your starter with 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour and water once a week. I wrote a post about how to troubleshoot your starter two weeks ago. Perhaps you can find some valuable information there as well. Otherwise, just ask me if you have any further questions. I will do my best to help you.
Good luck with your starter.
Thanks, Tomas! When learning a new skill, one question answered bring others to mind immediately! So I thank you for your willingness to help. As Arnie says, “I’ll be back!” ?
You are always welcome, Kay. good luck with your baking.
Thanks for the info.
The recipe calls for “wheat flour,” but that prompts me to ask: Did you use whole wheat flour for this, recipe or just regular wheat flour (all-purpose, perhaps, or maybe bread flour)?
Hi, Kurt.
For this recipe, I used regular wheat flour, not whole wheat. However, it’s also a flour with high protein content, so I would say It’s a bread flour.
I used white-wheat flour and they are much darker than what is pictured. I’m guessing you used an AP flour. Also, did you score right before the oven? Thank you.
Hi, Mandy.
The flour I have used is classified as a bread flour. However, the protein content is not that high, only 11.5%, so calling it an AP flour is maybe more correct.I have realized that the bread flours here in Sweden a weaker than for example in US and Canada.
I always score just before it goes into the oven.
Thank you! Although my rolls didn’t rise as much, they have a wonderful hearty texture. I will definitely try again with a different flour.
Hello, can the starter be prepared with whole-wheat and spelt flour? Is rye flour really crucial in the sourdough? Thanks
Hello, Tedi.
Sorry about the late reply. No, rye flour is not crucial at all. You can use whatever starter that works best for you as long as it’s lively and mature. Whole wheat works fine. I have to admit that I don’t have much experience with spelt. But I can’t see why it should cause any problems.
Hello Tomas. I have just baked this bread and now I can also call it “my best sourdough bread”:). I have used some of my rye starter which I fed two times with what flour in order to have a white starter so that the bread is not dark. From you experience, is this a good way to make a new type of starter, or I should have made one with wheat flour from scratch? I hope it makes sense :)-
Hi Cosmina,
Correct me if I’m wrong but you made a levain (preferment) with your rye starter and some wheat flour? I’m doing that very often myself, and I think it works excellent. Even a small amount of rye flour adds extra power to the starter. There is no benefit in my opinion of making a wheat starter from scratch if you can live with the small amount of rye in the finished bread.
Hi Tomas.
Thank you for some very informative sourdough recipes. I’ve tried a few already.
But I can’t seem to get the open crumb (large bubbles in the finished bread) as you do in your pictures.
My sourdough starter is very lively (I usually mix rye and wheat for the starter) and the bread rises to double size (at least). I use baking steel and always add steam. I’ve also tried a dutch oven, but with the same outcome.
I live in Norway, so I think we have pretty similar protein content in our flour as you do. I was hoping that you might have some tips for me? How do I get a more open crumb?
Hi Christian,
Getting an open crumb can be a challenge. Most of the times you will get the advice to increase the hydration of the dough. That’s one way to solve it.
The problem is, it doesn’t always work.
If you add more water you also have to treat the dough more gently when forming the loaf if you want bigger air pockets. That’s another advice I have heard many times.
Still, I have seen bakers degassing the dough completely when forming the loaf, and still getting a wonderful open crumb.
I have also seen bakers getting a great crumb with a hydration of only 60-65%
I have to admit that I don’t have a bulletproof solution.
I know you’re gonna hate when I’m saying this, but I think it depends on many things.
Your starter, the flour you’re using, the hydration, how you are working with the dough, etc.
It depends a lot on timing.
However, I think it’s a good idea for you to focus on how you are working with the dough. I suggest that you read this article. It helped me.
Hi there! I am a super beginner, I’ve made rye starter and have baked a few loaves of bread by now -2 of which from this recipe except that I used 50% whole rye and 50% whole wheat and did a fridge proofing. I wanted to ask you, in your experience how low can I go with rye flour % in the total dough (the rest is wheat) if I’m using the rye starter? Also, I store my starter in the fridge, I have read so much already but still super confused about how to plan and make leaven for the start in the fridge and for specific grams outcome? would you have any advice? Thank you very much! I attach the picture of today’s bread! Do you think it’s OK for 50% rye or it could have risen more?
https://scontent-waw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/s2048x2048/68693240_249183005964761_6045328586955554816_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_oc=AQnjqbFn8lFQcWEziW8KpVhzblhDhH39AIIURKL6C8xQEV3WcmnHRlJ_JP35Ak3lsfiDLjflQeK75jLFXNgRTgjm&_nc_ht=scontent-waw1-1.xx&oh=a070db5bf4cb4e42a1923a0d3f228abf&oe=5DD934E5
Hi Anna.
Lovely looking bread you have there.
