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Where white bread flour is cited in the following recipes, it is indeed important to use bread flour and not "all purpose" or cake flour. Bread flour contains more gluten than other flours, which helps to dough to rise and hold its rise. Unfortunately, this means these recipes are not appropriate for persons who have celiac disease.
In all cases, use either distilled water or boiled water that has been allowed to cool to room temperature. In most areas, tap water contains chlorine, which can deactivate yeast and the Lactobacillus bacteria that make bread sour. Boiling drives out the chlorine; distilled water should have no chlorine.
Use actvie dry yeast, not quick-rising dry yeast. These recipes all involve two rises, and quick-rising yeast is intended for recipes that involve only a single rise.
Maintaining the starter is my task.
Initially, my wife used a sourdough starter made from some yeast I bought at a local bakery. However, the results were just not sour enough for me. To get bread more sour, I mail-ordered sourdough starter from Breadtopia, which included not only yeast but also Lactobacillus bacteria. This harmless bacteria is what enhances the sourness of sourdough bread. Because the local weather was quite hot and the mail was slow, I ordered dehydrated starter and quite successfully reconstituted it.
I bought the book Beard on Bread by James Beard (2019 paperback edition, ISBN 0-679-75504-7). We adapted Beard's recipe on pages 70-72 to use with Breadtopia's starter, which I maintain according to Breadtopia's instructions.
After creating about 3 cups of sour starter in a large jar, I keep the sour starter in the refrigerator. I maintain it once each week.
Pour away any accumulated alcohol (a result of the yeast activity).
Remove a cup of the starter. Add the following:
1 cup white flour
¾ cup room-temperature water that has been boiled
Here, "all purpose" flour may be used as the starter is not expected to rise.
Blend the fresh flour and water into the existing starter with a dough whisk (pictured at the right). Leave the jar out at room temperature until the starter visibly increases in size. Then refrigerate.
When discarding the removed starter, DO NOT rinse it down the drain. It will likely clog the drain, resulting in a costly visit by a plumber. Instead, place it in the trash.
The Breadtopia Web site strongly advised against using fresh tap water because chlorine will harm the yeast and Lactobacillus bacteria. Instead, I use the left-over boiled water from a tea kettle that has cooled to room temperature. I do not use whole wheat flour, on which the yeast in the starter cannot be fully active while refrigerated.
Beard's instructions for the starter involves water and milk with total fluids exceeding the amount of flour. Breadtopia's instructions for maintaining its starter, however, provides for no milk and less water than flour. The result is a relatively stiff, doughy starter.
I loosely place a piece of Saran Wrap over the top of the jar to keep moisture in and other things (e.g., strange smells) out. DO NOT seal the jar. A sealed jar will either result in the starter dying from a lack of oxygen or (worse) the jar exploding from a buildup of CO2 (a by-product of yeast fermentation).
I only need a fresh loaf of bread every second or third week. If my wife baked sourdough bread several times each week, the starter would not be refrigerated; and it should then be maintained daily.
While I give some help, my wife is the primary baker in our house. I really like sour breads, which she bakes for me with some variety. Since I have type-2 diabetes, my doctor warned me to emphasize complex carbohydrates in any starches I eat. That means we mix whole wheat flour with refined white bread flour when she makes bread for me.
Beard's recipe calls for creating a dough sponge the night before making bread. I prepare the sponge for my wife.
1 cup starter
2 cups white bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup room-temperature water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
additional water as needed
Place the ingredients into a bowl that could hold at least twice their volume. Because the starter is drier than Beard's recipe for starter, add more water — about 2 tbs at a time — while kneading with the dough whisk until all the flour is incorporated and no dry flour remains. Depending on the consistency of the starter, as much as a second cup of water might be necessary. Knead until a ball of dough is formed.
Cover the bowl with a large plate and leave it out on the kitchen counter overnight.
As with maintaining the starter, we use water that has been boiled and then cooled to room temperature.
