Simple Sourdough Bread Making and Life’s Purpose

Dear family and friends,

Welcome back to my blog. I hope you are all well. I know I haven’t been blogging for awhile now ( a l o n g while) but if anything can bring me back to writing, it’s the excitement I get when a loaf of my own sourdough bread comes out of the oven.

I know I’m rather late coming to the party. It seems like everyone and their dog, their Covid dog that is, was making sourdough bread during the pandemic lock down. Actually, I think people were making all sorts of bread, not just sourdough, because I remember how hard it was to find yeast at the time, not to mention toilet paper. For many people, making things from scratch was a bit of a novelty and people were embracing it while they nested. Not so much for us though, as we had been on the path towards living sustainably for several years before the pandemic hit. Still, one of the things that was on my “to learn list: was baking sourdough bread.

That’s why I was rather excited when last spring my sister J asked if I wanted a bit of her sourdough starter.

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!

Finally, I would learn the ancient art of bread making. She handed me a little yogurt container with verbal instruction how to keep it alive. I remember feeling like she was handing me a little piece of magic, which if I nurtured, would ensure we never went hungry again. And those around us too…’cause once I started baking bread, I was sharing it with everyone (and their dog) who would take a loaf. I was so excited to share it!

“My piece of bread only belongs to me when I know that everyone else has a share, and no one else starves while I eat.” ~ Leo Tolstoy~

While I was learning to care for my starter, I inhaled a few wonderful books. One of them was, “Artisan Sourdough Made Simple,” by Emilie Raffa

After Reading Emilie Raffa’s book I was hooked.

I had the starter, I had a bit of knowledge, and I was passionate to start baking. All I needed were a few things to get going.

I gathered together a scale, a cast iron pot/lid (crucial as you bake in high temps. Happily, it was on sale at my local Canadian Super Store.

Then I went on line and ordered everything else I needed: One of the many things the pandemic did, was develop my on line shopping habit. In the old days, pre-pandemic, I would spend a good while searching in our little town for desired items, often not finding them, using a ton of fuel to get there and then coming home with whatever I was lucky enough to find. I did try to find things locally but even finding banneton baskets in the size I wanted was difficult. Since I wanted to start using the starter J gave me right away, I turned to buying everything I needed from Amazon.ca and within a few days I was baking my first loaves of bread. If you have time though and also would prefer not giving Amazon your money, I would recommend looking at your local thrift stores, or perhaps your local Marketplace site, because I’ve since found all sorts of bread making products for a fraction of what I spent at both of these locations..

But since I was wanting to get going fast…this is what I ordered on line:

A scale to measure ingredients, 2, -10 Inch Banneton proofing Baskets with cloth liners, a stainless steel Dough Scraper, a Bread Lame+ 4 Spare razor blades. And finally, a Danish dough whisk with wooden handle.

Also don’t forget to pick up a bag of whole wheat flour, a bag of all purpose, unbleached, flour and a bag of bread flour. Optional: a bag of Rye flour. Sea salt.

While Emilie Raffa’s book was loaded with amazing Artisan bread recipes, I wanted a basic recipe to get me going. I finally found one on a YouTube site I often visit. Lisa, on “Farmhouse on Boone,” had the perfect video to follow. I’m going to share the recipe below, but please watch her video too as she shares all sorts of great tips regarding working with the dough and the benefits to having a cast iron pot, etc. Thank you Lisa. You inspire me with how gracefully you manage your home, while growing your beautiful family. Here’s the link to her video: “Sourdough Bread for Beginners.”

Okay….

Are you excited to start baking sourdough bread? Here’s the recipe so get a big bowl, your scale and all your flour out.

Simple Sourdough Bread (Makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients

500 grams of all purpose unbleached flour

250 grams of bread flour

200 grams of whole wheat flour (I play around with this. Sometimes I do 100 grams of w/w flour and 100 of rye flour)

650 grams of warm water

20 grams of sea salt (I play with this too adding 10 grams of white sea salt and 10 grams of pink Himalayan salt)

200 grams of mature, bubbly sourdough starter

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Directions:

Put a big bowl on the digital scale and choose the grams setting. Add all the various flours to the bowl. Mix well. Add the warm water and combine until it forms a shaggy dough. Cover it with a damp cloth or wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes. Then add your starter and your salt. Mix well.

