So I started googling madly for sourdough recipes.... Found a few great keepers like my sourdough (sd) pizza, some sd English muffins, and a wonderful light and crispy sd waffle recipe. I only ever tried making bread with the recipe that I got a copy of with my starter (along with a crazy set of instructions on the care and feeding of starters) I had a few great successes with the bread, but it was always hit or miss if the bread would rise enough, be very sour, be heavy or light, etc....
I decided I wanted to try out another starter and see if it behaved any differently (baking with, flavor of, etc...) So I ordered a starter from http://www.breadtopia.com/ ***I would HIGHLY reccomend checking out this website. This guy's got videos of each step of the bread making process, lots of recipes (for sd and regular bread too), baking supplies, and more! It's a wonderful website! I have two complaints about his site: First, that he rarely takes the time to write out the recipes with the instructions. The ingredients are there, but not the "how to" part. So you are forced to watch his videos - which are actually quite well done and good to watch, but some of them are like 10 minutes long! Second, that there's no really good way to look for a recipe you need on the site - so it's a bit of hit and miss and exploring. Other than that, I just adore looking around on that site. His sourdough recipe is perfect! Not only does it bake up perfectly every time, it has and exceptionally crunchy crust and soft inside. Plus with this starter and the long rise time, the bread is SO sour! Love it!
After making a few loaves (each one as perfect as the one before!), I decided to do an experiment and compare my old starter with the new one to see if it was the starter or the method that made such good bread. Each step, the dough looked and felt the same as the other. It baked up just as beautifully as the new starter, BUT I discovered that not all starters are created equal! The new starter had a MUCH better flavor and depth of sour tang to the bread. The older one just didn't measure up. But now I just can't seem to get rid of this starter that I've had for almost a year. I guess I have a bit of pride in keeping it going that long without killing it off... But with a great starter like the new one I've got - why bother with the older one?
Below are also some pictures of some of the steps in the bread making process along with the recipe that I trascribed from the breadtopia site. I did add a few notes about how I've made the recipe work for me too.
No-Knead Sourdough
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 Cups White Bread Flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 Cups Water
1/4 Cup Starter
Stir the flours and salt together, just to incorporate it all. In a seperate bowl, mix the water and starter together (this just makes for easier combining with the flour). Then add it to the flour bowl and stir! It only takes a couple of minutes before the excess flour disappears and you've got a good size sticky glop of dough. Don't worry - it's supposed to be very wet. The wet dough makes for bread with a lot of holes in it. You can knead it by hand if you feel like it, but I don't usally need to. Now you just cover with some plastic wrap or put the whole bowl in a large plastic bag and let it sit for 18 hours.
See the above pictures for what the dough looks like after it's risen. It's still really wet looking. You'll need to kind of scrape it out of the bowl at this point. Then you just pat it out a bit until it's about the size of a piece of paper. Then you simply fold it over in thirds lengthwise and one fold the other direction. Let it sit there for about 15 minutes and gently mold into your desired loaf shape. Dip your fingers in flour to make it stick to you less.
Now you need to put the shaped loaf into a bowl with a well-floured towel lining it (the flour helps the dough not to stick to the towel. When it's done rising gently lift the dough from the towel and place in your desired pan.
It will need to rise for 1 to 2 hours. I usually check it after an hour. If it looks like it's almost ready, turn the oven on and preheat with cast iron skillet, ceramic or clay baker in it at 500 degrees. It needs to preheat for 30 minutes. Transfer the dough from the towel lined bowl to your pan and put the lid on. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
Notes:
Water - The breadtopia guy says to not use tap water because of the usual chlorine content - he advises bottled spring water)
Rising time - Sometimes the dough is ready before the 18 hours is done (it doesn't show any signs of rising any more). It's totally ok to go on to the next step at that point - it only means the bread might not be as sour.
Floured towel/bowl- When I'm done shaping the dough, I give the top of it a extra dose of flour. Then I put a flour sack towel (nice and thin and not too bulky for the bowl and dough) in the bowl and sprinkle flour generously on it. The breadtopia guy uses a fancy basket thing to let it rise in, but other than the pretty little circles it has embedded when it's done baking - I don't see any benefit from the fancy basket.
Baking pan - I've used a deep cast iron skillet with a domed lid and also a Romertopf clay baker and love how they both turn out. I especially like the oblong shape of the clay baker. You can buy a Romertopf or La Cloche baker on the breadtopia site (lots of other places too). They sell the Romertopf for $34 + shipping and the La Cloche for $39. I got my Romertopf on ebay for about $17 including shipping - but it's a tiny bit smaller than the one they sell there (the 110 instead of the 111 model on breadtopia). I love it and even baked a pork roast with some veggies a few nights ago with great results. I've also ordered a lid for my pampered chef 9x13 stoneware baking pan. I'm hoping to bake two baguettes at a time in it. or two small round loaves.
Baking time - When I tried my first loaf, it was perfect except for the bottom being a bit burned. So I've adjusted the time for my oven and pans to 475 for 25 minutes and 425 for the final 15 and no more burned bottom!
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