The yeast in the starter will expand the sponge by morning to fill the bowl. If the sponge expands to the extent that it oozes out from under the plate, that escaped part will become dry and crusty. Discard all escaped parts of the sponge, even those parts that do not appear to be crusty.
On the morning after starting the sponge, the dough is prepared.
For mixing and kneading, my wife uses a stand mixer with a dough hook.
1 package active dry yeast
½ cup warm water (100°F - 115°F)
the entire sponge
1 cup white bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
Mix the yeast and water in the mixer's bowl and let stand until it is bubbling.
With the mixer running at a low speed, add the sponge and gradually add the flours. Use the mixer to knead the dough until it forms a ball in the mixer bowl.
The recipe calls for two risings. My wife does the first rise in a bowl greased with olive oil and the second in the loaf pan. While Beard's recipe calls for making two loaves of bread, each in a 9×5×3 inch pan, we use only one 10×5×4 pan to obtain a tall loaf.
Pre-heat the oven to 200°F and then turn it off to cool somewhat (to less than 90°F). While the oven is heating, grease a very large bowl with olive oil. The bowl should hold at least twice the volume of the dough ball. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp towel. When the oven is heated, turn it off and allow it to cool slightly. Place the bowl in the oven and allow the dough to rise for 4 hours.
During the first rising, prepare the loaf pan. Grease the inside with olive oil, including the bottom of the pan. Trim a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan, and grease the paper.
After the first rising, punch down the dough in the bowl. Then transfer the dough from the bowl to the loaf pan. Cover the loaf pan with the damp towel and place it in the oven — which remains off — for another 4 hours.
The towel should be only slightly damp and not really wet. A wet towel will become cold and inhibit the dough from rising.
Beard's recipe calls for much shorter rise times. The inclusion of whole wheat flour, however, requires a much longer rise time because yeast works slower on whole wheat.
Remove the loaf pan from the oven.
If the kitchen is not warm, care is needed to prevent the risen dough from collapsing. If the kitchen is warm, skip this next paragraph.
When only a few minutes remain in the second rise, place about 1-2 inches of warm water — NOT hot — in a roasting pan large enough to hold the loaf pan. With the roasting pan on a kitchen counter, place the loaf pan in the roasting pan while the oven is pre-heating. Re-moisten the towel with quite warm water — still NOT hot — and cover the roasting pan along with the loaf pan.
Place a cookie sheet on the oven shelf below the shelf where the bread will be baked. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
When the oven is pre-heated, remove the towel and place the loaf pan in the oven (without the roasting pan if it was used). Bake for 40 minutes.
When done, remove the loaf pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack for about 30-60 minutes.
Beard's recipe calls for baking for 35-40 minutes. Since the loaf will be taller in the 10×5×4 pan than Beard's 9×5×3 inch pans, the longer baking time is required.
Beard also specified placing a pan of boiling water on the oven shelf below the loaf pan. I prefer a crunchy crust on my bread, so that is omitted. In case the dough overflows the loaf pan, the cookie sheet catches the mess.
When the loaf pan has cooled sufficiently that it is still somewhat warm but not hot to the touch, remove the loaf from the pan
Using a table knife, loosen the loaf from the sides of the pan. Pick up the pan. With one hand on the top of the loaf, turn the pan upside-down and shake slightly. The loaf should slide out of the pan.
If the parchment paper stuck to the bottom of the loaf — which is now facing up — remove it. Turn the loaf right-side-up and place it back on the cooling rack.
For a special treat, cut a small slice from one end of the loaf while it is still warm from baking. Eat it.
Since there are no preservatives in the bread, we refrigerate it in a Ziploc bag to delay mold.
Instead of toasting the bread, I fry a slice in olive oil. Yum!!
The first loaf of bread my wife baked with the new starter and Beard's recipe was plain sourdough. It was great! Now we are experimenting with variety, using the above recipe every time instead of varying the recipe for each variety. These are the varieties we have tried. In each case, the extra ingredients are added to the dough just before completing the kneading.