I’m not sure I understand your first question. Do you wont to know the minimum amount of rye you have to add if using a rye starter? Actually, You don’t have to add any rye at all. You can only use wheat if you want. But perhaps I misunderstood the question?
I use to take out my starter and mix a levain 6-8 hours before it’s time to bake and let it ferment overnight. You can speed up the process by placing it warm or heating the water added. A common recipe for a levain is 1 part starter (100% hydration) + 2 part flour + 2 part water. This will give you a levain with 100% hydration which means the same amount of flour and water.
The amount of levain added to the dough depends on how much time you have. A smaller amount means longer fermentation time, but tastier bread. Normally I use 10-20% levain when I bake.
As said before, I think your bread looks great. Perhaps slightly under proofed, but still good. Rye and whole wheat are not easy to bake with and it’s very hard to get an open crumb. Rye has poor baking qualities (but adds a lot of taste) and whole wheat can also be tricky, especially for a beginner. Next time, try to increase the fermentation time a bit. You can also try to exchange some of the whole wheat with wheat flour if you want a more open crumb.
I hope this was helpful. Have I missed anything? Please don’t hesitate to send another question.
Hi Tomas! Thank you so much for your reply I really appreciate it!I guess my first question was there because I didn’t realize I could use rye starter with 100% wheat in the recipe! Thanks! Do I then make a leaven with wheat also? Thank you very much for explaining the leaven part. I just have a question – when you say you take out your starter to make leaven do you mean it’s ok to use it straight from the fridge to make leaven? That’s where I’m confused and also wondering IF I need to feed my fridge starter before mixing into leaven how many hours approx should I plan for that feeding? Thanks again I really want to try to bake wheat bread tomorrow, I’ve only baked rye including 100% rye so far but I really want to get those bubbles! Do regular flour give better crumb than whole wheat?
Hi Anna.
You can make a levain with wheat flour and your rye starter. My starter contains both wheat and a small amount of rye and it works great.
If you bake often, let’s say every second or third day, you can probably use the starter directly from the fridge. just don’t forget to feed it now and then so you don’t run out of starter.
If you only bake in the weekends, you may have to take it out 3-4 hours before you mix the levain. Discard half of it and feed with flour and water. When it starts to bubble and rise you can use it to mix the levain.
If you haven’t baked or fed your starter for a very long period, let’s say 3-4 weeks, things are a bit different. Your starter will look and smell horrible, but it’s probably not dead. Discard almost everything and mix the remains with lots of flour and water. You may have to repeat the process, but finally, your starter will come back to life again.
Chances are bigger that you will get a more open crumb with bigger holes with regular wheat flour. But it’s not about flour only. A strong starter is more important, and so is fermentation and proofing. If you have a weak starter and not enough proofing and fermentation time, it doesn’t matter much if you use whole wheat or regular wheat. Your bread will be tight and dense.
Thank you for your reply! Yesterday I fed the starter in the morning with rye, it grew a lot, I put it in the fridge as I didn’t need to mix in the levain tll the late evening. I took the starter out some time before levain mixing to warm up and mixed 20g rye starter with 40g water and 40g wheat flour and left it overnight. I woke up and nothing has happened 🙁 now it’s noon and still nothing. Not sure what I did wrong :(((
You probably didn’t do anything wrong, Anna. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. However, it feels like your starter is a bit unpredictable, and maybe not strong enough yet. When you say it grew a lot. How much was that? Did it double in size, or was it less?
Hi Tomas, the starter tripled in size! But I then put it back in the fridge for a few hours. then took it out a few hours before making the levain with it. Thanks!
Hi Anna,
Well, that indicates that the starter has strength. It is hard to say what went wrong. I think the only thing to do is to try again. Next time, try to mix the levain when your starter peaks if it’s possible, and see if that helps.
Hi Tomas, Thank you for your reply! I wanted to share my progress with you! I tried to do it with freshly fed and grown starter (fed with rye) – made levain with wheat and then baked accoridng to your recipe. The only thing I had 30g of leavain less haha but Iguess it still mostly did the job.However, I was worried that 2 parts feeding will be to heavy to 1 part of my starter so I made levain 1:1:1 instead. It passed floating test and grew twice. Do you have advice on how to calculate how much of what if I’m aiming for a specific amount of grams? Like If I want to get 150g leaven how should I do(how much starter to flour and water)? From what I understand even though it doubles in size it does not get any heavier or does it?I am also still struggling with abilty to tell when it’s proofed even with the poke test. This one only stood for 2 hours (but it was hot inside) and flattened and deflated a bit when out of the shaping bowl and scored. . Either way this is my first wheat bread and it is tasty and I’m very happy! you can see the pics. Also, do you think I should do less stretch and fold each time if I’m doing half of your recipe (one loaf)
http://tiny.cc/2u2hbz
http://tiny.cc/5w2hbz
Cheers!!
