Sourdough

Lesson 6: Cheat Sheet for Making Sourdough Wheat and Rye Bread

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Once you’re baking regularly, you may find the full recipe for Sourdough Wheat and Rye Bread to be cumbersome. Here’s a cheat sheet you can keep by your side.

Making Sourdough Wheat and Rye Bread: At a Glance

Day One:  Feed Starter

  1. To 1/8 cup starter, add 1 tablespoon flour and the same weight water. When height doubles, add 1/8 cup flour with same weight water.

  2. When height doubles, return starter to refrigerator or make levain.

Day Two: Make Dough

  1. Combine levain, flour, barley malt and water. Rest, covered, 20 minutes to 1 hour. Add salt and knead 10 minutes.

  2. Shape boule, put into brotform or bowl, and proof, covered, 1-4 hours (depending on temperature).

  3. Transfer dough to refrigerator.

Day 3: Bake bread

  1. Preheat oven and pot to 450 degrees and take dough out of refrigerator.

  2. After 1 hour, sprinkle oats on bottom of loaf and score top. Spritz inside of pot twice in first 5 minutes of baking. Bake about 35 minutes more, or until 207 degrees.

  3. Remove bread from oven and cool before slicing.

Copyright, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

Lesson 7: Brotform

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A  brotform, or banneton (when lined), is a willow proofing basket that provides a beautiful and effective way to keep hand-shaped artisan loaves from spreading sideways as they proof. Dusted with rye flour, which best prevents sticking, the brotform keeps loaves rising upward, maintaining their shape and integrity and creating a circular pattern of flour that contrasts nicely with the scoring.

To prepare a brotform for use, pour 2-3 tablespoons of rye flour into the brotform and dust the inside until it’s thoroughly coated. Then pour off any loose flour. The first few times you do this it may be challenging to coat the brotform well, but over time this gets easier. Some people suggest oiling the brotform before flouring it for the first time, but I have had better results using flour alone.

To remove bread dough from a brotform, use your hands to loosen it around the edges and gently tip it into the baking pot. Then shake out the brotform, discarding any excess flour.

A brotform requires no regular washing and, in fact, water can work against good results; I suspect it washes away the microorganisms that help fermentation along. I do, however, gently scrape off any hardened flour using a spoon or chopstick. If the brotform develops mold, you can wash it in warm water and air dry it before beginning anew. Finally, store it in a drawer or cupboard for the next time you make bread.

For Sourdough Wheat & Rye Bread, an 8″ or 9″ brotform works best.

Copyright, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul