Guess what? I’ve been baking a bunch of sourdough at home. And by “a bunch”, I mean three loaves over about three weeks.

I’ve tried making sourdough before, but never got anything that resembled a raised bread. It was always super dense. Bad yeast I guess? Bad process, more likely. A good builder doesn’t blame their tools, do they?

Anyway, I wanted to try my hand at it again. But didn’t want to go to the trouble of making my own starter. So I posted online on my neighborhood group asking if anyway would give me some castoff the next time they fed their starter. And I got several responses! So I went and grabbed some starter from a neighbor, and here we are.

I think there are a couple things that are making a big difference in my bread:

1. Don’t over knead it

2. Lots of time in autolyse, proofing, and aging in the fridge. It can take up to 48 hours from when you start before a loaf is ready to put in the oven.

3. Piping hot oven: start baking at 505, then reduce heat to 465.

4. Lots of steam: I’ve been using the “baking tray full of steaming towels” trick and I find it gives a more consistent, more constant steam during baking.

5. Let it completely cool before slicing it. Otherwise it’s not fully baked yet.

The recipe I’m using results in a nice, chewy loaf with good structure, and a nice crisp crust. It’s good enough that we haven’t bought any sandwich bread since I started baking. It’s not that sour though! I’ll try letting it age and ferment a little longer in the fridge and see if that helps. I wonder whether the starter I got doesn’t have a little bit of active yeast in it.

Recipe

Ingredients

• starter, 0.5 c
• flour, 4 c
• water, 1.3 c
• salt, 2 ts

Steps:

• feed your starter and leave it out overnight so it gets good n micheal buble

• whisk 0.5 c starter into 1.3 c warm water until it is mixed and aerated.

• autolyse! add the flour and the salt. stir briefly to (mostly) combine into a very shaggy dough. cover with damp towel. let rest for an hour.

• stretch-n-fold! face north. breathe deeply and elongate your spine. wet your fingers with cold water. stretch and fold dough in each of the four cardinal directions. cover with damp towel and wait 20 minutes. repeat for a total of 4 stretch-n-folds

• proof! cover with damp towel and rest for 6 - 12 hours

• roll out the dough, sprinkle with flour, flip it over. gather up and pinch all the sides and corners to shape the dough into a cute little ball. flip it over and scoop it into an even tighter even cuter ball.

• place a towel in a bowl and flour it generously. add cute ball, smooth side down (pinched side up). cover with plastic wrap to prevent drying out, and refrigerate for 24 - 36 hours

• bring dough to room temp. preheat oven (with iron skillet¹ and baking stone) to 505. let it continue to heat for 60 minutes.

• turn dough out onto parchment paper. score lightly where lightly = 1/8 inches deep

• steamers: pour boiling water over a baking sheet full of tightly rolled towels. add to bottom rack. add 2 cups ice to skillet also on bottom rack. add dough (still on parchment paper) to baking stone.

• after 20 minutes, remove steamers. reduce heat to 465. continue to bake for 20 - 30 minutes until deeply brown

• remove from oven and let completely cool before slicing. seriously, leave it alone.

• enjoy