#recipe
August 10th, 2018, Denys Pavlov
Updated April 27th, 2021: Added Whole Wheat tips, clarified post-autolyse mixing.
- Combine starter, flour, water in a
1:4:4ratio by weight. - Mix water and starter first into a slurry, then add flour for even yeast distribution.
- In 6 hours once the mixture has doubled, use or refrigerate.
Feed refrigerated starter weekly if in the fridge, daily if unrefrigerated.
Starter is best "on the rise", before the volume has peaked and started going down.
- Starter doubles too fast: Use cold water, keep in a cooler place, add a tiny bit of salt to retard growth.
- Starter doubles too slow: Use warm water, keep in a warmer place, keep out of the fridge and feed it regularly every 6-8 hours until speed picks up.
- Starter is too sour: Use flour with less bran (ash content is the technical term), add a bit less water so it's not as liquid.
Use flour that's high protein/hard/bread flour. Make sure the bran isn't too big. Don't use just "whole wheat" because that means it's just all-purpose flour with the bran mixed back in.
Ratios are based on weight of flour.
- Xg of flour,
- 60-90% of X of water,
- 25% of X of starter,
- 2-3% of X of salt.
Recipe notes:
- Less hydration makes for denser bread, more hydration for bigger holes in the final loaf.
- Always better to start with denser dough, and increase water content with experience.
- 2.5% of salt is standard, but that can vary.
- At high water ratios, be aware that your starter is also 50% water, account for additional water accordingly.
The autolyse improves gluten development and shortens kneading/mixing time. Essentially its just a resting step after the water and flour are mixed.
- Measure 400g of flour for a small loaf, 500g for a medium loaf.
- Combine flour and water in a container that can let the dough double and not overflow.
- Mix to incorporate all the flour, cover and let it sit for 15-20 minutes to "autolyse".
Flour absorbs water, gluten begins to develop.
-
Add salt, fold it into the dough.
-
Add starter, incorporate into the dough.
-
Knead it until no more starter in the container. Don't tear the dough, instead be patient, pinch the starter in, and stretch and fold as the dough allows.
-
Set a timer every 30 minutes for 4 hours.
Each half hour: -
Wet hands to prevent dough from sticking.
-
Punch down the dough to prevent big bubbles, then fold the dough in half until you can't do it without ripping (don't rip!), scraping down the container if needed.
-
Second last timer, don't punch down as much to let it rise for the final stage.
Now we shape our loaves.
-
Once 4 hours are up, lightly dust the table with flour.
-
Flip the container upside down, and the dough should fall out.
-
If making more than one bread, cut the dough at this step with a sharp knife.
-
Prepare a container for the bread to rise in.
This basket will be the shape that our final bread will grow into and hold up until baking.
Take a bowl or basket, line with tea towel and sprinkle it with flour.
Try to use a little bit of flour, just enough to prevent dough sticking. Wet doughs are more prone to sticking, and might need a more liberal application of flour.
- Fold the sides into and over the middle, pushing down to stick it all together, making sure to keep the floured part pointing down. We're trying to make a bubble.
- After a basic shape is achieved, you can flip over and use the friction of the table to help tuck more dough into the middle as you slide it around.
Watch some YouTube videos to get an idea of what to do if you're struggling.
Proofing is the final rise of the dough. It is done in a refrigerator to slow the yeast growth, and increase the sourness of the dough.
- Flip the shaped loaf bottom up into the basket. The top of the bread should be facing down. Lightly flour the visibly sticky parts, cover, and refrigerate for 8 hours.
Baking should be done on as high heat as possible. It has two stages, one with steam to halt crust development and encourage rise. The second stage is without steam, to make a beautiful dark crust.
-
Preheat oven and Dutch Oven or heavy pot with lid to 500f or max oven can safely go.
-
Cut a piece of baking/non-stick paper to fit the bottom of the pot. Aluminum foil is not a good replacement, it sticks to the bread. Flip bread gently on the paper and score the top less than 1cm deep. Take pot out of oven, carefully drop bread into pot, and spray or drop some water on/around it, quickly cover and put in oven.
-
Bake 20-25 minutes with lid on.
-
Take lid off, bake another 10-20 minutes until the desired crust color is achieved. Some burning is fine.
-
Take out of oven, and place bread on wire rack to cool at least 30 minutes, preferably 2+ hours before cutting in.
Cutting too soon will release a lot of steam and change the texture and lightness of the dough.
- Seeds/fruits can be added in the second half of the bulk fermentation, don't add too much to prevent weighing the developing gluten down.
- If the bread is too dark or doesn't grow well, use whiter flour with less ash content. When you're new, it's better to get the basics down, then add extra challenges.
- Try to make an 80%+ hydration dough with whiter flour for awesome crust and holes in the bread.
Whole-wheat flour is tricky, and doesn't produce the same results as regular white/refined flour. The gluten doesnt form as readily, and the bran inhibits further gluten and crust development. The following tips can help manage the extra complexity. (source)
- Feed starter with the flour you will use. Prepare it for the job!
- Sift bran out, soak in boiling water. Treat it like seeds/nuts by mixing in half way through bulk fermentation. Use about 20% of all the water you plan to use in the dough.
- Autolyse for two or more hours. The longer autolyse will help pull more protein out of the flour, and form stronger gluten bonds.
- Whole-wheat flour ferments more easily due to higher bacterial contents, be extra diligent with the fermentation times.