Bake a Good Sourdough Bread That Will Last You a Week !
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Bake a Good Sourdough Bread That Will Last You a Week !
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Hello everyone !
I'm french... And what we french do is, we eat bread (and cheese).
I started baking bread some 15 years ago, first with yeast, and I soon tried doing it with sourdough. I lacked tips, though, and even more, I missed a few basic scientific explanations as to why doing this or that is actually important. So my breads were not too bad but I had very little control and two of them might be quite different from one another.
Only in the last few years I discovered and read some really interesting books and websites : only two or three short ones, but really concise and well explained... And I find if someone explains you WHY it's important to shake the water or not to introduce more air than needed, instead of just telling you what to do or not to do, it bears more weight and you end up doing as said because you actually know why it's good !
It does take a bit of time to bake your own sourdough bread, let alone baking bread for your everyday meals ! But, fortunately, there's a way around it, that was used for centuries, and that's the way I take : making a big bread once a week. You may think it will go completely dry and brittle by the time you eat it all but, actually, if you use sourdough rather than yeast, and if you keep it away from direct air by conserving it in a kitchen towel, it will last incredibly long ! Of course a staling reaction does occur, but not in the way it usually does with yeast bread : in fact that slow reaction makes it even more digest (new enzymes being created) and although its texture will change, I assure you it won't dry. I've had breads that were a little older than a week : they were getting slightly hard but I was still able to cut whole slices from it.
So now, as you've guessed, I'll tell you how I bake my bread according to the infos I've learnt and to what makes sense to me.
Of course there's more than a single way to do things, and that rule applies to bread baking. Also, I don't pretend that the method I'll teach you is the best and only one : it's the one that works for me because I understand why I use it... you can try the following till you're used to it, and then try other methods, or mix several methods together. What works for you works for you !
I'm french... And what we french do is, we eat bread (and cheese).
I started baking bread some 15 years ago, first with yeast, and I soon tried doing it with sourdough. I lacked tips, though, and even more, I missed a few basic scientific explanations as to why doing this or that is actually important. So my breads were not too bad but I had very little control and two of them might be quite different from one another.
Only in the last few years I discovered and read some really interesting books and websites : only two or three short ones, but really concise and well explained... And I find if someone explains you WHY it's important to shake the water or not to introduce more air than needed, instead of just telling you what to do or not to do, it bears more weight and you end up doing as said because you actually know why it's good !
It does take a bit of time to bake your own sourdough bread, let alone baking bread for your everyday meals ! But, fortunately, there's a way around it, that was used for centuries, and that's the way I take : making a big bread once a week. You may think it will go completely dry and brittle by the time you eat it all but, actually, if you use sourdough rather than yeast, and if you keep it away from direct air by conserving it in a kitchen towel, it will last incredibly long ! Of course a staling reaction does occur, but not in the way it usually does with yeast bread : in fact that slow reaction makes it even more digest (new enzymes being created) and although its texture will change, I assure you it won't dry. I've had breads that were a little older than a week : they were getting slightly hard but I was still able to cut whole slices from it.
So now, as you've guessed, I'll tell you how I bake my bread according to the infos I've learnt and to what makes sense to me.
Of course there's more than a single way to do things, and that rule applies to bread baking. Also, I don't pretend that the method I'll teach you is the best and only one : it's the one that works for me because I understand why I use it... you can try the following till you're used to it, and then try other methods, or mix several methods together. What works for you works for you !
Supplies
First I want to briefly go through the ingredients you'll need, and give you some specifications.
Water
The good thing with chlorine is that it prevents micro-organisms from proliferating... The bad thing with chlorine is that it prevents micro-organisms from proliferating You may not realise it, but plenty of things we eat or drink are here thanks to yeasts and cells (all micro-organisms) : that's the case for cheese, beer, wine, sauerkraut, yoghurt, butter, crème fraîche, spirits, and so many others, but for what we're interested in at the moment, that's the case for bread !
