A Pragmatic Sourdough Workshop

May 9th, 2020 - Josh Lemaitre

Introduction

Welcome to your life with sourdough. I have been baking sourdough now for almost 2 years and I can tell you from personal experience that it will improve your life. There is nothing quite like taking 3 simple ingredients and turning that into something that is so complex and nuanced and delicious and warming.

The purpose of this workshop is not to give you an expert’s approach to this process. If that is what you are looking for, I will disappoint you. What I offer is a simple approach that works consistently. By following this process, I have NEVER in approximately 60 experiments had a result that was not delicious...unattractive, yes, on occasion, but always on point for taste.

In this session, we will be covering the end-to-end process, including definitions, equipment, timings, and techniques. We will not be preparing a loaf in real time as that would require approximately 3-7 days with significant periods of downtime along the way. My hope is that you will come away with enough guidance to successfully bring this back to your kitchen with minimal support.

Our Agenda:

Before getting into things, I’d also like to thank Adam Thielsen of Amesbury MA. This workshop is heavily influenced by an event he held in 2018 that got me interested in sourdough in the first place.

I hope you find this informative and fun.

Josh

Table of Contents

What is Sourdough?        4

Equipment        4

Ingredients        6

Making your starter        6

Feeding the Starter (day 0 evening)        8

Making Levain (day 1 morning)        8

Making Dough (day 1 evening)        9

Autolyse        10

Salt, Final Hydration        10

Fold        11

Counter Fermentation        11

Cold Fermentation (day 2 morning)        12

Shaping (day 2 evening)        12

Bake (day 3 morning)        13

Your Reward!        15

Abridged Schedule        16

Appendix        17

What is Sourdough?

What is sourdough? A lot of people assume that it is a very specific kind of chewy, crusty bread that has a tangy smell and flavor. Fundamentally, in its purest form, it is simply any risen bread that utilizes wild, naturally occurring yeast. This is usually present in the process in what is known as starter. Starter is the engine of sourdough bread, as it is the yeast component that delivers the flavor and the rise. It is the living organism that almost acts as a signature to each baker’s product. Some fabled bakeries in the old world tout starters that have been actively maintained for 100s of years; mine is going on two years at this point.

If you want more information, there’s a giant resource available to everyone called Google.

Equipment

There are many pieces of kitchen equipment that can come into play with baking sourdough, so I will try to separate out the ones that are essential to the process and those that may make life easier but are ultimately not required.

Essential Equipment

Non-Essential Equipment:

It should be noted that for a small price, many of the non-essential items can be found online in bundled baker kits so you don’t have to find them all a la carte.

Ingredients

You can make bread without ingredients. This entire process literally only requires 3 that don’t come out of your faucet:

As mentioned on the email chain, if it’s available, organic options with non-GMO certifications are preferable. King Arthur is perhaps the most recognized brand in the flour category and has been a B Corporation since 2007; they have great options in both the organic and conventional categories. Outside of our current pandemic context, these are typically available at most grocers.

I should mention that you will also see flour that is labeled as being bread-specific. I have gotten very similar results with this as well as standard all-purpose, so I would encourage you to not fuss over it too much. I’ll also mention that you end up using a lot more white flour than wheat, so it is handy to have a significantly larger quantity of white on hand.

Making your starter

The starter is the yeast in the sourdough process. Before there was instant yeast, this is what bakers used in order to get a rise out of their dough. But what is it? Well, it all begins with water, flour and the naturally occurring yeast airborne all around us. That's all, which is why it is strange that it is the most mystifying and intimidating element of the process. In response to the mystique, starters have gotten the reputation that you need to buy them, which is unfortunate because you don't. All that is needed is water, flour and a little time.

So here's what you do.

