“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”

– Robert Browning.

Dip even a toe into the sourdough bread-making pool and you’ll quickly be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of opinions. And advice. And rules. And myths, and traditions, and downright fallacies. Indeed, I could write a whole blog just on sourdough, as many have. (For one of my favorites, check out The Perfect Loaf.)

I honestly had no idea when I started my starter – more on that in a moment – what I was getting myself into. Or how much I would love it. Or how hard but gratifying it would be. Or how much it would teach me about myself. I suspect I’m still far from my perfect loaf, but it’s a pretty fascinating, if sometimes maddening, journey getting there. Unlike most things where if I’m not good at it right away I give up, sourdough requires patience and practice and I’m along for the ride.

The Starter

I mixed a whole bunch of expensive bread flour with a grated Granny Smith apple and some water, as per Paul Hollywood’s instructions in How to Bake. When my starter – dubbed Eustacia – doubled in growth overnight, I was beside myself with joy. It was working! I had an instantly successful starter! We’d be eating sourdough by the weekend!

Ah, isn’t ignorance bliss? Once I got a good whiff of Eustacia – and literally gagged – I suspected my starter might not be so successful after all. She was the epitome of putrescence. Imagine vomit crossed with dirty socks, add in a soupçon of raw sewage, and you’ve got Eustacia on day 2. After conducting a little research I discovered that what I had wasn’t yeast at all, but merely an explosion of the “bad” bacteria you usually get at the beginning stages of a starter, until the environment is acidic enough for the “good” bacteria – the lactobacilli – to grow. (And, as I also learned, neither the huge amount of flour, nor the apple, were necessary. I got properly schooled on that by one of the sourdough “experts” on one of the forums. At least I had the sense on my own to immediately question Mr. Hollywood’s advice to seal the container so it was airtight. I didn’t do this beyond day one because I was pretty sure it was going to explode.)

After (a lot of) further research, I decided to hang in there and hope that Eustacia would outgrow her foul, stinky stage with continued flour/water feedings. In the meantime, I put together another starter using pineapple juice and whole wheat flour after reading the fascinating study from microbiologist and baker Debra Wink (read Part I of her study here and Part II here). While this new starter – Lucrezia – bypassed the stinky stage entirely (thanks to the pineapple juice), she wasn’t doing much else.

My old smelly friend Eustacia, meanwhile, completely flattened out but continued to reek. Only now, in addition to her normal nasty odor was the sharpness of nail polish remover, thanks to the “hooch” (a thin layer of alcohol) that had formed. We were on day 9 and that cider-y, pleasantly yeasty smell I was told to expect was nowhere to be found. In fact, I was beginning to doubt how anything so foul-smelling could ever turn into a usable starter. This was it. Eustacia had one more day to get it together or I was pitching her in the trash and giving all of my love to Lucrezia.

Well. On day 10, Eustacia turned it around. Not only did she start to bubble and grow, but suddenly (suddenly, ha! it was day 10 – remember what I said about patience?) there was more than a hint of a lovely, beery sort of scent wafting up. She doubled in size after the morning feeding and continued to smell lovelier and lovelier each and every day after that. And funnily enough, though Lucrezia – the starter begun with pineapple juice – grew just fine and turned into a nice-enough starter – she’s never smelled as aromatic as Eustacia grew to be.

The Bread

Never one to start small, I jumped right in with Chad Robertson’s techniques and Tartine Bakery’s famous Country Bread. It is quite the production number, I’m not gonna lie. You’ve got to plan ahead – two weeks if you don’t have a starter, two days if you do – and really bone up on your proof-detection and loaf-shaping.

Reality Bakes

I will admit, my loaves were anything but beautiful the first time, and the bottoms got a tad bit singed. But the crumb was gorgeous and the flavor perfectly tangy, thanks to three-week-old (and lovely-smelling) Eustacia being used to build the leaven. I attempted some loaves again a few weeks later – with Eustacia once more – and was more successful with the shaping, though still not great at it. My loaves came out pretty lumpy, and I definitely need to practice scoring. The flavor was marvelous, though, and the crust and crumb looked great.

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Tartine Sourdough Country Bread

This bread from Tartine Bakery in San Francisco is beyond wonderful. We can all thank Mr. Chad Robertson and his techniques for developing such a beautiful sourdough, with its thick, caramelized crust and tangy interior. Even better, it keeps for up to a week. If you already have an active starter ready to go, plan on two days to prep and bake. If you need to create a starter, plan on two weeks. (Mr. Robertson actually likes a young starter with this recipe.) 