Micro-organisms will eat some of the sugars and oxygen present in the dough, and in return they'll produce CO2 (hence the holes inside the loaf), acid lactic that gives sourdough bread its characteristic taste, and other by-products. They even create new vitamins, enzymes and stuff that actually help you digest glutens !!!
Anyway, back to chlorine : you've understand it, we do not desire any of it in our dough, since we want a cell population in perfect health. That's not a problem for spring water or bottled water, but it is for tap water. Luckily there's an easy way to get rid of it... By simply leaving your water to rest, either at open room, or in the fridge. Chlorine is highly volatile and it will evaporate within a couple of hours.
Ideally you want your water temperature to round about 80°F / 26°C when it comes to mixing it with flour : that is the ideal warmth to activate enzymes and micro-organisms.
Flour
As much as possible you want to use organic flour, for the same reason : conventional wheat (nearly) always contains fungicides... And fungicides' job is exactly what we don't want to happen in our bread dough : killing yeasts and bacterias !
I use soft wheat flour most of the times, and occasionally rye flour for the starter. The reason for rye flour is that it contains more enzymes, which will help pre-digest wheat flour, and also increase the amount of cells. That will help, especially when you start your starter. When it comes to wheat flour, you can use white flour, wholemeal flour or something in between, but bear in mind that the wholer your flour is, the more hulls it has, which also mean more minerals and more nutrients for the bacterias and yeast to develop on. In addition, these are good for you too, as your body needs these elements (our modern alimentation is actually so refined that these become deficient : you get here the chance to change that !). The other point with wholer flour is that it has a lower glycemic index : that means that a piece of wholemeal bread will last longer in your stomach than a piece of white bread !
Salt
For the same reason again, if available, you want to use unrefined salt, because it contains a wider variety of minerals (good for your bread and for your health). Also make sure it has no additive of any kind, especially iodine and fluorine, two antiseptics (which means they'll kill micro-organisms). I use coarse sea salt.
Water
The good thing with chlorine is that it prevents micro-organisms from proliferating... The bad thing with chlorine is that it prevents micro-organisms from proliferating You may not realise it, but plenty of things we eat or drink are here thanks to yeasts and cells (all micro-organisms) : that's the case for cheese, beer, wine, sauerkraut, yoghurt, butter, crème fraîche, spirits, and so many others, but for what we're interested in at the moment, that's the case for bread !
Micro-organisms will eat some of the sugars and oxygen present in the dough, and in return they'll produce CO2 (hence the holes inside the loaf), acid lactic that gives sourdough bread its characteristic taste, and other by-products. They even create new vitamins, enzymes and stuff that actually help you digest glutens !!!
Anyway, back to chlorine : you've understand it, we do not desire any of it in our dough, since we want a cell population in perfect health. That's not a problem for spring water or bottled water, but it is for tap water. Luckily there's an easy way to get rid of it... By simply leaving your water to rest, either at open room, or in the fridge. Chlorine is highly volatile and it will evaporate within a couple of hours.
Ideally you want your water temperature to round about 80°F / 26°C when it comes to mixing it with flour : that is the ideal warmth to activate enzymes and micro-organisms.
Flour
As much as possible you want to use organic flour, for the same reason : conventional wheat (nearly) always contains fungicides... And fungicides' job is exactly what we don't want to happen in our bread dough : killing yeasts and bacterias !
I use soft wheat flour most of the times, and occasionally rye flour for the starter. The reason for rye flour is that it contains more enzymes, which will help pre-digest wheat flour, and also increase the amount of cells. That will help, especially when you start your starter. When it comes to wheat flour, you can use white flour, wholemeal flour or something in between, but bear in mind that the wholer your flour is, the more hulls it has, which also mean more minerals and more nutrients for the bacterias and yeast to develop on. In addition, these are good for you too, as your body needs these elements (our modern alimentation is actually so refined that these become deficient : you get here the chance to change that !). The other point with wholer flour is that it has a lower glycemic index : that means that a piece of wholemeal bread will last longer in your stomach than a piece of white bread !
