Sourdough Starter Help

As I've mentioned, my daughter and I took a class to learn how to make sourdough bread. It's been over a year now and my daughter has gone absolutely crazy for sourdough! She has perfected her recipe and I've changed the ratio's on my sourdough recipe to reflect those changes. 

I haven't made sourdough in several months - 4 or 5 - all the while my starter sat in my fridge. I have heard a million times that you can't kill your starter so I wasn't worried about it - until yesterday when I pulled it out of the fridge.

I poured it all out except for 50 grams. Then I fed it with 100 grams bread flour and 100 grams water. I let it sit overnight and when I woke up - there was absolutely NO PROGRESS!! Yikes!

I googled and researched and I came up with this: pour it all out except 50 grams. Then feed it with 50 grams bread flour and 50 grams warm water. A 1:1:1 ratio. It will take a few days of feeding with that ratio for it to come around again. It needs to be kept at a temperature between 70 - 78 degrees, so I put it in my oven with the oven light on. 

Feed every 12 hours. Keep using the 1:1:1 ratio. Keep on counter - DO NOT PUT BACK IN THE FRIDGE.

SIGNS OF LIFE:
Bubbles throughout (not just on top)
A mild tangy or yeasty smell
Any rise at all, even 25 - 50%

WHEN IT'S READY TO BAKE AGAIN:

Your starter is ready when it DOUBLES in 4 to 6 hours at room temp

Has a domed top that eventually just starts to flatten

smells pleasantly yeasty

WHEN TO WORRY:

Toss if you see: pink/orange streaks, fuzzy mold (green, black, white fuzz) 

Croissant Sourdough

Croissant Sourdough

I followed my traditional Sourdough recipe HERE with the following exceptions...

Stretch and Folds: After the dough has rested, you will perform a series of “stretch and folds” over the next 1 ½ hours. The goal is to strengthen the dough through a gentle kneading process. You will also add cold butter into the dough during this process which will be evenly dispersed throughout the dough through the folds.

To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach around the dough down to the bottom of the bowl, pull the dough up and over and place it on top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more quarter turn, stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside. Take note of how the dough feels through this process. It will go from feeling a little shaggy to smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl and wait about 30 minutes in between stretch and folds.

Stretch and fold #1: After 30 minutes, perform your first set of stretch and folds. Cover the dough and let rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold #2: After 30 minutes, grate the cold butter. Put half of the grated butter on top of the dough. The other half of the butter should be placed in the refrigerator to chill until the next set of folds. Stretch and fold the dough again, incorporating the flakes of butter into the dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold #3: 30 minutes later, add the rest of the butter to the top of the dough. Stretch and fold again. The butter will continue dispersing throughout the dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold #4: After 30 minutes do your final set of stretch and folds. You should notice the dough feeling more cohesive and strong. If your dough still feels loose, add in another couple stretch and folds to help strengthen and tighten the gluten strands.

Rest: Cover the dough and let rise for 6-7 more hours. You will know the dough is ready to shape when the dough has risen about 70%, jiggles when you shake the bowl and has scattered bubbles visible on the sides and top.

These stretches and folds are different because the wait time in between is 30 minutes, there are 4 stretch and folds and I usually proof my sourdough overnight in the oven but with this recipe it's important to keep the butter cold - you want your dough temperature to be between 68-70 degrees.

Pre-shape: Tip the bowl upside down, allowing the dough to fall onto a clean counter surface. Be gentle to avoid degassing the dough as much as possible. Wet your hands and the bench knife if needed and push the bench knife under the dough on one side and your free hand on the other side to tuck the dough under itself. The goal is to introduce some tension into the dough. Repeat this process, going around in a circle until you have a ball of dough.

Bench Rest: Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten a little as it sits. This allows the gluten in the dough to relax and prepares the dough to be shaped.
Shaping: Prepare a bowl or banneton. Place a kitchen towel or hair net in the bowl and liberally flour as needed. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough. Using a bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop – floured side down. This ensures that the flour is staying mainly on the outside of the dough.

Going around in a circle, pull the dough sideways towards you and then fold up to the top of the round. Move 90 degrees and repeat the same process pulling the dough sideways and then folding up to the top. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and place into a lined bowl.

Note: It is possible to shape the dough without any extra flour. The dough can stick to the kitchen towel but doesn't stick to the hair nets if cold proofed.

Cold Fermentation: Cover the dough with the tea towel and refrigerate overnight or up to 12-18 hours.

