Sourdough Bread

Make your own sourdough bread. We are selling our winter wheat berries, so why not spread the joy of sourdough bread baking? When we travel, we are always anxious to return home to our bread because….let’s face it…there is nothing better than homemade sourdough.

Yield— 1 loaf of sourdough

Time— It takes about 48 hours to make, but only about 40 minutes of hands on time.

First thing in the morning, feed your starter (always feed equal parts starter/water/ flour— see instructions with sourdough starter for more info).

Let it rest until it’s active. This will take several hours. You’ll know it’s ready when it’s bubbly and has grown in size.

Get out scale and large mixing bowl.

Measure and mix (in this order)

—100 g of starter (refrigerate the rest for next week— if you have extra, you can find tons of fun recipes which utilize the ‘discard’).

—300 g warm water 

—350 g of bread or AP flour

—50 g whole wheat flour 

—10 g salt 

You can mix with a spoon or with your freshly cleaned, still damp hands. 

Cover with a towel and let rest on the counter for 30 minutes. 

Wash and use your still damp hands and turn the dough every half hour or so. It isn’t exact. Do this for 2-3 hours. You can be flexible. 

Leave alone and let rest for several more hours, until the dough has doubled in size. It’ll be bubbly. 

Cover with a towel and refrigerate over night. 

In the morning, rub olive oil on your Dutch oven and pull the mixing bowl out of the fridge. The dough will be easy to handle when chilled. Sprinkle a little flour onto the top of the dough and use your hand to ease it onto the counter, flour side down. 

Slip your fore fingers under the dough and pull it up and over itself to form it into a ball. Cover and let it rest on the counter for 1/2 hour. This is called the bench rest. 

Sprinkle a little flour on top. Flip the dough onto its back and form into a tight ball again. Transition the shaped dough (smooth side up) into the oiled Dutch oven. 

At this point, you have a choice. You can preheat the oven to 500, score ( a fancy word for slice it a few times) the dough (with a razor or knife) and let the dough rise a little while the oven preheats. I do this on top of the oven, so it’ll absorb some heat from the oven. 

Or you can put the Dutch oven back into the fridge so the bread can chill again. It’s easier to score pretty designs into the bread when it’s cold. If you go this route, you can prolong your bake until you’re ready. You can really use the fridge to make your baking time flexible. Just be sure your Dutch oven isn’t cold when you put it in the 500 degree oven!!

Baking instructions: 

Put the Dutch oven in with the lid on at 500. Immediately lower it to 475. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Remove the lid and continue baking for 20 more minutes. The top should be golden brown. 

Once it’s done, pop it out of the Dutch oven immediately and let it cool thoroughly on a rack.