  1. Grab one of your 1-quart pyrex bowls and add one heaping tablespoon of all purpose white flour (approximately 25 grams).
  2. Add one heaping tablespoon of whole wheat flour (again, approximately 25 grams) and mix.
  3. With warm, clean hands, start simply handling the flour. Really work it into your palms and the creases and roll it off your fingers. Do this for about a minute.
  4. Now, add an equal amount of water (50 grams) and integrate with the flour. Take note of the level of the starter once it has settled; you can even mark it with a dry erase pen or a piece of tape.
  5. Put on the cover and let it sit on the counter overnight. Much like the Trump administration's handling of Covid-19, it does not have to be airtight. An old cracked cover should suffice.

Lastly, with everything in the process, temperature is the silent ingredient. A general rule is that warmer = faster = less forgiving. Temperature is one of the variables for experimentation. So if you keep a warmer house, you may only need 8 hours on the counter, whereas a cooler house may need 15.  Some believe in a rule of thumb where you take the room temperature and add it to the temperature of the mixture, targeting approximately 135 degrees total (full disclosure: I haven't experimented with this at all). Overnight - about 12 hours - works pretty well if your house is like mine at night time: ~ 65 degrees.

In the morning, you should see bubble activity on top and/or around the sides. This is the yeast feeding on the proteins in the flour and farting out the gas. You can also expect the level of the starter to have risen and the top to be wet. If the top has a dry appearance, this probably means that you waited a little too long and you just need to feed it again, which you are probably going to do anyway the first time for a couple days. To boost the bubble activity, repeat the process above in the same bowl: add the 25g white/25g wheat and 50g water, integrate it with the starter that you have. Repeat this process every 12 hours for a few days, only throwing away half of the starter before each feed. This is to create space in the container, but more importantly to bring that ratio of starter:feed to approximately 1:1. After a few days of these feeding cycles, it should look pretty "gloopy" and bubbly and start to have that funky smell. This is what is referred to as a "fed starter" and can either be used right away for the next step of the process or can simply be covered and put in the fridge for later use.

When in the fridge, the yeast will throttle down the activity, reducing gas production as well as volume. It will keep for quite a while if left untouched in the fridge, but if you leave it for, say, more than a month, you do run the risk of mold, in which case you will probably need to start over. But if the consumers in your house are anything like mine, a production cadence of every 1-2 weeks will keep everyone in the house happy, including your starter.

Feeding the Starter (day 0 evening)

This part will be quick since we've essentially already done this. Nevertheless:

  1. Take our starter out of the fridge.  If your starter container has more than 200 ml of starter in it, I'd recommend adding half to a clean 2 quart pyrex to work with and leave the rest in the starter container back in the fridge, again with 1 heaping tablespoon of white, 1 heaping tablespoon of wheat and 50 grams of water; otherwise, you can just work directly with your starter container (You don't need to be terribly precise here so you can leave the scale in the cupboard).
  2. Simply add a heaping tablespoon of white and a heaping tablespoon of wheat flour to the starter.
  3. Add a similar volume of water and stir it into the starter. It should have the consistency of pancake batter. There should be ample space in the container for the fed starter to expand.
  4. Take note of the level, gently cover and set aside on the counter in a place where it won't have high temperature variability (i.e., away from the stove or out of the sunlight) for approximately 12 hours.

Making Levain (day 1 morning)

Now that your starter is fed, you are ready to make levain. Levain is the next evolution of starter that gets worked into the dough. From what I can tell, it is essentially the same thing as starter, but in greater volume. The quantity that you integrate into your dough is one of the variables that you can tinker with as you start to experiment, but in my experience, I have had great, consistent results with minimal unnecessary waste using the amounts below. Other breadmaking traditions also use preferments, such as "biga" and "poolish"; while these differ in their ingredient proportions, they are all effectively the same thing and carry out the same tasks: flavor and rise. Full disclosure, I haven't experimented with biga or poolish at all, but based on my reading, I don't feel compelled to.

  1. Now, take out one of your 1 quart pyrex containers and your scale and add approximately 40 grams of white flour and 40 grams of wheat flour. Mix it uniformly.
  2. Add 80 grams of room temperature water (i.e., the same mass as flour).
  3. Lastly, add 50-80 grams of fed starter. Mix until your concoction is uniform in texture. It should appear again almost like thick pancake batter.
  4. When all of the dry flour has been integrated, cover the container and set aside on the counter for 12 hours (less if your kitchen runs warm).

