Sourdough- Rustic Loaf

Ingredients: makes 2 loaves

200g active sourdough starter*

650-700g cool water

20-25g salt

1000g flour (bread flour is preferred, but not necessary)

->see bottom of page for mix-in instructions

Mix the dough: put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon or your hands to work the ingredients together until it forms a shaggy dough and no dry bits left. Cover the bowl (lid loosely on top, light towel, or plastic wrap) and let rest for 30 minutes - 1 hour at room temperature (beware of any cold drafts).

Folding: there are a couple different options for folds. There’s the stretch and fold or the coil fold. I do a bit of both, but mostly the coil fold. I feel like it makes for a smoother dough. So try them both and do what you like best. First, wet your hands with a little water to prevent sticking. Scrape the dough away from the sides of the bowl. For stretch and fold, pick up the dough on one side and stretch it up and over itself. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until you’ve made a full circle. For coil folds, with both hands, pick up the dough around the middle like you’re picking up an animal around its belly and pull up until the 2 sides release from the bowl. Lower the dough so the loose ends tuck under the middle. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the fold another 3 times. Cover the bowl and let dough rest for 30 minutes. Repeat either fold method one more time. This will help build volume in the loaf.

Bulk Fermentation: cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 6-10 hours at room temperature (keep away from any cold drafts). Watch for when the dough has risen by about 50-75% and has some good air bubbles. If the dough is super jiggly, sticky, or hard to shape, it may be overproofed. Don’t let the food win! Make some focaccia with overproofed dough or even try baking it like normal :) just reduce rise time with your next bake. And remember things like weather or humidity can affect your dough! So just be flexible with it :)

Shape & Second Rise: turn your dough onto a clean, floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 loafs if making the full batch. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the “corners” into the middle of itself like you’re bundling up a cloth package. Turn it over so it’s seam-side down. With your hands, cup the sides and move the dough in a circular motion towards yourself and slightly tuck it in under itself. (If you’re a visual learner like me or my instructions are just confusing, go to minute 6:40 in this video for help). Do this until the dough forms a tight skin. Center the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, seam-side down. Use the parchment paper like a sling to lift the dough into a medium sized bowl or basket. Repeat with second loaf. Cover both loaves with a tea towel and let rest at room temperature (remember those cold drafts) for 1-2 hours or in the fridge overnight up to 3 days (put it in the coldest part of your fridge, check it every so often to make sure it isn’t overproofing). Dough should nearly double in size. To test if the dough is proofed enough, press into the dough with a finger making an indentation about 1/2 an inch deep. If the indentation quickly springs back all the way, it is under proofed and needs more time. If it slowly comes back about half of the way, it’s ready.

Score & Bake: preheat the oven with your empty dutch oven and its lid inside to 450F. Using a sharp knife, blade or bread lame if you’re boujee, score the top of the dough in any design you like. One long line from one side to another will give you the classic ear. This is to give the dough a designated place to split, otherwise it’ll choose for itself and not be very pretty, but won’t be ruined, so don’t freak out if you forget. Remove the hot dutch oven and use the parchment paper like a sling again to transfer the dough into the dutch oven. Cover with the hot lid and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove lid and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until crust is to your desired color.

Cool: transfer bread to a cooling rake and let rest for at least 1 hour, trust me. The bread keeps cooking, you can even hear some cracking of the crust, and if you slice it too soon, it can get gummy… I guess if you have a lot of people and will eat the whole loaf in one sitting, some warm bread and butter would be cool so do what you want, but just know it’ll be hard to slice since it’s warm and soft inside and crusty on the outside.

I’ve heard the baked bread freezes well wrapped in plastic wrap and in a freezer bag, but I haven’t tried that yet. You can take it out 24 hours before eating to thaw on the counter. I’ve also seen people run it under water and bake it again for a few minutes, but again, I’ve never tried it.

Have fun with it! It can be a really mindful and relaxing process if you let it. It takes a long time from start to finish for sure, but it’s worth it :)

Here is a loaf I made early on. No bread lame, no cold proofing. Just simple basics.

Both loaves were delicious! Just shows you don’t need fancy tools or processes to make a good loaf.

MIX-INS:

Bulk Rise Add-Ins: for ingredients to be distributed throughout, add them during the early stages of folding (after the first fold)

Swirling in Additional Ingredients: after the bulk rise, before you shape, stretch out dough into a soft rectangle and gently cover the surface with your topping. Roll the bread up jelly-roll style and finishing the shaping process.

Favorite Additions:

Rosemary Garlic: 2-4 cloves of garlic (or as my husband says: with garlic and vanilla, measure with your heart) and a tsp of fresh rosemary (I think you can also measure this with your heart)

Jalapeño Cheddar: 1/4lb cheddar cheese cut into small cubes, fresh or pickled jalapeños diced

Orange Cranberry: see here for ingredients

*for instructions on how to take care of a sourdough starter, go here