*If you want to bake the same day, you can let the dough rise for about 2-3 hours until puffed up and risen. Chill the loaf in the refrigerator for an hour or two – or stick in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to chill the butter in the dough before baking.

Preheat the oven: Put a dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 450°F for 20 minutes. You are working with high temperatures, so make sure you have some good hot pads. Once preheated for 20 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the covering. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. Flip the dough over so it is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and the kitchen towel.

Scoring: Score the dough. Take the bread lame and score on one side of the dough, at a shallow angle about 30º and 1 inch deep. Score straight from the refrigerator on the cold dough for best results.

Baking: Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 450°F oven. Take the lid off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Put the lid on and put back in the oven. Lower the temperature to 425°F and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, take the lid off the Dutch oven and continue baking for **10 minutes until the bread is baked through and reaches 195-200ºF temperature. Remove the Dutch oven and let the bread cool on a baking rack. Enjoy!

Note: Butter will leak out of the dough as it bakes at these high temperatures. It gives a buttery, crispy crust that is delicious – make sure you use parchment paper on the bottom of the pot so it doesn't make a mess everywhere.

**Next time I will try 5-10 uncovered

Sourdough Bread

My daughter, Maisie and I went to a "how to make sourdough" class a couple months ago and we are obsessed. She's a little more obsessed than I am! It was so fun - I really wish I would've taken all 3 of my daughters with me!

We've made sourdough several times since then and we keep getting our little sheet of paper out to remind us how the steps and the recipe go - so I decided just to type it up so we can see it here for convenience!

FEED: You need to feed your starter a couple of days before making the sourdough. Use the ratio 1:1:1 100 g starter, 100 g warm water, 100 g bread flour.

NIGHT routine before you want delicious bread the next evening.

An hour or so before you want to use your starter, set it out on the counter to bring it to room temperature. You would've fed it recently in the week, so it should be bubbly through the glass on the sides.

Get out your food scale. Place your bowl on top and zero out in grams. Add the first ingredient and zero out each time for precise measurements.

ADD:

100 g of starter

360 g of warm water
Next, mix these ingredients together with a fork until well combined

Add wet to dry
520 g bread flour (approx 3 cups)

2 tsp salt

Mix everything together with your fork until all the loose flour is off the sides of the bowl. It's going to be extremely sticky and not look like very smooth manageable dough. Get your fingers wet and mix just a little bit, but don't overdo it because you're going to get your hands covered in dough. Let it just sit as is for 10 minutes covered.

Come back to it after the 10 minutes with some water on your fingertips and work it into a ball inside the bowl, but only until your hands start to get sticky again, which will only be a few seconds later. Cover it again.

Leave it alone again for another 30 minutes.

When you come back to it, do more of a stretch and fold type of maneuvering with your dough. Cover the bowl & wait another 30 minutes and do another stretch and fold round. This is helping get the air pockets inside & rise higher. I found when I do at least 3 rounds of the above with 30 minutes in between, it rises larger.

So, basically from the time you made the dough until the end of all the stretch and fold rounds, it's been like an hour and a half - 2 hours.

Keep it covered and leave it on the counter overnight for 10 - 12 hours.

MORNING:

Flour the counter and take your dough out of the bowl from rising. Gently shape into a ball and dust your proofing basket with flour. Tighten the shape of the dough and make it into a soft round circle. Place the dough smooth side down into the proofing basket so the seam side that you created when tightening it is facing up.

Cover with your towel and put it in your fridge for up to 8 hours or leave out on the counter if your going to cook between 4-6 hours later.

Once you're ready to bake, take the bread out of the fridge while you are warming up your oven to bring it more to room temperature. Pre heat to 500 degrees.

Once the oven is up to temperature, you need to score the top of your bread. Put a piece of square parchment paper or silicone baking slind over your proofing basket and flip the bread over softly so now your smooth side is up and you can get it ready to put it in the Dutch oven. Go ahead and score it with a razor. Score from the bottom up when doing designs. Your first score needs to be deep.

Place your dough in the Dutch oven with the lid on and then immediately turn the temperature down to 450 degrees. Bake 20 minutes covered.

Now, after it's been covered for 20 minutes, you're going to want to take the lid off and continue baking for about 20 minutes more.

When i take the Dutch oven out of the oven, I immediately take my bread out to cool on a rack.

22 hour process:
10-12 hours rise
4-5 counter or up to 6-7 in fridge proofing
1 bake
2 hour rest