Tyler’s Sourdough Method
There are as many methods of making sourdough as there are bakers, and there are some STRONG opinions on sourdough methods in the baking community. Don’t let that intimidate you! Try different methods until you find one you like. This is my method! It creates a large boule, with a fairly strong sour flavor, large air pockets, and a perfectly crunchy crust!
*This assumes you already have at least a moderate grasp on bread making. Eventually I will do a video on this and take more pictures of the actual process so you can get a better idea of what I’m talking about in some of these directions, but for now, here is my written method.
Feeding Your Starter
This is operating on the assumption you already have a mature starter. If you don’t, you will need to take a week or so to create your own. I like the King Arthur starter if you don’t want to take the time to make your own.
25g Established Starter
50g Rye Flour
50g All-Purpose Flour
100g Room Temp Water
Directions
Discard all but 25g of your established starter, and using a kitchen scale, measure in the rye and all-purpose flour, then the water. Mix to incorporate. Keep out at room temp in a covered vessel.
My Notes
Feed your starter every day, ideally at the same time each day. It will rise and then fall - feed it once it’s on its way down. I like a glass container for this purpose - you can easily see it as it rises and begins to fall. There should be bubbles reaching the top of the starter.
There are lots of vessels you can use to hold your starter. Don’t use one with a tight fitting lid as you need the gas to escape. However, don’t use a towel either or your starter will develop a crust on top as it allows too much air. You can get a specific jar for this purpose (there are a lot of options out there), or simply use a large mason jar with the lid not fully on.
Use your discard whenever you can - it makes great English Muffins, pancakes, cookies, breads, pizza crust, and more! Check out the King Arthur site for a list of great discard recipes.
If you must, you can put it in the fridge, ideally no more than a week, but up to one month. If you wait that long, a liquid may appear on the top. DO NOT throw away your starter even then. You can stir that back in and continue to feed. Scrape off the top if it becomes crusty to get to your good starter below. Feed that good starter for at least 3 days before using in a recipe. It’s pretty hard to “ruin” a sourdough starter. However, if that liquid on top is pink, you will need to throw it away and begin a new starter as that indicates the presence of mold.
Your starter should smell sweet and a touch sour. It will smell like raw flour when you feed it, and you can tell its time to feed it again when it smells like sourdough.
You can increase the established started to 50g and increase the other amounts to 100g each if you need more starter for another recipe. Some recipes will call for a cup or more of starter, so you’ll need to increase your amount of starter so you have enough to perpetuate your starter on top of having enough for the recipe.
You also use only all-purpose flour if you don’t want to do the mix of all-purpose and rye. You can still get complex flavors out of a fully all-purpose starter. It can also be fun to split your starter into two jars and feed them in different ways and test them out. Keep trying different ways until you find exactly what you’re looking for!
Making Your Sourdough
Makes 2 Boules
Ingredients
Levain (100% Hydration)
40g Established Starter
40g Whole Wheat Flour
40g All-Purpose Flour
80g Room Temp Water
Final Dough (85% hydration)
900g Bread or All-Purpose Flour
100g Whole Wheat Flour
850g Water at 90°F (100g separated into a second bowl)
25g Salt (I do 20g of sea salt and 5g of kosher, but that’s because I’m crazy and I’m certain it doesn’t make any difference)
Example Schedule
8:00AM - Start Levain - Ferment for 5-6 hours, ideally at 78°
Mix all ingredients for your Levain and set aside to ferment in a small container with a lid. If you have a nice warm place in your kitchen, put it there. Or, if you really get into bread making, you may consider getting a proofing box.
11:30AM - Autolyse Dough
Mix your flour and 750g of the water for the final dough in a separate, very large container. It is a lot of dough and it will expand to at least double its size.
1:00PM - Mix Dough with Levain Only
Pour the Levain over the dough, stipple with your fingers, and then use the pincer method to fully incorporate.
1:30PM - Add Salt to the Dough & Begin Bulk Ferment
Sprinkle the salt over the dough, pour the remaining 100g of water on the top, and then use the pincer method to full incorporate the salt into the dough.
1:45PM - Begin Folds
Perform 6 folds in the next 3 hours. Do 3 folds at 15 minute intervals, and then 3 folds at 30 minute intervals.
6:00PM - Split & Shape Dough
After bulk ferment, pull out dough, split in two, and shape into loose boules.
6:30PM - Shape Into Loaves & Begin Cold Proof
There are many ways to shape your loaves, so feel free to try out different methods. Once shaped, place in bannetons (covered with rice flour), put into 2-gallon Zip-Lock Bags, and cold proof in the fridge for 12-16 hours.
*NEXT DAY*
8:00AM - Bake in Dutch Oven
Place dutch oven in oven and preheat to 500°F. Dust dutch oven with rice flour, and very carefully, place into dutch oven. Bake at 500°F for 20 minutes with the lid on, and then remove the lid and bake for another 20-25 mins at 450°F. Bake until bien cuit, or “well done” in French, which means the outside has a well caramelized, crunchy crust. Allow to cool on a cooling rack, and then slice & eat! Repeat with second boule.
My Notes
My recipe calls for 1000g of flour to make it easy to try out different amounts. I like the 90/10 of bread flour to whole wheat flour, but you can do more whole wheat if you like. Try half all-purpose and half bread flour, all bread flour, etc. It may need a touch more water and time if you do more whole wheat, but as long as you keep the total at 1000g of total flour, you should be good.
Storage is always a toss up. You can have bread bags which are made of fabric and they allow the bread to breathe. This leaves the crust nice and crusty, but the inside of the bread also becomes harder faster. Alternatively, you can do plastic bags, which keep the inside nice and soft, but you loose your crusty crust in about a day.
Kerry Gold butter takes this bread to the next level. It’s also makes great lunch sandwiches.
You can freeze your second boule and it keeps well. I wrap it in aluminum foil and then place in a freezer safe 2-gallon Ziplock bag. Get it out a day before you plan to use it and let it come to room temp. If you need it faster, leave the aluminum foil on and place in the oven at 200°F for about 30 minutes, and keep checking on it until it’s fully defrosted.