NOTE WELL: Aside from creating the sponge, making sourdough rye bread can require an all-day effort.
Baking rye bread falls entirely on me. Initially, I tried adapting the procedure from the recipe I found at the Breadtopia Web site. However, I could only get a loaf that was quite dense and not very high. Using the ingredients from the Breadtopia recipe, I instead adapted the procedure that my wife uses for whole wheat bread. That resulted in a loaf that was tall and light.
While the Breadtopia recipe used a dough whisk, I used a stand mixer with a dough hook
Throughout this recipe, the dough is covered while rising or resting. That is to prevent it from drying.
As with whole wheat bread, I prepared the sponge after our dinner.
1 cup starter
2 cups white bread flour
2 cups rye flour
1 cup room-temperature water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
additional water as needed
Place the ingredients into a bowl that could hold at least twice their volume. Add more water — about 2 tbs at a time — while kneading with the dough whisk until all the flour is incorporated and no dry flour remains. Depending on the consistency of the starter, as much as a second cup of water might be necessary. Knead until a ball of dough is formed.
Cover the bowl with a large plate and leave it out on the kitchen counter overnight.
On the morning after starting the sponge, the dough is prepared.
For mixing and kneading, I use a stand mixer with a dough hook.
1 package active dry yeast
½ cup room-temperature water
the entire sponge
1 cup white bread flour
1 cup rye flour
2 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs fennel seeds
1 tsp anise seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1¾ tsp salt
finely grated zest of one orange
olive oil
Mix the yeast and water in the mixer's bowl and let stand until it is bubbling.
With the mixer running at a low speed, add the sponge and gradually add the flours, molasses, seeds, and orange rind. Use the mixer to knead the dough until it forms a ball in the mixer bowl. If it is too dry to form a ball, slowly add more water until that happens.
Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Then mix the dough again. Let it rest for another 15 minutes. Then mix the dough for a third and final time.
Because my wife cannot digest whole seeds, I used a small electric coffee mill to grind the seeds to a powder.
For the zest, I used a potato peeler to remove the outer skin of an orange, which I then cut into smaller pieces. After grinding the seeds, I left them in the coffee mill and added the orange peel. I then ground the contents some more. This proved very effective.
Transfer the mixed dough to a large bowl that has been greased with olive oil. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel.
With the bowl of dough covered, allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 4½ hours.
While the dough is rising, grease a 10×5×4 loaf pan with olive oil. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, and then grease the paper with olive oil.
After rising for 4½ hours, punch the dough down. Transfer the dough to the prepared loaf pan, and cover the pan with a sheet of wax paper.
Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for another 4½ hours.
Again, the towel should be merely damp and not really wet.
If the kitchen is cool, make your oven very slightly warm (about 80°F), then turn it off. Place the bowl of dough (first rise) and then the loaf pan (second rise) into the oven to rise.
Since our mixer bowl is smaller than the bowl used for the first rise, I was able to pour the dough into that larger bowl; I then had to use a spatula to scrape the residual dough into the larger bowl. Attempting to pour the dough from the large bowl into the loaf pan for the second rise proved quite wrong, making an awful mess! My wife would instead have used a large mixing spoon to transfer the dough from the bowl to the pan and then to scrape the residual dough from the bowl to the pan.
During the last 10-15 minutes of the second rise, preheat the oven to 400°F.
When the second rise is done, place the loaf pan in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
At the end of baking remove the loaf pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack. When cool enough to handle the loaf pan without oven mitts or hot pan holders, remove the bread. Work a table knife around the edges to loosen the loaf before trying to turn the loaf out of the container. With the loaf upside-down, peel off the parchment paper. Then turn the loaf right-side-up to finish cooling.
Since there are no preservatives in this bread, the cooled loaf should be stored in a closed container in the refrigerator. To fit it into a Ziplock bag, I cut the loaf in half cross-wise. Both halves can then fit together cross-wise into a large bag.
Revised 26 February 2024
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