Salt
For the same reason again, if available, you want to use unrefined salt, because it contains a wider variety of minerals (good for your bread and for your health). Also make sure it has no additive of any kind, especially iodine and fluorine, two antiseptics (which means they'll kill micro-organisms). I use coarse sea salt.
Creating a Sourdough Starter
A highly important part in sourdough bread baking is the sourdough starter : that is the complexe culture of micro-organisms that will transform the dough into bread (well, as well as the oven), and the variety of wild yeasts and bacterias present in it make it healthier than the usual yeast bread. These cells make a good deal of work preparing the ground for you, pre-digesting some elements that your body would have trouble to digest.
If you like metaphors, as I do, let's put it that way.
Your body is like a fireplace. You have a garden full of trees and big branches : these are glutens and other proteins, starches and other complex sugars. Trees and branches are too big for your fireplace but, luckily, you have many chainsaws to cut them into smaller logs : enzymes. The bother is, it won't do if you don't take a bit of time to fill up their empty tanks with fuel ! That's what happens when we cook a cake or any other dough that we did not leave to rest long enough. Enzymatic reactions and micro-organisms work are not given enough time to occur as they would through the hydrolyse process, and we end up eating something that we won't digest as well as we could, getting for example troubles to digest too much gluten : a bit like trying to stuff big trees into your fireplace !
If you don't have the chance to get a bit of sourdough starter from a generous friend, don't you worry : I'll explain you how to create one. The principle is very easy : when you mix flour with water, it activates enzymes and a great lot of wild yeasts and bacterias naturally present in flour, air and water. By giving them the optimal growing conditions, their population will dramatically increase. Perhaps you remember from school how cell division works : basically, the unicellular organism way of reproduction is to separate itself into two identical cells. In the case of sourdough starter, at the right temperature, that happens within a couple of hours... But at the end of the very first cycle, your starter still has a relatively minimal amount of cells. So you get it : the idea is to feed it several times by doubling its quantity every time. The proportional cell population will increase each time until it reaches its average number and really becomes a sourdough starter : that's when you'll be able to bake bread with it.
So there we go.
Day 1 :
Take 1/2oz / 14grams of flour (rye, soft wheat or a mix of both) and 1/2oz / 14grams of water without chlorine. Mix them together in a jar : tighten the lid and shake it with liveliness, or whisk it : the idea is to incorporate as much air as possible. As Pasteur discovered, in the presence of air, yeast and bacteria increase in number, whereas they tend to produce more CO2 in absence of air. We need the second part of this principle when baking bread, in order to get the the characteristic holes, but for now all we want is to increase the cell population. So shake it !
Untighten the lid but leave it on (alternatively swap it for a piece of cloth), and leave the starter to rest at room temperature for the whole day.
At the end of the day, feed it half its own weight with water, and half its own weight with flour, i.e. 1/2oz / 14g water and 1/2oz / 14g flour. You can first pour the water, shake it hard together and then add the flour and beat it.
At the end of day 1 you have 2oz / 56g of starter.
Day 2 :
Repeat the same process : on the morning, refresh it by giving it 1oz / 28g of water and 1oz / 28g of flour.
On the evening, 2oz / 56g of each.
Day 3 :
If you carry on like that, you will quickly end up with a ton of starter... If you think about it, since you double it up at each refreshing, it would only take about 12 times till you actually get to that point !!!
You'd better got rid of some of it now that later when you have a ton of starter ! So, I'd say take your 8oz / 224g of starter and keep only 1oz / 28g of it : you can use the leftover in your pancake batter... It's easier done now than once you're stuck with 2000lbs of it !
Feed it with 1/2oz / 14g of water and 1/2oz / 14g of flour.