Making Dough (day 1 evening)

Now we are ready for the fun part: the dough. This is where it finally starts to feel like you are baking. This is also the phase where I pay the closest amount of attention to scale values because we are going to be dealing with larger quantities of ingredients, and so the cost of failure increases.

I will also take this opportunity to introduce the baker’s percentage. This concept makes it very easy to adjust the size of your recipe, should you choose to increase or decrease production. It very simply means the relative amount of an ingredient in a recipe to the total flour content in the recipe. So, for example, if a bread recipe calls for 100 grams of wheat flour, 900 grams of white flour, 200 grams of levain, 700 grams of water and 15 grams of salt in one recipe, the baker’s percentages would be 10% wheat, 90% white, 20% levain, 70% water, 1.5% salt. No, they don’t need to add up to 100%.

  1. In a large mixing bowl or bucket, add approximately 920 grams of white flour and 80 grams of wheat, yielding a single kilogram of aggregate flour (this makes all of your baker's percentages much easier). Mix these together.
  2. Measure out 650 grams of water (if the metric system is correct, this should be 650 milliliters) in a separate large bowl that has plenty of extra space beyond the 650 ml.
  3. Now, take a moment to observe your levain. It should be quite a bit bigger than when you set it aside. There should be a lot of bubbling activity on all sides. I always look for elasticity in the bubble structure when I scoop out a wad of it. Many swear by the "float test": if it floats, then it's good. If you want to do the float test, put your water bowl on your scale and zero it first. With your spoon, drop a wad of levain into your 650 ml of water and see for yourself. If it bobs around near the surface, you win the prize! While this is indeed a fun ritual, it's not critical. I've made plenty of loaves when the levain didn't float and they turned out just fine.
  4. Assuming we are ok with the result of the float test, add a total of 200 grams of levain to the water.
  5. With clean hands, start to break apart the levain in the water. I know...we spent all this time getting to this point and now we are just breaking it all up?!? Honestly, I've done it this way every time and it hasn't let me down. Gently sweep through the water with your hands until the water is tan and cloudy and there are virtually no more tangible pieces of levain. This is the yeast component of our dough where all the rise will come from.
  6. Now add your levain water mixture to the flour that we measured out earlier. You can mix it with your hands, a wooden spoon, or a dough whisk (I haven't used an electric mixer to do this, but I've heard that can work too). I feel like using your hands is the most time efficient method, but your hands will get very sticky and gummied up, especially if you experiment with higher quantities of water. Whatever method you choose, do your best to work in as much of the flour as you can. But a quick point of clarification: we are not kneading here; we are mixing.

Autolyse

This is a really intimidating word and it is ultimately very unexciting. I can't speak too intelligently about what happens chemically here that makes it essential. This is certainly where you start to develop the gluten chains network - but I’d encourage you to look it up if you are interested rather than have me plagiarize here; I've always included this step so I'm going to keep doing it.

  1. Cover your dough in the mixing bowl with a tea towel and set it aside on the counter for 40-60 minutes...and, that's it. Seriously.

Salt, Final Hydration

  1. Remove the tea towel and measure out 20 grams of salt. Sprinkle it all over the dough.
  2. Now add 50 grams of water. You can add more or less here if you are feeling adventurous. Remember we started with 650 grams of water to 1000 grams of flour (65%); adding 50 more will bring your hydration to 70%. This is typical of a basic sourdough. It makes a good, workable dough that doesn't require high shaping skill. As you get more experienced with the process, you may throttle up the hydration as this typically yields a more open crumb structure and thinner, crispier crust. My latest experiments were 75% hydration and there was a pretty noticeable difference. But beware, the higher you go, the harder the dough becomes to work with, and the more you will have to work it to build up its strength.