Hi Anna,
If you using the 1:1:1 formula you should use 50 gram starter and add 50 gram water and 50 gram flour. There is no weight increase when the levain expands, at least none that you need to take into account, as expansion is due to the creation of gas (CO2).
Deciding if a loaf is fully proofed is always a bit tricky, especially if you are new to sourdough baking. I think there is only one thing to do, and that is to bake a lot of bread. After a while, you will learn how the dough should look and feel like when it’s ready. I read Trevor Wilson’s book Open crumb mastery, and even he couldn’t give a straight answer about this topic. And he has been a professional baker.
The same goes for your question about stretch and fold. However, when the dough starts to “fight back” early in the s&f process it’s a good idea to stop. You know, when the dough starts to resist your stretch or even lifts from the bottom of the bowl.
I have looked at your photos, and the bread looks great. On the second photo, I can see a minor issue, however. There is a tunnel between the crumb and the crust, a so-called flying crust. This can depend on many different things.
In my experience, it happens mostly when the dough is under proofed. But over proofing the dough can also cause this problem. You say it stood for 2 hours. Was that the final rise? How long was the bulk fermentation?
It’s a minor problem, but If you give me more information perhaps we can decide if the dough was readily poofed or not.
Hi Tomas,
Thank you for all the tips. I had hard time telling if it was over-proofed or udner proofed..according to the finger test I needed to bake it ASAP and it was like 29C inside or something so 2 hours could have done it but I’m not sure. When I put the dough out of the basket it flatened more than usual. and when I scored it, itdeflated even though the score wasnt the ”open one” I saw it when it was ready. it was the final rise and otherwise, the time was the same as in your recipe for all S&Fs except the first 60 mins was like maybe 80 cuz I got distracted hehe. When I S&F the dough it was pretty resistant it would kind of tried to be all one instead of stretching but it was my first time baking wheat ever so I have no idea yet how it’s supposed to feel.
P.S. so I tried baking again, I put on my rye starter with wheat flour (I have 15% though) and water 1:1:1. It didnt double again..but passed floating test and since nothing was rising more I just decided to go with it. Does the leaven really rise twice or more? since it’s a lot of flour and all in it..especially if you use 1:2:2? I had hard time telling the dough was ready at all or not during final proofing. it really never looks as smooth and resistant as the doughs I see online (when unbaked I mean). I also got unsure about my S&F – when you write you do about 8 times do you mean 8 motions or 8 full circles (~4 sides during each). I baked it but I don’t think it baked through this time completely and the crust separated again. eh 🙁 I’m losing hope I can do wheat with my rye starter but yeah maybe its some other one of million other things haha
Hi Anna.
When I wrote that recipe I meant 8 stretches and folds in the first session.
The leaven can easily double in volume. Sometimes it expands even more. But sometimes it just doesn’t work. It happens to everybody now and then. Last night I mixed a levain, and when I checked it this morning it had hardly expanded in volume at all. Last weekend it tripled in size.
Now, I managed to bake a decent bread at the end of the day, but it’s nothing I will post on facebook.
That’s the way it is. Most of the bread you see online is the successes. People seldom post failures.
Please don’t lose hope. Just continue baking and try to enjoy the ride and you will learn this craft. Because it is a craft, and it takes some time to master it.
In your previous comment, you said that you let it rise for 2 hours in 29C. If that is the final rise, I think it’s far too much time. At that high temperature, I think one hour is enough. Which means that your dough is probably overproofed. That would also explain why it flattens when dumped it out from the basket, and why you get those flying crusts.
Hi Tomas,
Thank you for your comment. But I mean do you mean 8 rounds (4 turns each) of stretches? I am trying to understand if and what Im doing wrong during S&F. I am trying again this time I had enough of my starter to feed it so it’s leaven but it’s all rye. I”m gonna do as per recipe then this time but do you have experience baking with all-rye leaven and using only wheat for the rest of the recipe?
I’ll try to look at the dough more. I think you are right – it was probably ready before but I thought that would be too short plus should I expect it to double in size during the last proof after all SFs?or just smooth out a bit?
P.S. I just realized the whole blog is yours! Tack so mycket 🙂
You are most welcome, Anna.
For this bread, I made 8 stretches and folds in the first round. You can probably not do that in the second round as the dough will be more resistant.
Nowadays, I use only one starter for all baking. It’s based on wheat with a small amount of whole rye in it. I used to have a rye starter, but I used it for rye bread only.
Hi Tomas,
When you use the bowl instead of the boule, do you line it with a floured towel as well?
Hi Femi.
I’m not quite sure what you mean with boule. Normally, boule is a shape of a loaf, but perhaps you are referring to the proofing basket? If so, yes it should be lined and floured.