At the end of day 3, refresh it with 1oz / 28g of water and 1oz / 28g of flour.
Day 4 :
Same procedure : make it double on the morning, and again on the evening.
Day 5 :
You have 16oz / 448g of starter and you probably already notice some obvious activity : the starter will have grown in volume overnight and eventually you see some bubbles bursting on top of it.
Many people stick to the 1:1 flour:water ratio : I've done so for years and it works fine. However I quite like the idea of having a starter that has more or less the same consistency as bread dough, so its micro-organisms are selected and taught to work in the same sort of medium.
Also I suggest you change the feeding ratio to 1:2 water to flour. But before that, and just for this time, we must use only flour, in order to balance its concentration in the actual starter.
Take 2⅓oz / 66g of your starter, and add 1⅙oz / 34g of flour : you've doubled up the amount of flour and your sourdough starter now has the right proportions.
Congratulations : your sourdough starter is born !
If you like metaphors, as I do, let's put it that way.
Your body is like a fireplace. You have a garden full of trees and big branches : these are glutens and other proteins, starches and other complex sugars. Trees and branches are too big for your fireplace but, luckily, you have many chainsaws to cut them into smaller logs : enzymes. The bother is, it won't do if you don't take a bit of time to fill up their empty tanks with fuel ! That's what happens when we cook a cake or any other dough that we did not leave to rest long enough. Enzymatic reactions and micro-organisms work are not given enough time to occur as they would through the hydrolyse process, and we end up eating something that we won't digest as well as we could, getting for example troubles to digest too much gluten : a bit like trying to stuff big trees into your fireplace !
If you don't have the chance to get a bit of sourdough starter from a generous friend, don't you worry : I'll explain you how to create one. The principle is very easy : when you mix flour with water, it activates enzymes and a great lot of wild yeasts and bacterias naturally present in flour, air and water. By giving them the optimal growing conditions, their population will dramatically increase. Perhaps you remember from school how cell division works : basically, the unicellular organism way of reproduction is to separate itself into two identical cells. In the case of sourdough starter, at the right temperature, that happens within a couple of hours... But at the end of the very first cycle, your starter still has a relatively minimal amount of cells. So you get it : the idea is to feed it several times by doubling its quantity every time. The proportional cell population will increase each time until it reaches its average number and really becomes a sourdough starter : that's when you'll be able to bake bread with it.
So there we go.
Day 1 :
Take 1/2oz / 14grams of flour (rye, soft wheat or a mix of both) and 1/2oz / 14grams of water without chlorine. Mix them together in a jar : tighten the lid and shake it with liveliness, or whisk it : the idea is to incorporate as much air as possible. As Pasteur discovered, in the presence of air, yeast and bacteria increase in number, whereas they tend to produce more CO2 in absence of air. We need the second part of this principle when baking bread, in order to get the the characteristic holes, but for now all we want is to increase the cell population. So shake it !
Untighten the lid but leave it on (alternatively swap it for a piece of cloth), and leave the starter to rest at room temperature for the whole day.
At the end of the day, feed it half its own weight with water, and half its own weight with flour, i.e. 1/2oz / 14g water and 1/2oz / 14g flour. You can first pour the water, shake it hard together and then add the flour and beat it.
At the end of day 1 you have 2oz / 56g of starter.
Day 2 :
Repeat the same process : on the morning, refresh it by giving it 1oz / 28g of water and 1oz / 28g of flour.
On the evening, 2oz / 56g of each.
Day 3 :
If you carry on like that, you will quickly end up with a ton of starter... If you think about it, since you double it up at each refreshing, it would only take about 12 times till you actually get to that point !!!
You'd better got rid of some of it now that later when you have a ton of starter ! So, I'd say take your 8oz / 224g of starter and keep only 1oz / 28g of it : you can use the leftover in your pancake batter... It's easier done now than once you're stuck with 2000lbs of it !