Fold

This is the equivalent of what people commonly refer to as "kneading" the dough. But it really more resembles stretching and folding. When you start exploring what others do, you will find that many swear by kneading for 10-15 minutes, in a very physical fashion. The benefit here is that it accelerates the gluten production and you rock your pecs and tri’s in the process. But in my opinion, this is sourdough and we aren't in a hurry, and I hate exercise. For what it's worth, my two biggest sourdough disasters were both a result of kneading experiments.

So back to the fold, here's what you do.

  1. With the dough still in the bucket or large mixing bowl, simply grab one side, gently pull it up, and fold it into itself.
  2. Repeat this until you can't get the dough to fold into itself anymore. This won't take long, only a minute or so, if that. I usually do this in the same bucket that I mixed the flour and water for a few reasons:
  1. Everything is already in there
  2. it's less messy
  3. it's the container that all of the remaining fermentation will take place
  1. Once the fold is complete, your dough will now be more cohesive and start to have a stickiness to it. You may need to repeat this process every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours, depending on strength of the dough (i.e., if you grab some and stretch it out, when you can see light through it without it breaking, then it is ready; this is also known as “the windowpane test”).
  2. I also like to pick the dough up entirely out of the bucket, gather the edges together and put the gather side down, so there is a relatively uniform domed surface facing up. You can also work around the bucket to tuck the edges underneath. None of this is essential.

Counter Fermentation

When the folding is complete, cover the dough and set aside on the counter for 8-12 hours depending on how warm you keep the room (warm room = less time). You can reasonably expect your dough to expand significantly, 1.2-3x. My dough typically starts 1-2 liters and at the end of this phase is typically 3-4 liters.

Cold Fermentation (day 2 morning)

This is the easiest part of the entire process. Take your bucket from the counter and stick it in the fridge covered. It may expand still more, but not much. Leave it in the fridge for 12 hours.

Shaping (day 2 evening)

Once your fermentation is complete, you are ready to shape your first loaf. You can test your dough by gently pushing the surface with your index finger; if there is some elasticity to it and it leaves a slight indentation, you are right on target with your rise.

  1. Lightly dust your work surface with a minimal amount of all-purpose flour and pour your dough right out onto the surface.
  2. Using a dough scraper, split the dough in half, returning one half to the bucket and back into the fridge. I will take you through a couple of shaping techniques that I've used before.
  1. Stretch and Fold:
  1. Take the dough and stretch it into a rough 10" x 10" square shape, probably about an inch thick.
  2. Now take the top right corner in your hand, pull it up gently and quickly pull it down toward the opposite corner.
  3. Work your way around the dough. What you are doing here is building surface tension on the bottom side of the dough.
  4. Once you have cycled around the dough twice, try to turn it over; you may need to use the scraper, but you can often roll it. Tuck the gathered edges underneath it and set it on the counter.
  1. Gravity gather:
  1. Pick the dough up into your hands off the work surface.
  2. Without dropping the dough, gently allow the dough to fall through your hands, gathering the edges into the top side.
  3. Repeat this a few times, gathering the edges into the top. The dough will naturally start to build surface tension on the bottom side.
  4. When it starts to resemble a ball, turn it over, tuck the gather side underneath and set it on the counter for a minute; this will allow the bottom to "seal".
  1. Tuck and rotate:
  1. With your hands on either side of the dough and slightly opened up toward the ceiling, start simply tucking the edge underneath with your dominant hand, supporting the dough with your off hand.
  2. Rotate the dough slightly at the end of each tuck; this will probably be clockwise for righties and counter-clockwise for lefties.
  3. When you have a perfect ball with a smooth surface, you can let it sit for a moment to seal the bottom.
  1. Pull and roll:
  1. Place the dough on the counter in a ball and with both hands or your dough scraper, cup the back of the dough with the pinky edge of your hands flush to the work surface and simply drag the dough toward yourself, rolling it into itself, but keeping the dough from turning completely upside down.
  2. Turn the dough 45 degrees and repeat.
  3. When satisfied with your dough ball, set aside dome-side up for a moment to seal the bottom.