Hi Tomas,
Can I bake the bread on a pizza stone? Most recipes call for a dutch oven. Does the water on the plate below replace the need for a dutch oven?
Hi Fran,
Yes, you can use a pizza stone. The reason most recipes calls for a dutch oven is that you will get a better result. The plate with water can’t replace the dutch oven completely. Most ovens are designed to ventilate out steam. The dutch oven prevents that by keeping the steam trapped around the bread. You will get a better oven spring. But the taste is the same, so a pizza stone works fine.
I’ve used my raisin starter for four loaves so far and it’s worked beautifully. I’ve never felt such luscious dough. Touching it was as satisfying as slicing and eating. During Covid, I am unable to find wheat flour on the island where I live, so I used spelt as a starter for the levain and it worked fine.I’m the person who wrote saying the mix was too wet, so I just added more spelt. Later loaves I played with adding rye.
Just to say, thank you for being such an excellent teacher.
Many thanks for those kind words, Pam. Spelt is great, even if it’s a bit tricky to bake with sometimes. I hope everything will come back to normal soon.
May I ask how long you bulk fermented your dough? (I tried to figure out by adding your folding times up, but don’t think it’s right). I live in Hawaii where kitchen temperatures and humidity are high.. Bulk fermentation times for the same recipe can vary from day to day, but usually happens in 2 to 3 hours. It is helpful to me to have some idea what the temperature was for you and how long it took your dough to bulk. I usually place in bannetons and do the final proof in the refrigerator overnight due to the quick bulk fermentation time. Thank you
Hi Ingrid.
As I mentioned on my Facebook page lately, I think it’s time time to rewrite this recipe. It’s four years since I published this recipe and I do things differently today. Bulk fermentation starts as soon as you add the sourdough starter.
I would recommend that you add salt and starter at the same time, let the dough rest for 30 minutes before you make a stretch and fold. Repeat the stretch and fold 1, maybe 2 times, spaced out by 30 minutes.
Giving a specific timeframe for the bulk fermentation is tricky. Look at the dough instead of the clock. When it has expanded 50-70% I think it’s finished. Normally, for me that takes 4-5 hours at 80°F/27°C, but whit this much starter it probably goes faster, many 3-4 hours instead.
Hi Tomas… Thank you for the clarification. Everything you mentioned is helpful – especially the recommendation of adding the salt with the starter. I’ll try that and see if will lengthen the fermentation time a bit. The fact that you didn’t seem to be alarmed that the length of my bulk fermentation time is as short as it is, was in and of itself helpful.
I really have been enjoying your website and will visit your Facebook page as well. Thanks again and Aloha!
Hi again.
No, I’m not alarmed about the time for bulk fermentation. I visited your lovely islands many years ago, so I know how hot and humid it can be there. Fermentation runs fast under such circumstances. I’m glad you like S&D. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
I have been using this recipe for a very long time now, thank you very much! I can also say now that my trouble with the recipe when I just started baking was the 12 hour leaven build – my starter turned out to be very quick so every morning id wake up to a dead start and think it’s just not active. Now I feed it 1:5 or even 1:10 sometimes if I want to do it overnight. I also sometimes add a pre shape and the final proof usually takes under 2 hours for me. I also make this recipe often with rye starter, 400g bread flower and 25g einkorn and it has very complex flavor. Yesterday I adjusted this recipe to wheat starter, half bread flour and half whole wheat flour, pushed water to 275g or more ( I usually make one load hence the numbers) -and added a pre shape. was fantastic as well! I bake it on 235 FAN for 15-18 mins and 15-20 mins on 195 FAN. Thank you again!!
I’m glad you like it, Anna. To be honest, I think this recipe is a bit outdated, and I’m thinking about rewriting it. There are a couple of things I do differently today.
Yea maybe, I mean I adjust heavily as well, often do one more S&F as well as pre-shape and so on 🙂
Hi Tomas:
I find I have great success in putting a small handful of organic (unwashed) raisins when I start a new sourdough starter. These can be removed after the starter is matured.
Hi Trace, R
Raisins carry on lots of wild yeast, so your method is great. You can actually make yeast water from raisins and water only and bake bread with it.
I’m calculating this to be 100% hydration. Is that correct?
Never mind – glasses work wonders.
OK! That’s good.
Hi Tomas! I made your raisin yeast dough recipe. My dough is now proofing in the baskets. I am a newbie to sourdough and was wondering what the temperatures should be in the oven when baking the loaves in Dutch ovens. I tried to find a comment in the list indicating that and could not find one. Please let me know. Thanks 🙏 so much! 😊💗💗💗
Hi Maureen,
Most the times iturn up the oven to 480ºF / 250ºC