Feed it with 1/2oz / 14g of water and 1/2oz / 14g of flour.
At the end of day 3, refresh it with 1oz / 28g of water and 1oz / 28g of flour.
Day 4 :
Same procedure : make it double on the morning, and again on the evening.
Day 5 :
You have 16oz / 448g of starter and you probably already notice some obvious activity : the starter will have grown in volume overnight and eventually you see some bubbles bursting on top of it.
Many people stick to the 1:1 flour:water ratio : I've done so for years and it works fine. However I quite like the idea of having a starter that has more or less the same consistency as bread dough, so its micro-organisms are selected and taught to work in the same sort of medium.
Also I suggest you change the feeding ratio to 1:2 water to flour. But before that, and just for this time, we must use only flour, in order to balance its concentration in the actual starter.
Take 2⅓oz / 66g of your starter, and add 1⅙oz / 34g of flour : you've doubled up the amount of flour and your sourdough starter now has the right proportions.
Congratulations : your sourdough starter is born !
Preparing the Starter for Baking Day
Baking day !
The starter being thicker than it was, you will no more be able to whisk it or shake it with water : I get around that by shaking water alone just before mixing it to the starter : it does introduce some air into it.
Early enough on that day, take your starter : feed it with 1⅙oz / 34g of water. Beat it with a wooden spoon and add 2⅓oz / 66g of flour. Knead it shortly until all the flour is absorbed. Make a ball of it, flatten it gently and fold it so as to introduce a bit of air into it before you close it : repeat that about ten times. Make a ball of it again : with a knife cut a cross on op of it so you get four ears. That gives more surface contact with air : more abilities for cells to get the ressources they need. Place it into a large bowl, covered with a piece of cloth or another bowl. Let it leaven for about 3 hours at 80°F / 26°C.
Then repeat the same procedure : double it up by refreshing it with 2²/⁶oz /67g of water and 4⅔oz / 133g of flour, knead it so as to incorporate some air, cut it, let it leaven 3 hours at 80°F / 26°C.
After that time, your starter should have doubled up its size. Take 10½oz / 300g of starter for the bread, but this time do not throw the remaining 3½oz / 100g away : this is now your master sourdough starter, which you will keep, feed and use every time you bake a new bread. You may store it in an airtight container in the fridge. The longer you leave it unused, the less active it will get, but that's precisely why I refresh it twice on baking day, to increase its cell population.
If you take care of it, it may live as long as you !
Next time you bake, simple take it out of the fridge and use this instructable directly from Step 2.
The starter being thicker than it was, you will no more be able to whisk it or shake it with water : I get around that by shaking water alone just before mixing it to the starter : it does introduce some air into it.
Early enough on that day, take your starter : feed it with 1⅙oz / 34g of water. Beat it with a wooden spoon and add 2⅓oz / 66g of flour. Knead it shortly until all the flour is absorbed. Make a ball of it, flatten it gently and fold it so as to introduce a bit of air into it before you close it : repeat that about ten times. Make a ball of it again : with a knife cut a cross on op of it so you get four ears. That gives more surface contact with air : more abilities for cells to get the ressources they need. Place it into a large bowl, covered with a piece of cloth or another bowl. Let it leaven for about 3 hours at 80°F / 26°C.
Then repeat the same procedure : double it up by refreshing it with 2²/⁶oz /67g of water and 4⅔oz / 133g of flour, knead it so as to incorporate some air, cut it, let it leaven 3 hours at 80°F / 26°C.
After that time, your starter should have doubled up its size. Take 10½oz / 300g of starter for the bread, but this time do not throw the remaining 3½oz / 100g away : this is now your master sourdough starter, which you will keep, feed and use every time you bake a new bread. You may store it in an airtight container in the fridge. The longer you leave it unused, the less active it will get, but that's precisely why I refresh it twice on baking day, to increase its cell population.
If you take care of it, it may live as long as you !
