Celebrating sourdough in #SourdoughSeptember!
Home-baked sourdough bread has had a real renaissance over the last few years – and it’s easy to see why. The combination of wonderful flavour, a glorious crisp crust and the softer texture inside is a winner every time and you can’t beat a slice of freshly baked sourdough with butter and homemade jam!
Successful sourdoughs – thanks to a simple recipe!
There’s a myth that baking sourdough is ‘technical’ – and it’s true, lots of chefs make great play of ‘hydration levels’, ‘autolysing’ and other terms guaranteed to send most of us running for the hills. The reality though is it doesn’t have to be difficult. Even better, once you’ve got the hang of it, baking sourdough regularly can easily fit into most household routines. Thanks to a foolproof method from the delightfully straightforward Elaine Boddy (AKA @elaine_foodbod - sourdough maker, baker, teacher and cookbook writer) we think we’ve got it down to a fine art….
Getting started with sourdough doesn’t need to be complicated
The only ‘can’t bake without it’ item for sourdough loaves is a healthy sourdough starter. You can buy dried starter, all ready for re-hydrating, or you can make your own. For everything else, while specialist equipment is available, you can get started using just ordinary mixing bowls, a few other items from your kitchen and a Dutch oven or Le Creuset-style deep casserole.
Sourdough timings that work around your day
The one thing sourdough needs is time. You need to feed your starter, then leave it to bubble. Then you need to make your dough, leave it for a bit in the bowl, do several sets of ‘pulls and folds’ (the sourdough equivalent of kneading), leave for several hours longer and then bake. That could be really daunting and inconvenient – but it’s another reason why finding this master recipe was such a revelation. There are timetables all worked out for making sourdough to fit around your day, whether that involves going out to work, starting a bake in the morning or in the evening or just having your sourdough ready to bake at convenient point during a day.
The other great news is you start the bake in a cold oven so you don’t even have to remember to heat up the oven in advance.
Our favourite sourdough master recipe
You can make sourdough with a huge variety of different flours, but it’s good to have a foolproof standby recipe with detailed instructions as your starting point and then you can have fun experimenting from there. The basic ingredients are really simple:
50g starter
350g water
500g strong white bread flour
Salt to taste (min approx 1 tsp)
It’s the method we use and it works for us every time! We’d love to hear how you get on when you start your sourdough journey. Just tag us (@figura.co.uk) in your posts on social media.