Your dough should resemble a smooth, tight ball on the counter. I have recently begun using a banneton, the basket mentioned in the equipment section. These support the dough so that it rises up rather than out. The spiraled willow can also provide very attractive flour patterns. However, you do not need this; a tea towel lined mixing bowl dusted with flour will do just fine.

  1. So take your ball of dough up off the counter, and gently place it in your bowl/basket upside down (i.e., gather side up).
  2. Place the bowl/basket into a large plastic bag.
  3. You can either let it rise on the counter for 1.5-3 hours or in the fridge for 12 hours.

Bake (day 3 morning)

All right, you made it. You are now ready to bake!

  1. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees with your dutch oven in the oven. This is important. In order to maximize the "oven spring", or the initial rise during the bake, the environment has to be HOT and contain the steam that will be created. I recommend letting the dutch oven continue to sit in the oven for 5-10 additional minutes once your oven has gotten up to temperature.
  2. Remove the basket/bowl from the plastic bag, and tear off a sheet of parchment paper.
  3. Hold the paper directly to the top side of the bowl and quickly turn your bowl upside down onto the counter. You may like to trim away the edges of the paper so that they don't burn in the oven.
  4. Moments before taking the dutch oven out of the oven, slash the surface of the dough with a clean, sharp razor blade or lame. This gives the dough direction for expansion. Otherwise the steam within the dough will look for the path of least resistance and generally blast out of the side. There are many popular scoring patterns, but I typically go with a simple "X" or shallow crescent across the middle. Look to Instagram/google images for inspiration if you are feeling creative. A word of warning though: most of the very decorative patterns will not be particularly successful with high-rising bread.
  5. Now, take out your dutch oven and remove the lid.
  6. Carefully, place your loaf in the dutch oven with the paper side down.
  7. OPTIONAL: If you have a mist bottle, liberally spray a light mist over the loaf. This will create additional steam and further maximize the oven spring.
  8. Replace the lid and slide into the oven for 30 minutes.
  9. After 30 minutes, remove the lid. This is where you get your first signal of how you've done. Your loaf will now be more or less in its final shape, but will be fairly pale in color. This is also known as the Oven Spring and is without question the most dramatic part of the process.

  1. Put it back in the oven for 15 more minutes at 475 to caramelize the crust. It may be more or less time and is often an aesthetic choice, but to ensure that it is baked through, I usually let it stay in at least 15 minutes. Some visual cues include the edges of my scoring pattern start to show a little burn, also the crust has a nice blistered amber finish. A more physical signal is if you tap the bottom of the loaf with your finger, if you hear a hollow sounding thud, then it’s probably ready.
  2. Turn the heat off and leave the oven door slightly open for 5 minutes to tease everyone in your house.
  3. Take it out of the oven and place on a cooling rack for at least 15-30 minutes. Listen to it during this phase. You will hear it crackling.

A note on the bake time and temperature. A lot of home ovens now have convection features which can be useful and time saving, but it's not necessary. An alternative timing that I used on a different oven with convection was to preheat on convection to 525 with the dutch oven, then bake for 15 minutes covered at 525, remove the lid, and turn down the oven to 400 standard bake for 30-40 minutes. Of course you’re free to experiment, as every oven is different. I do recommend the standard bake at 475 as the results are good and it is one less thing to remember to do when you are taking the cover off.

Your Reward!

You’ve earned it. It was a long road, but if you look at this process, what is ultimately true about it is that there you are very seldom actively doing anything for more than 5 minutes at a time. That is why this is so great for people with busy lives.

  1. Obtain a butter knife and a large quantity of salted butter.
  2. Slather onto a warm, generous slice.
  3. Enjoy!

I hope that this was a fun, informative experience for you all. I look forward to hearing about your results. I’ll say again, I am no expert; but I am happy to make myself available to people as a resource as you embark on this journey. Hold on to this packet.  

Abridged Schedule

This light schedule is for people with busy lives that may have a few minutes at either end of the day to do this, let alone anything.

Day 0:

Evening:

Day 1:

Morning:

Evening:

Day 2:

Morning:

Evening:

Day 3:

Morning:

Appendix

Background Reading and Inspiration