Next time you bake, simple take it out of the fridge and use this instructable directly from Step 2.
Mixing and Kneading the Dough
So, take the 10½oz / 300g starter, put it into a big bowl, add 21⅐oz / 600g of water and ⁷/¹²oz / 16g of salt. Whisk it as hard you can without spilling it around, until the salt is completely dissolved.
Than add 35⅓oz /1kg of wheat flour.
Mix the whole with your fingers or with a wooden spoon until it's homogeneous : once you've done that and from now on, knead it gently, taking care not to tear the dough. The reason for that is that you're building up the gluten network : as you go on kneading it, it creates tiny bonds between glutens that give the bread dough its strength and structure... It's a bit like building a web : a spider doesn't want to tear the work it's constructing !
Now you will give the dough more water, depending on the absorption power of the flour you're using, on the hygrometry and other parameters. Adding more water is an opportunity to develop the gluten network a bit more and to get a bread that conserves longer. Since you cannot easily measure and control all those absorption parameters, the simplest way is to add it bit by bit and see what happens. I typically prepare 7oz / 200g of water but first pour only a third of it : then I knead it again until it absorbs it all. If I feel it can take more in, I add another third and repeat the process... Again if I think it will take more without loosing the structure, I add the last third. If you're new to baking or to this technique, it might be safer to stop after the first third of it : you will push it further once you've made a few breads and feel you dare trying it.
The next step is to take the dough, then pull it gently apart and bring it together again, very much like playing the accordion. You do that 3 or 4 times. That's also part of the gluten network building.
Now you put it onto a lightly floured surface, and with your fingers make a kind of a cave inside the dough that you close hermetically in such a way as to enclose some air into it. Repeat that about five times only. The idea to provide enough air for the cells to develop and build up their resources, but not too much we need the cells to miss oxygen at some point to create CO2 instead of using their energy and oxygen to multiply.
Make a nice ball with it and let it rest in a covered bowl (but not hermetically !), with the closed bit underside, in a room at about 80°F / 26°C (in winter it's easily achieved in a very small space like a bathroom with the radiator on and the door closed).
Leave it there undisturbed for 3 to 4 hours. Its size should double up.
Tip : you can also let it leaven at a colder temperature... It will only take longer, so you just have to organise yourself in consequence, but that's absolutely doable. What's important is that you notice when it has swollen enough. The same applies at every stage of this instructable.
Than add 35⅓oz /1kg of wheat flour.
Mix the whole with your fingers or with a wooden spoon until it's homogeneous : once you've done that and from now on, knead it gently, taking care not to tear the dough. The reason for that is that you're building up the gluten network : as you go on kneading it, it creates tiny bonds between glutens that give the bread dough its strength and structure... It's a bit like building a web : a spider doesn't want to tear the work it's constructing !
Now you will give the dough more water, depending on the absorption power of the flour you're using, on the hygrometry and other parameters. Adding more water is an opportunity to develop the gluten network a bit more and to get a bread that conserves longer. Since you cannot easily measure and control all those absorption parameters, the simplest way is to add it bit by bit and see what happens. I typically prepare 7oz / 200g of water but first pour only a third of it : then I knead it again until it absorbs it all. If I feel it can take more in, I add another third and repeat the process... Again if I think it will take more without loosing the structure, I add the last third. If you're new to baking or to this technique, it might be safer to stop after the first third of it : you will push it further once you've made a few breads and feel you dare trying it.
The next step is to take the dough, then pull it gently apart and bring it together again, very much like playing the accordion. You do that 3 or 4 times. That's also part of the gluten network building.
Now you put it onto a lightly floured surface, and with your fingers make a kind of a cave inside the dough that you close hermetically in such a way as to enclose some air into it. Repeat that about five times only. The idea to provide enough air for the cells to develop and build up their resources, but not too much we need the cells to miss oxygen at some point to create CO2 instead of using their energy and oxygen to multiply.