Prep Time 2 days days

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 days days 40 minutes minutes

Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients

For the starter (if not using already active starter):

• 1000 grams bread flour
• 1000 grams whole wheat flour
• 100 grams warm water (80 degrees)

For the leaven:

• Warm water

For the bread dough:

• 200 grams leaven
• 900 grams bread flour
• 100 grams whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
• 20 grams fine sea salt
• 100 grams rice flour

Instructions

Make the starter (if not using already active starter) - Begin two weeks before baking:

• Mix the bread flour and whole wheat flour. Put 100 grams of 80-degree water in a container and add 100 grams of the flour mixture. Mix with your hand until thoroughly combined and the mixture is like a thick batter. Cover with a towel and let sit at room temperature until bubbles start to form around the sides and on the surface, and the mixture starts to puff up, usually 2 to 3 days. Reserve remaining flour mixture for feedings.
• Once starter begins to show activity, begin regular 24-hour feedings. For each feeding, keep 20 percent of the starter and feed with equal parts (50 grams) the bread flour-whole wheat flour mixture and the warm water. Discard remaining 80 percent of starter. When starter begins to ferment (rise and fall) predictably and smells a little sour, it’s ready to use in baking, usually after about 8-10 days, though it could take longer. Reserve remaining flour mixture to make the leaven.

Make the leaven:

• The night before you plan to bake, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the mature starter. Mix the remaining starter with 200 grams of warm water and stir with your hand. Add 200 grams of the bread flour-wheat flour mixture and combine well. Cover with a towel and let rest at room temperature for 10-16 hours. The leaven should puff up and become aerated in appearance. To test for readiness, drop a spoonful of leaven into a bowl of room-temperature water; if it floats it’s ready to use. If it doesn’t, give it more time to ferment. 

Make the dough:

• Pour 700 grams warm water into a large bowl. Add 200 grams of the leaven and stir with your hand to disperse. (Save the leftover leaven as the beginning of a new starter. Feed it daily as described above, or feed it weekly and keep it refrigerated in an airtight container or jar between feedings.) 
• Add 900 grams of bread flour and 100 grams of whole wheat flour to the bowl and use your hands to mix until no bits of dry flour remain. Don't worry if the dough is sticky. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rest for 25 to 40 minutes at room temperature.
• Add 20 grams fine sea salt and 50 grams warm water to the dough. Use hands to fold dough on top of itself to fully incorporate the salt and water. 
• Transfer dough to a medium container or bowl. Cover dough with a towel and transfer to a warm environment, 75 to 82 degrees ideally, for 30 minutes. 
• Begin the first of the folds, Chad Robertson's method for working the dough instead of kneading it. Dip your hand in water to prevent sticking and then fold dough by taking hold of the underside of the dough at one quadrant and stretching it up over the rest of the dough. Do this 3 more times, rotating bowl a quarter turn for each fold. Repeat every half-hour for 2 1/2 hours more. After three hours, the dough should be billowy and soft and you'll see an increase in volume of 20 to 30 percent. If not, continue to let rise and fold for up to one hour more.
• Transfer dough to a work surface and dust only the top lightly with flour. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces with a dough scraper and flip the floured sides face down. Work each piece into a round using the scraper and one hand, building tension while you rotate it. The dough should have a taut, smooth surface when done. Place the rounds on a work surface, cover with a towel, and let rest 30 minutes.
• Mix 100 grams whole wheat flour with 100 grams rice flour. Line two 10- to 12-inch bowls with towels, or use bannetons. Dust flour mixture generously on the towels or banneton linings. Reserve remaining flour mixture.
• Dust rounds with whole wheat flour. Using a dough scraper, flip rounds over carefully so that floured sides are facing down. Starting with one round, and at the side closest to you, gently stretch the bottom 2 corners of the dough down toward you, then fold them up into the middle third of the dough. Repeat this action on the right and left sides, pulling the edges out and folding them in over the middle. Finally, lift the top corners up and fold down over previous folds. (Imagine you're creating an envelope.) Roll dough over so the seamed side becomes the loaf's bottom. Shape into a smooth, taut ball. Repeat with other round.
• Transfer each round to the prepared bowls or baskets, smooth side down and with seam facing up. Cover with a towel and return dough rounds to a warm (75- to 82-degree) environment for 3 to 4 hours. (You can also allow dough to rise in refrigerator for 10 to 12 hours but be sure to bring it back to room temperature before baking.)
• About twenty to thirty minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 500 degrees and warm a Dutch oven or oven-proof pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dust dough rounds while still in their bowls/baskets with whole wheat and rice-flour mixture. Carefully turn loaves into heated Dutch oven seam-side down. Using a lame, razor blade, or very sharp knife, score the top of the bread 2 to 3 times, then replace lid and transfer back to oven. Reduce temperature to 450 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove lid (watch out for steam) and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, until crust is a rich, deep golden brown color.
• Allow bread to cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when knocked. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees, dust out pot, heat for 10 minutes, then repeat same baking process with the second loaf.

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Chad Robertson, crumb, food playlist, sourdough, starter, Tartine Bakery

Sourdough Playlist