Sourdough BAsics
Tips for mixing Up Your First Loaf
Whether you’ve made your own starter from scratch, or you’ve been maintaining an established starter from a friend, you’re probably itching to bake your first loaf. If you’re like me, you’d probably like to just follow a recipe and see how it goes. I do have a recipe for a basic loaf here, using only all-purpose flour. It is simple to follow, and great for beginners.
But if you’re one to be a bit more careful, I’ve got a few tips for you to put in your tool box before you get started.
In this post, I’ll guide you through the steps of making your first loaf without all the measurements. I’m giving you my tips on how the dough should feel, how to stretch and fold, and how to shape and score, all the way up to baking.
Of course, there are many ways to make a loaf of sourdough bread, but in this series, we are covering the very basics. Using simple steps and ingredients, you can make a yummy loaf of bread that will impress with every bite.
When to bake with your starter
It’s difficult to put a time frame on how long from feeding, because there are plenty of factors at play. Warmer temperatures, higher humidity, smaller feeding ratios, and time of feeding can make your starter rise faster. If you feed with a larger ratio, it may take longer. As you get to know your starter, you’ll become more familiar with the rise time.
But if you have no idea, you can simply keep an eye on your starter to see when it’s ready to bake.
After feeding, your starter will begin to rise. During this phase, it will have a slightly rounded/domed shape on top. After it doubles in volume (or maybe more), it will begin to fall back down. The dome will fall, and this is prime time to mix your loaf.
If you still aren’t sure, you can try a float test. Simply fill a glass with water, take a bit of starter and drop it into the water. If it floats, you’re good to go!
Get to mixing
When your starter is active and ready to use, add it and all the ingredients in your recipe to your stand mixer or a mixing bowl.
Start by adding all but 1 cup of of the flour called for, mix until thoroughly combined. If the dough is still too wet, slowly add the rest of the flour.
The consistency you’re looking for is strong enough to stay on the dough hook, or, if mixing with your hands, strong enough to stretch and hold without falling down too quickly.
Depending on some circumstances, you may even need a little more flour than your recipe calls for.
The next step in the mixing process is performing stretch and folds. This is an important step for developing gluten fibers. this is what makes your dough strong, smooth, and soft. This process also helps create those big holes that sourdough is so famous for.
After you’ve mixed your dough, for the next two hours, you’ll perform 4 sets of stretch and folds with 30 minute rests in between.
To perform one set of stretch and folds, wet your hands to avoid sticking, and keep your dough in the bowl. Grab one side of the dough, gently stretch it as far upward as you can, then fold it directly on top of itself. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat this motion, working your way all around the dough. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes before performing the rest of the sets.
Bulk Fermentation
After you’ve finished your stretch and folds, it’s time to let it rest. Cover your dough with plastic wrap, a bees wax wrap, or a damp tea towel. Place the entire thing in a warm place- I like an oven with the light on- and leave it there until it is fully fermented- about 8 hours.
The bulk fermentation is where the magic, or the science, happens. The grains within your loaf are slowly fermented over time. Just like your starter (because the flour in the loaf is basically feeding your starter), the dough will double in size.
To know if your dough is properly fermented, dip your finger in water and poke your dough. If it immediately springs back, it’s not quite ready. You’re looking for it to spring back slowly.
if it doesn’t bounce back at all, your dough is over-fermented, but that’s okay. You can still bake it. It may just be harder to work with.
Shaping
The shaping step is your final chance to strengthen your dough. There are many ways to shape a loaf, but I like a basic three step metod.
- Lamination
- Pinched Ball
- Turning
After turning your dough out onto a clean work surface (no extra flour necessary), you’ll begin to laminate your dough. You’ll want plenty of space for this. Start by pressing down your dough into a small rectangle with your hands. Moving around the rectangle, gently pull each side, little by little, until you can’t stretch it any further. If you’re adding inclusions, this is a great time to do so.
After lamination, in no particular fashion, begin to fold your dough in on itself to form a ball-pulling the edges tightly to the center to form a ball.
Turn your dough over so that the pinched seam is on the bottom. To turn the dough, use a candy cane motion. with a flat hand, push the ball away from yourself, curve it at the top, and bring it toward yourself about halfway back. Repeat this a few times to bull tension in your dough.
At this point, you’re ready to score and bake, but if your time doesn’t allow, you can plop it into a lined basket or bowl, cover it, and place it in the refrigerator for a cold proof.
Scoring and Baking
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven and transfer your dough ball to a sheet of parchment.
When scoring your dough, it is important to make a deep expansion score. Any decorative scores should be more shallow so that they maintain their shape. expansion scores are what allow your bread to rise and be fluffy. you can do a quick cross snip with scissors or a serrated knife, just as long as it’s about 1/4 of the way through the dough.
Once you’ve scored, place your dough immediately into the oven. I like to bake in my covered Dutch oven, but any pot with an oven safe lid (or even just two sheet pans will work.
Enjoy!
And just like that, you’ve made your first loaf of sourdough bread! While there is lots of time involved, I hope you can see just how low-effort this process can be.
These are the very basic steps that I use in my simple sourdough loaf recipe, but of course, you can add in any other scientific steps you’d like.
Make sure you stay tuned as we continue our Sourdough Basics series! Next time, I’ll be sharing my favorite tips for the nitty gritty parts of baking with sourdough.
Until Next Time!
-Rebekah
Amazing!! I love it!! Thank you for sharing this adventure 😍😍😍