I have made a couple of breads in the past, but never one that yielded a typical bread you’d use for sandwiches. For whatever reason, I’ve always been very intimidated by the whole bread making process. I recently visited a friend that loves to bake bread and she assured me it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I was imagining. So, after putting it off for a couple of months, I finally decided to try!
I decided to make a sourdough bread, because it is a relatively simple recipe. The hardest part is the whole waiting aspect of it. I found this recipe on King Arthur Flour’s website and used their sourdough starter to make the bread (rather than making my own starter which can take a week). My interest in baking bread was well timed, ZWILLING‘s Knife of the Month for March is the ZWILLING Pro 8″ Bread Knife, and they were kind enough to offer to not only let me try one of the knives out, but are also offering one to give away! Details after the recipe.
ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS knives are no joke, they are great quality knives made in Germany for over 280 years. When I moved out on my own, my mom actually bought me a set of ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS knives to get my kitchen started, and I still use them daily!
The ZWILLING Pro 8″ Bread Knife has a serrated edge that effortlessly cuts through hard bread crusts, and cuts neat slices due to its aggressive long prongs. The knife is forges from one single piece of steel, is ice-hardened, and is hand sharpened and polished. The knife is dishwasher safe, but it’s suggested you hand wash it to keep it in great shape longer (dishwashers are really tough on knives).
If using an already made sourdough starter, you’ll have to “feed” the starter prior to starting this recipe. This process takes about 24 hours so be sure to do that ahead of time.
Once the sourdough starter is ready, add 1 cup of the “fed” sourdough starter, 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons instant yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 1/s teaspoons salt, and 5 cups unbleached all purpose flour to a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix on low until combined.
Cover the bowl and allow to rise for about 90 minutes, until it’s doubled in size.
Gently divide the dough in half. It’ll deflate a bit.
Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves. Add the loaves to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 425°F.
Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.
Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each loaf using a serrated bread knife.
Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.
So I’m not really sure if I let my dough rise as much as I should have but I am still so pleased with the results. I can’t believe I made bread!
The bread has a nice crust with a chewy center. It has a subtle tanginess to it which is the signature of sourdough bread. The ZWILLING Pro Bread Knife cut through the crust perfectly without squashing the inside with ease!
This is a sponsored post from ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS. All opinions expressed are my own.
Because this recipe made two loaves, I wrapped one in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and put it in the freezer once it was fully cooled. It’s so nice to know homemade bread is waiting for us in our freezer when we are done with this loaf!
To enter the giveaway, use the widget below. Good luck!
If using an already made sourdough starter, you’ll have to “feed” the starter prior to starting this recipe. This process takes about 24 hours so be sure to do that ahead of time.
Once the sourdough starter is ready, add 1 cup of the “fed” sourdough starter, 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons instant yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 1/s teaspoons salt, and 5 cups unbleached all purpose flour to a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix on low until combined.
Cover the bowl and allow to rise for about 90 minutes, until it’s doubled in size.
Gently divide the dough in half. It’ll deflate a bit.
Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves. Add the loaves to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 425°F.
Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.
Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each loaf using a serrated bread knife.
Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.
If your bread does not sound hollow and feels heavy, chances are it's not cooked through properly and you need to leave it in the oven for longer. The caveat here is that if your sourdough bread is under fermented, it will not sound hollow because it will not cook through completely.
Compared to whole wheat flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient- and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means it produces slack, sticky, and dense doughs.
There are many indicators but the most reliable is to accurately measure the percentage rise in the dough. However, in my experience, the percent rise is temperature dependent. When bulk fermenting at a dough temperature of 80F/28C, I look for a 30-35% rise in the dough.
It strikes a perfect balance of softness and structure, making it an ideal choice for various recipes. Due to its wide availability and affordability, all-purpose flour is often my top recommendation for creating and maintaining a sourdough starter.
You can usually tell whether your sourdough is under fermented as soon as you take it out of the Dutch Oven. If it's looking smaller than it should (that is, it's lacking oven spring) and feels heavy when you pick it up, chances are you've not allowed it enough time in bulk fermentation.
Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside. Trying reducing the temperature you're baking at and bake for a bit longer. Experiment until you find the sweet spot, and take notes along the way.
You can make sourdough with all-purpose or “plain” flour, but you will get better results with higher protein flours like “bread flour” or “strong flour” which typically have about 12.5% protein. All-purpose flours have about 11% (or lower) protein.
*If making sourdough is new for you, do not be discouraged if you starter takes longer to get active than mine – stick with it, it will happen! *Tap water is usually fine, if you are not sure, use boiled and cooled water, you can use it at room temperature or cool; do not use distilled water.
Distilled water might seem like a good option, but it's actually not great for your little yeasty friends. They need some minerals and stuff that are usually filtered out in the distillation process. So go for filtered or bottled water instead, and your starter will be living its best life in no time.
You can absolutely leave sourdough bread to rise overnight - but as always - there are some things you'll need to do to make sure that your bread is successful with an overnight ferment.
The loaf is also inclined to over spring resulting in a crumb with big, random, holes or channels running through the loaf. If you over-ferment the dough you run the risk of the gluten structure degrading and the loaf turning into a puddle of goo before your eyes, never to be retrieved and destined for the bin.
As your dough proofs, the good bacteria eats up sugars and starches in the flour. This decreases the sweet undertone and creates a more sour undertone. The longer you ferment, the more starches and sugars the bacteria eats, and the more sour your bread will be.
There are two main acids produced in a sourdough culture: lactic acid and acetic acid. Acetic acid, or vinegar, is the acid that gives sourdough much of its tang. Giving acetic acid-producing organisms optimal conditions to thrive and multiply will produce a more tangy finished product.
So don't leave your dough in a warm oven, on a radiator or in sunlight. It will likely be too warm and will dry out your dough too. Instead, find a cosy spot, with no drafts, for your dough to rise. And, if your sourdough starter is struggling to get going, consider finding it a warmer spot too.
In my experience, the shortest final proof (at room temperature) that I prefer to do is one hour. The longest final proof (at room temperature) is about 3 hours. When going past 2-3 hours in a final proof, the crumb tends to get very gassy and opens up large gas bubbles with a longer countertop proof.
Introduction: My name is Duane Harber, I am a modern, clever, handsome, fair, agreeable, inexpensive, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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