Sourdough Basics: The Little Extra Steps

Last week, we walked through the process of making a loaf of sourdough bread, touching the very basics of every step. If you’ve made your first loaf- Congratulations! By this point, you may be looking to up your game just a bit. And that’s exactly what today’s post is about.

In this part of our Sourdough Basics Series, I’m diving into my more nitty-gritty tips for each part of the mixing to baking process. We’ll begin with feeding your starter, and end with slicing up your beautiful loaf.

Starter Tips

We’ve talked about some ways to give your starter a boost, but we haven’t talked about much else. And I think the beauty of the starter is that you can truly make it do anything you want.

• If you’re making a type of bread like rye, pumpernickel, etc., you can make what is called a levain. This is when you take a small amount of unfed starter and feed it with the flour you intend to bake with. This will minimize the amount of all purpose flour included in your loaf.
• One of my favorite things to do with my starter is feed it a large ratio on the morning of a busy day to make it rise slower, so it isn’t ready to use until later in the evening. This is great for days where I’m out of the house most of the day, and could be helpful if you have a job that keeps you away from your starter.

Mixing Tips

Given the nature of sourdough, a lot can be changed by your mixing process. They way you mix and the recipe you use can have great impact on how your loaf turns out.

• One thing I have recently started doing in my sourdough mixing process is starting with an autolyse. An autolyse is the process of hydrating dry grains. This automatically happens anyway when you mix your dough, but I like to mix my dry grains and water and let them rest for 30 minutes before adding the starter. It does add a little time to the front of the process, but you’ll get a nice head start on gluten development, meaning more productive stretch and folds.
• A lot of times, when I’m mixing my dough, I’ll go a little light on the flour when it’s in the mixer and leave the dough slightly loose. If I need more flour, I will add it little by little in the stretch and folds. This gives me more control over how much flour is incorporated, and allows me to get more familiar with my dough.
• Many recipes will give a set number of stretch and folds to perform, but one trick to know when your dough is ready to rest is the window pane test. To perform this test, do your stretch and folds, and as you’re stretching the dough, try to stretch it so thin that you can almost see through it (like a window pane). The dough shouldn’t break apart or feel shaggy.

Shaping and Scoring Tricks

• My most recently added piece has been a pre-shape and cold proof. After my bulk ferment, I shape my dough, turn it a few times, and then place it upside-down in a basket in the refrigerator. The breathable basket allows it to dry on the outsides, forming a “skein”. This dried, thick layer, helps your dough hold its shape, allows for better scores, and helps create that crispy crust.
• After you’ve scored your dough, begin to bake your bread. After it has been in the oven for about 7 minutes, take it out and score it one more time along one edge of the existing score. This will help your bread expand even more than with one initial score.
• If you want higher contrast to make your scores more visible, sprinkle your loaf with rice flour before scoring. The rice flour doesn’t brown when baked, so you’ll get great contrast when your bread is browned.

Baking Tips

• If you want more oven spring, place a few ice cubes in the Dutch oven with your loaf or spray the lid with some water before covering it.
• Place some cornmeal or oats in the bottom of your Dutch oven to prevent burning of the bottom. If your oven has coils on the bottom, you can also place a sheet pan on the rack below it to keep it from direct heat.
• Once your loaf is baked, wait for the loaf to cool completely (at least one hour) before you slice into it. Slicing early can make your bread turn chewy, and lose its softness.

Of course, these steps are never needed to make a yummy loaf of sourdough bread, and you can simply rely on the basics to get you through. However, these tricks take little-to-no effort to add to your baking routine. You can take any of them, all of them, or none of them!

Let us know in the comments what your favorite baking tips are. We’d love to hear how we can improve.

Until Next Time,

Rebekah

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