Sourdough (No-Knead) Bread

If you read the It has arrived! post, you know that I have received some dry sourdough starter in the mail. I couldn't wait to bake some bread with it. I did, and here's how it looked like:


Bread making is a complicated business, and sourdough bread making is probably even more so, because of the issue of keeping a sourdough culture alive, feeding it, preparing a portion for baking etc. Then there's the no-knead technique, which apparently started with the NY Times publishing a recipe for bread that required no kneading and produced a perfect loaf of bread. Since then, and it wasn't long ago, there are many no-knead enthusiasts, and plenty of variations around that theme.

I am going to produce here an account as accurate as possible of how I managed to bake the loaf of bread pictured above, so that I can refer to it whenever I want to bake more. It takes planning ahead because of the long fermentation times.

The actual recipe I used came from the site Breadtopia.com, which you can get here, with video instructions and all; plenty of advice on how to handle sourdough starter was collected on the Carl Griffith Sourdough Page. I will be assuming that you have an active sourdough culture in your fridge, which may not be in a very good shape.

Day 1 - Producing one cup of active starter

Put one tsp of your sourdough culture in a clear glass jar. Add one tbs of warm water and one tbs of flour. Mix with a wooden chopstick, put the lid on loosely and let rest in a warm place. When that develops some bubbles, add 1/4 cup of warm water and 1/4 cup of flour. You want a thick batter. Mix well and set aside until it bubbles up. Then add 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water. Once this ferments, we have one cup of active sourdough stater to use in the recipe. We only use 1/2 cup, I added the other 1/2 cup to the culture I have in the fridge, throwing away an equivalent amount before adding this starter.

I used mineral water because my tap water has plenty of chlorine in it and that is particularly bad for developing an active culture. Avoiding metal utensils seems to be a good idea also. The time between the feedings will depend on many factors. I think it's safe to start one day in the morning to obtain the full cup of active starter the next morning.

Day 2 - Making the dough

I assembled the dough at 7pm and let it ferment until the next morning. Over-proofing seems to be a factor, so if one cannot bake the next morning it may be a good idea to let the dough ferment in the fridge. Mine took about 14 hours to fully rise. Had I not been able to continue the process at the end of the 14 hours, it is possible that I would not have obtained good results, again according to what I have read.

To form the dough, mix together

• 4 oz (115g) of whole wheat flour
  
• 12 oz (340g) of all-purpose white flour (bread flour is better)
  
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

in a glass or porcelain bowl. Then dissolve 1/2 cup of active starter in 1 1/2 cup of mineral water. Pour that into the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. My understanding is that the dough should be wet, but one may need to add a bit more flour to get to the right consistency. I had to. You should be able to knead it a couple of times, but not be able to knead it like you would a normal bread dough. I tried to achieve the consistency of the batter you can see in the video.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise overnight. The recipe calls for 18 hours; mine at the end of 14 hours was very much risen and ready for the next step.

Day 3 - Baking the bread

The dough is going to look very bubbly, and it will be very wet and difficult to handle. Dust the countertop with flour, and dump the dough on it. Dust your fingers also and the top of the dough. Spread it with your fingers until you are able to fold it in thirds and then in half. Check the video. Cover it with plastic and let it rest for 15 minutes or so.

After that time, one must grab the dough and shape it into a rough ball. This again is not easy because the dough is wet and sticky. Dust your hands with flour, and the dough also. Put this on top of a tea towel sprinkled with cornmeal and cover it with another tea towel. Let it rise for about 2 hours. If you lightly stick your finger in the dough, it should not spring back immediately.

Heat the oven to 240C with a Le Creuset cast iron pot, lid on, inside. Mine is size 26, holding 5 1/2 US qt, and worked well for this recipe. I'd like to see what happens with a smaller one, though. When the oven is hot, gently put the dough inside the pot, put the lid on, and let it bake for 20-25 minutes. The heat should come from top and bottom, but do not have the fan on.

After the 25 minutes period, open the oven and remove the lid from the pot. Turn the heat down to 220 C, and bake for 10 minutes more. These times may need adjustments depending on how wet the dough is and, of course, on your oven.

Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool on a rack before slicing.