Last March, during the first major quarantine of the COVID 19 pandemic, I joined all the other people in making sourdough bread. I have been baking my own bread for years now, and I even had a little jar of sourdough that I kept feeding and adding into my yeast dough, but I had never used that as the sole leavening agent in my bread. My sister was doing even more baking and basically did all the research for me. I'm not going to put the details of how to start sourdough here (mine was a gift) but I will say that I had apparently been giving mine too much water, since I was feeding it equal amounts of flour and water. I started doing 3 Tb flour and 2 Tb water, and it woke up and started bubbling! So now I feed it every night, and fill the jar gradually just in time as I finish my current loaf.
This recipe is modified from two different ones I found online. It is pretty easy but does have a lot of rising time, including mixing the starter with some flour and water in advance. This is called a levain.
Sourdough Bread
Levain - mixing this ahead of time lets the sourdough get really active.
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c water
3/4 c sourdough
(I have made this with 1 cup sourdough, and with 2/3 cup. I'm sure 1/2 cup would work, as long as the levain has time to get nice and bubbly.)
Whisk together in a large bowl and let it sit loosely covered with a lid or plastic wrap for 6 hours or overnight.
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Dough
2 Tb softened or melted butter
2 Tb olive oil
2 Tb honey, sugar, brown sugar, etc.
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c flour
Add to levain and mix together, then turn out onto floured surface and knead until it is elastic and not too sticky. You may need to work more flour in, up to another 1/2 cup.
Spray the bowl with cooking spray or olive oil, put the dough in and then turn it over so that it is coated all over, and cover again.
Let rise for two hours in a warm place. You can turn on the oven at a low temperature for a couple of minutes, and then turn it off again before putting the dough in.
Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan. (Even if it is nonstick, it still needs to be greased.)
Sprinkle flour on the risen dough and turn it out onto the counter. With floured hands, flatten it out into a rectangle to press out most of the air, then roll it up tightly, pressing the layers together with each turn. Turn the two ends of the log under and squish them in place, then place in loaf pan. There should be a slight dip at the center of the loaf - this will even out in baking. Get your hand wet and pat the top of the dough to moisten it.
Put another loaf pan or some oiled plastic wrap over the loaf, and put it back into the warm oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Take loaf out and preheat oven to 425 F. After it preheats, put the loaf in and turn the temperature down to 350 F. Bake for 45 minutes, which is usually just as you suddenly realize the house smells amazing. Turn out onto a rack to cool.
