My approach to bread is very simple. Im a Husband with a full time job and three kids, so my recipe needs to be simple and fit into short pockets of the day.
My recipe de-bunks some of the "rules" or "norms" with sourdough and show that making bread can be simple and easy without sacrificing quality. If you follow this recipe this is the bread you will get. It has salty and caramel like crust that is soft and easy to chew (not hard or crunchy). The crumb is light with lots of large bubbles. The texture is soft, moist, and stretchy making it great for sandwiches and pizza dough. The flavor is a good balance of sour, but not too sour.
You will notice I do not score my bread. Thats because it's not needed. Scoring is to allow the bread to open more in the oven while baking, but my dough is fully proofed before baking and oiled, so scoring isn't needed. I do not care to make "instagram bread" that only looks nice. My goal with bread is to maximize the qualities that matter in your mouth.
Cody's Sourdough Bread
Download the recipe card here so you don't have to screenshot.
Ingredients:
(yields one loaf)
1 cup warm water
half cup of starter
2.5 cups of bread flour
1/2 Tbs salt (non-iodized)
2-3 Tbs olive oil (or other oil) for baking (optional)
Extra flour for dusting and kneading
Equipment
Medium to large mixing bowl (with lid or plastic wrap to cover)
Cast iron skillet or dutch oven (or baking pan if thats all you have)
Directions:
Get your starter from the fridge and add about 1/2 cup to your warm water.
While the starter warms up in the water, feed whats left of your starter in the jar and set it out at room temperature for at least 8 hours. You can follow these directions for feeding and maintaining your starter.
Next, while your starter is still warming up in the warm water, measure out the 2.5 cups of bread flour into a medium/large mixing bowl and add your salt. Mix until the flour and salt are well blended.
Gently stir your starter and warm water until consistent, then pour it into the flour/salt mixture.
Mix until all flour is well incorporated. It will be sticky and a little lumpy. Then set aside for 45 minutes. This is needed time for the flour to absorb all of the water. It doesn't need to be a ball yet, just incorporate the ingredients.
Sprinkle a few Tbs of flour on the sticky dough, and gently knead until it is smooth. Then shape the dough into a ball. Set the dough ball in the bowl and cover at room temp for 4-8 hours or until doubled in size.
The time needed for this step can change dramatically depending on temperature and elevation. If you are in a hurry, you can heat the oven to around 100 F and proof there. Doubling can happen as quick as 2 hours this way and will still result in lovely bread. Higher elevation also results in faster proofing. To slow it down and allow for more lactic acid, simply add less starter to your dough, and keep your starter more watery.
Once doubled, add a little more flour and fold a few times. Add a Tbs of oil the bowl. Then shape the dough back into a ball and place the ball top-down into the bowl. Add a little more oil to cover the entire dough ball in a thin layer of oil. Cover and set aside for another few hours until doubled or even tripled.
This step can take as long as you need. The goal is to get a large bubbly dough ball before baking. I've done this step in as short as 1 hour by proofing in the oven at 100 F. I have also slowed the process by proofing in the fridge overnight and bringing it back to room temp the next day.
If you are a sourdough purist and don't want to use oil, you can use the more traditional method and simply proof your dough in a cloth-lined and floured basket/bowl. This will typically yield a thicker and crunchier crust. You may also want to score your crust before baking to allow the bread to fully expand.
For the final proof you can also use my Paper-Towel Bread method
Preheat the oven to 475 F.
Place whatever you are baking in inside the oven while preheating and wait until it is up to temperature.
If using a cast-iron skillet, you can also place the pan on the stove-top and heat until the pan is almost smoking (make sure pan is only lightly oiled so it doesn't spill oil).
Gently remove your dough from the bowl and place onto your baking pan uncovered (it should sizzle), and place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the top reaches the desired brownness.
I like to use a cast-iron skillet. I typically heat the skillet on the stovetop, then flip the the skillet upside down on top of my metal mixing bowl, then flip the dough ball into the skillet.
Remove the bread from the oven and set on a cooling wrack. While still hot, pour 1-2 Tbs of olive oil on top of the bread and gently spread it around over the top surface of the bread. Lastly I like to add a pinch of salt to the oiled surface.
Let the bread completely cool before cutting.
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