Sourdough Bread

 

This is a sourdough recipe I ever-so-slightly adapted from Shaye Elliott of The Elliott Homestead She uses Einkorn flour in her recipe over in Washington, but here in Nova Scotia, Einkorn flour isn't readily available (you'd have to order it online). 

I just use the Robin Hood All Purpose Unbleached flour because I find it works best, but one day I'm hoping to be able to adapt the recipe again to be reeeeaaally good with our New Brunswick Speerville Whole White so it's both local and has a higher nutrient density (or have a root cellar and a countertop flour mill so I can import Einkorn berries). 

To get started you'll want to make your own dry sourdough starter and once you have that we're ready to start baking bready baybee!

Items You Will Need

• non-metallic bowl
• kitchen scale
• wooden spoon
• tea towel or proofing cover
• proofing basket
• sourdough sling
• paring knife
• dutch oven
• oven mitts

You start with the levain (how you prep the sourdough starter before you're ready to bake with it) which I will re-list again here:

Levain

30 grams of starter 
130 grams of warm water
120 grams of unbleached flour

mix in a bowl with a fork and let sit covered at room temperature for 6-12 hours
(I usually let mine sit overnight)

Sourdough

315 grams of warm water
2 tsp of salt
600 grams of unbleached flour

1. to the same bowl add 315 grams of warm water, stir with a wooden spoon to combine, add 2 teaspoons of salt and stir with a wooden spoon to combine, then add 600 grams of unbleached flour and stir with a wooden spoon to combine, finishing off by lightly mixing together with your hands. 
   
   
2. cover and set aside for 20 minutes.
   
   
3. stretch and fold the dough over itself until it becomes a bit tight to work with, cover and set aside for 20 minutes (repeat this three times).
   
   
4. cover and set aside, proofing for 3-5 hours (or until it about doubles in size). 
   
   
5. dump onto a lightly floured surface, stretch and fold, then shape into a round loaf, transfer to a floured proofing basket and cover for 1 hour while pre-heating your oven (with the empty Dutch oven inside) at 475 degrees Fahrenheit. 
   
   
6. flip the unbaked loaf onto a sourdough sling, slice the top of the loaf however you want and place the sourdough sling into the hot dutch oven. 
   
   
7. Bake covered for 30 mins, then uncovered for 15.
   
   
8. Allow to cool for 2 hours.

You can make this as artisanal of a process as you want, perfecting and tweaking each step and drawing elaborate images on the bread with your paring knife before baking, or you can simply get it done for the sake of having made sourdough bread: the choice is completely yours. 

Natasha MacIsaac