Make a nice ball with it and let it rest in a covered bowl (but not hermetically !), with the closed bit underside, in a room at about 80°F / 26°C (in winter it's easily achieved in a very small space like a bathroom with the radiator on and the door closed).
Leave it there undisturbed for 3 to 4 hours. Its size should double up.
Tip : you can also let it leaven at a colder temperature... It will only take longer, so you just have to organise yourself in consequence, but that's absolutely doable. What's important is that you notice when it has swollen enough. The same applies at every stage of this instructable.
Making the Dough and Oven Ready for Baking
After this time put gently the dough back onto the lightly floured surface and give it its final shape, trying not to let any gas out (you want the inside of the loaf to still have air in it when you eat it later on !)
Take a piece of cloth (I use a kitchen towel) and flour it generously. Place it onto a bowl or container of your choice that has the shape you like and that can receive the dough without letting it collapsing down (mine is a basket).
Place the dough on top of it, with the closed bit upside, this time, flour the top again and close the cloth over it.
Put it back in a warm area for 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until it swells up again.
In the mean time and 1/2 an hour to one hour before baking the bread, turn the oven on, at a very high temperature : 480°F / 250°C or even 520°F / 270°C if you can. It is very high but the idea is to start baking at this temperature and turn it down after a few seconds or minutes, to simulate what happens in an old style wood oven. It is the best way to achieve a real crust. On the lowest grade of the oven put a metal tray on which you'll bake the bread. Mine is a cast iron one, which restitute much more heat to the bottom of the dough and help it swell up, but a normal tray will work. A tray filled up with bricks or 2inches / 5cm of cooked clay is also one of the best ways.
Five minutes before baking the bread, pour a cup of hot water into a metal tray and place it directly onto the sole of the oven. That will produce steam that is essential for the quality of the crust : as the humidity reacts with the sugars of the dough at its surface, it caramelise and gives it's nice colour and structure. For best results you could even do it differently : by putting the dough into the oven and then throwing a cup of hot water onto the sole before closing immediately the oven door... I have used this technique and I love it, but I'm not sure it is completely harmless to the oven, and since the one I utilize nowadays doesn't belong to me, I prefer not to use that method.
Take a piece of cloth (I use a kitchen towel) and flour it generously. Place it onto a bowl or container of your choice that has the shape you like and that can receive the dough without letting it collapsing down (mine is a basket).
Place the dough on top of it, with the closed bit upside, this time, flour the top again and close the cloth over it.
Put it back in a warm area for 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until it swells up again.
In the mean time and 1/2 an hour to one hour before baking the bread, turn the oven on, at a very high temperature : 480°F / 250°C or even 520°F / 270°C if you can. It is very high but the idea is to start baking at this temperature and turn it down after a few seconds or minutes, to simulate what happens in an old style wood oven. It is the best way to achieve a real crust. On the lowest grade of the oven put a metal tray on which you'll bake the bread. Mine is a cast iron one, which restitute much more heat to the bottom of the dough and help it swell up, but a normal tray will work. A tray filled up with bricks or 2inches / 5cm of cooked clay is also one of the best ways.
Five minutes before baking the bread, pour a cup of hot water into a metal tray and place it directly onto the sole of the oven. That will produce steam that is essential for the quality of the crust : as the humidity reacts with the sugars of the dough at its surface, it caramelise and gives it's nice colour and structure. For best results you could even do it differently : by putting the dough into the oven and then throwing a cup of hot water onto the sole before closing immediately the oven door... I have used this technique and I love it, but I'm not sure it is completely harmless to the oven, and since the one I utilize nowadays doesn't belong to me, I prefer not to use that method.