(Below is what my starter looked like before I was about to measure it out…light and bubbly…notice it’s dark…I often make my dough in the evening)

I use my hands at this point to ensure everything is thoroughly combined. Make a nice ball of dough. Cover the bowl once again and let it sit in a warm place for another 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes you will start your series of stretch and folds. For the next 45 minutes you will stretch and fold the dough three times, (roughly every 15 minutes.) When you do your stretch and fold, you simply, very gently, lift one corner of the dough up and stretch it across the rest of the dough. Turn the bowl and lift another section of dough and do it again. I perform this lift, stretch and fold about six times for each stretch and fold session. The next stretch and fold series are 30 minutes apart and you do three of them. At the end of this period, I place the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut the dough in half. I then shape each ball and let it sit for another 30 minutes uncovered. At that point, I turn over the dough, gently fold each corner into itself and shape it into two round balls. I place each ball in a “lightly floured” banneton basket, cover and let it sit overnight in the fridge. (Note, Lisa explains this last fold really well in her video above and also tells you that you don’t need a banneton basket. You can also place a cloth in a medium size bowl and use that)

After letting the dough sit for around fourteen hours I pull it out of the fridge and let it adjust to room temperature while I preheat the oven. At this point you can also place your cast iron pot, with lid in the oven. Get it good and hot (about 30 minutes) before you place your dough inside. In Lisa’s video above, she says she sets her oven to 500 degree but my oven runs very hot and when I tried baking at this temp it burnt my bread. Lesson here; you have to know our oven. I’ve played around with mine and setting it at 450 degrees works best. I also place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack of my oven, otherwise, even at this temperature my bread will come out scorched at the bottom. Also, I like to add water to the cookie sheet , as they say the steam in the oven makes the bread even softer.

While the oven is preheating take your dough out of the banneton basket, turn it onto a piece of parchment paper. (the lightly floured side is now up) Now this is when you use your razor blade. FUN!!! I tried various designs but I usually come back to the wheat design that Lisa demonstrates in her video above; with a big curved slash down one side and little ones going off on either side. Be creative. This is one of the fun parts in producing your own artisan bread.

Once your oven is preheated and your cast iron pot is well heated through, pull it out of the oven, take off the lid. Carefully lift up the parchment paper with your bread dough and gently place it your cast iron pot. Cover it with the lid once again, and place it back in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Once the timer goes off, take off the lid, add a cup of water to your cookie sheet pan and then bake for another 30 minutes. As I said above, you have to know your oven. When I asked my sister J what temperature she cooked her bread at, I believe she said 425. Every oven is different. For me 450 degrees is the sweet spot. My bread comes out a dark golden brown. The crust is nice and hard, and the inside is light and fluffy.

While baking sourdough isn’t a hard process, it does take time. Choose to make your bread on a day that you are working around the house. After I take the kids to school, I come home and feed my starter around 8:30 am, so it has all day to ferment. While I’m preparing dinner at 5 pm, I start making the dough. Over the course of the evening I do my stretch and folds and just before bed at 10 to 11 pm, I place the banneton baskets in the fridge. I bake the bread anywhere around noon to one the next day.

There is nothing like the smell of baking bread in a home!

I snapped this picture to the right with a loaf of my bread on my new thrifted wooden cutting board. I was so thrilled to find this board and I absolutely have to write a future blog post about all the marvelous thrifted items I’ve found lately. It’s my new passion along with baking bread.

If you know me, I had to take off my sunglasses to have this picture taken. (see sunglasses on my kitchen island) Although I’ve been making sourdough bread for almost a year now, every single time I’m thrilled and amazed that this came out of my oven.

And I made it!

Here’s what one of the loaves looks like inside….nice and soft with lots of holes. Victoria below is enjoying a piece of sourdough with some soy cheese. My FAVOURITE way to eat sourdough bread is toasted in the morning with a mashed avocado and an egg on top. Yummy, yummy….although lately I’ve been eating this delicious feast at noon since I’m also into intermittent fasting, which I HAVE to blog about as well ’cause everyone around me is sick of hearing about how wonderful I feel eating only two meals a day. My first one is often at noon with the above mentioned treat.

Victoria above loves the days I make my sourdough bread. Here she is eating a piece with some soy cheese.

Well that is it my dear blogging family. I’ve finally shared my simple sourdough bread recipe. In a way, I’ve brought you into my kitchen, into my home and given you a piece of what I love doing; feeding my family and caring for others. It’s been such a long time since I’ve written and writing this post today reminds me that it’s something I enjoy too. I don’t know if anyone will read it but it was fun to share and I know our family often refer to my blog to to retrieve old family favourite recipes. I also feel like it’s a good way to record our family life. This can be thought of as the time mom learned to bake really great bread!

And what about you? What’s your latest passion? What have you been spending your time doing?

In going through your days have you been asking the big question, “what is my purpose in life?” Or maybe you’re asking, “what is this life all about anyway?” If you have, I want to end this post with something that resonates with me. I hope it helps you remember that the best way we can help each other on this earth is keeping things simple. Making sourdough bread may not be a life changing event, but it’s one way to show others that they are loved. I hope you like this little, “Note to Self,” piece and come back to visit me again.

Until we connect again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

P.S. I want to thank my sister J for sharing her sourdough starter with me. Every time I make it I feel so blessed to have a sister like her!

(I actually have three so I’m triply blessed)