Ben's Sourdough Bread Recipe
This recipe for sourdough bread is from Ben - FoodLovers Britain's resident food obsessive. It uses only natural yeasts found in the air around us in order to make the bread rise and is made with a pre-ferment (starter). You can track the progress of Ben's starter and post on the progress of your own on the FoodLovers blog.
For your 'starter'
Get a big jar with a wide mouth.
In the jar, mix together equal quantities of flour and water.
Loosely cover the jar with a breathable material such as cheesecloth
or a tea towel.
Place the jar somewhere reasonably warm.
After 24 hours, stir it with a wooden spoon (metal can be reactive) in
order to incorporate air.
Leave it for another 24 hours then stir it again. Pour half of it out and
replace with fresh flour and water. Stir well. This is what is known
as 'feeding' the starter.
Repeat this process daily until your starter is ready. You will know when
this is because it will become frothy with bubbles across the surface. This
can take anything from 3 days to 3 weeks.
To make your sourdough bread
makes 1 large loaf
Stage 1: The Production Leaven
Ingredients
50g sourdough starter
150g wholemeal flour
300ml water
Method
Mix all the ingredients together into a wet dough.
Cover and leave in a warm place for 12-24 hours until roughly doubled in size.
Stage 2: The Loaf
Ingredients
440g production leaven
330g rye flour
200g water
salt to taste
Method
Mix all the ingredients together into a wet dough.
Scoop into a well-greased baking tin.
Leave to prove for the final time until almost doubled in size. This can take anything from 2-8 hours.
Once ready, bake at 240C or as hot an oven as possible. Bake for 50-60 minutes, reducing the temperature by 20C after 10 minutes.
Finally your loaf is ready - enjoy!
Our Daily Bread
Take a look at our Little Green Book feature for more bread recipes, and places to buy, eat and learn about bread.
Watch Out For Hooch
Hooch is a layer of dark watery liquid that contains alcohol. It smells, and indeed is, a bit like beer. This builds up in your starter, especially if you keep it in the fridge, but is nothing to worry about. Either pour it off or stir it back in. It won't do any harm, but I wouldn't recommend drinking it!
Keeping Your Starter
Once ready, your starter can be kept in the fridge and should be fed at least weekly, replacing half with fresh flour and water as per the recipe. Kept in this way, it can theoretically last forever. Instead of discarding half of your starter when feeding, this can now be used to make bread.