Baking and Preserving the Bread
Bring the dough bowl back to the kitchen. Uncover the dough and sprinkle some wheat semolina on top of it. Above, place a piece of thin wood or cardboard that is bigger than the dough but smaller than the entrance of the oven. Firmly holding the container and the board together, turn the whole upside done. Swiftly score the dough with a sharp knife or a razor blade, so the dough will split following these harmonious lines as it will swells up, rather than randomly.
But you probably still wonder why I told you to sprinkle semolina on the topside (which has now become the underside), and here is the explanation. To transfer the dough from the board to the metal tray in the oven you are going to open the door, place the board just above the tray, so the dough hangs exactly in the place you want it, and then briskly pull the board : the semolina will act as tiny ball bearings, and as you pull the board, the dough will remain where you had positioned it and fall in the middle of the tray.
From the moment you put the dough onto the board to the one you transfer it into the oven and close its door, everything has to be done as fast as you can, though still with a controlled delicacy. You do not want to leave the dough enough time to collapse, but you do not want to mess it up by being too brusque, either !
As soon as you've done all this, reduce the temperature to 435-440°F /225°C and let it bake for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven. If you're not sure, bear in mind that you'd better baked a bread a little too much than not enough. If it is a bit too much, provided you've not carbonised it, it will still be good and edible, whereas a bread that's underbaked (like we often see nowadays) will cause you digestion trouble. In addition, a well baked bread will preserve longer than one that is not baked enough.
After this time take the bread out very carefully : its superficial temperature rounds about 400°F !
If it is well baked, it should sound hollow when you tap the underside, and give a nice crusty sound when you press the tip of the crust.
Now you probably want to taste the well deserved fruit of your work and patience, and I quite understand that... Unfortunately you will have to wait a couple of hours and let it cool down on a grid. Why ? Because, save the fact that a hot bread will easily crumble when you slice it, letting it cool down will also give it enough time to evacuate the CO2 it has all inside, and will make it much more digest.
So you'll have to wait... But there's a consolation to it : the cracking noise you can hear during the first few minutes as it cools down !
You now have a good and healthy bread that will last a week. Here is a last tip to preserve it as long as possible : wrap it in one or two kitchen towels and store it in a cupboard.
Enjoy your bread ! 😃
But you probably still wonder why I told you to sprinkle semolina on the topside (which has now become the underside), and here is the explanation. To transfer the dough from the board to the metal tray in the oven you are going to open the door, place the board just above the tray, so the dough hangs exactly in the place you want it, and then briskly pull the board : the semolina will act as tiny ball bearings, and as you pull the board, the dough will remain where you had positioned it and fall in the middle of the tray.
From the moment you put the dough onto the board to the one you transfer it into the oven and close its door, everything has to be done as fast as you can, though still with a controlled delicacy. You do not want to leave the dough enough time to collapse, but you do not want to mess it up by being too brusque, either !
As soon as you've done all this, reduce the temperature to 435-440°F /225°C and let it bake for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven. If you're not sure, bear in mind that you'd better baked a bread a little too much than not enough. If it is a bit too much, provided you've not carbonised it, it will still be good and edible, whereas a bread that's underbaked (like we often see nowadays) will cause you digestion trouble. In addition, a well baked bread will preserve longer than one that is not baked enough.
After this time take the bread out very carefully : its superficial temperature rounds about 400°F !
If it is well baked, it should sound hollow when you tap the underside, and give a nice crusty sound when you press the tip of the crust.
Now you probably want to taste the well deserved fruit of your work and patience, and I quite understand that... Unfortunately you will have to wait a couple of hours and let it cool down on a grid. Why ? Because, save the fact that a hot bread will easily crumble when you slice it, letting it cool down will also give it enough time to evacuate the CO2 it has all inside, and will make it much more digest.
So you'll have to wait... But there's a consolation to it : the cracking noise you can hear during the first few minutes as it cools down !
You now have a good and healthy bread that will last a week. Here is a last tip to preserve it as long as possible : wrap it in one or two kitchen towels and store it in a cupboard.
Enjoy your bread ! 😃