Sourdough Bread
Any New Yorker – nu, any East Coaster – will tell you that it’s a challenge to get a good bagel out west. Most of them will swear it’s the water. That’s not impossible because water is a crucial element in correct bageling. Bagels are made from a high-gluten wheat flour leavened by yeast and salt. Water is added to the dry ingredients to form a pliant, sticky dough, which is then shaped by hand into the distinctive “O” shape that has us lining up for a nosh. After rising but before baking, bagels are boiled, and that process creates the bagel’s signature dense but airy interior and shiny hide. The water used to make the dough and for the boil are, in fact, important contributors to a successful bagel, though perhaps not as much as having a fussy bubba or burly maven toast and schmear it for you.
A hydrologist could advise better than I can about the differences in water tables, but whether we blame the Pacific ocean or dismiss that idea as bupkes, it doesn’t matter, because west coast bagels are noticeably different from east coast bagels. But that also doesn’t matter, because even if to an easterner west coast bagels barely qualify for the name, the west coast has at least one baked good that is as endemic to the region as the bagel is to the east, and whose execution the opposing coast can just as surely not approach: sourdough bread. Sourdough is a simple white loaf with a noticeable tangy flavor and pliant texture.
The epicenter of sourdough culture, pun intended, isSan Francisco San Francisco California history that San Francisco Seattle was a gateway to the north and Los Angeles was still a mission settlement, but San Francisco Nevada or to Alaska
Among the more genteel epithets prospectors had for each other was “sourdoughs,” because a pouch of sourdough starter was common among the wares threatening to break the legs of a prospector’s mule. Sourdough starter is not harmed by such excesses of cold as theKlondike , so with a pouch of starter kept safe and some flour from a provisions stop, a sourdough could keep oneself fed with a warm loaf of sourdough. And so sourdough also refers to survival – again, not inappropriate as a reflection of the American west and the reason that any individual who weathered a Yukon Alaska winter and could still talk about it come spring earned the title (you guessed it) “sourdough.”
To understand sourdough bread you have only to taste it, but to understand baking it, you have to understand a bit about bread baking. There are two kinds of breads: "quick" breads, which are called that because they rise through the chemical reaction of a leavening agent such as baking powder and therefore don't require the rise- and rest-periods that yeasted breads do, and yeasted breads, which rise as yeasts introduced into the dough feed on it. As we learned last October, yeast is a fungus. In traditional sourdough, the starter -- typically flour, water, and milk -- is left exposed to attract yeasts that occur naturally in the air. Though starting sourdough in this way is one of the oldest and most pungent food preparation techniques, the process accounts for modern sourdough's association with San Francisco, for the airborne yeasts that are attracted to the starter are native to the Bay area. Yeasts can perpetuate indefinitely in the right conditions, and someSan Francisco
If you don't live in the Bay area don't despair (if you must, do so for reasons other than the air quality), for it is not just possible but common to make an acceptable sourdough without access to L. sanfranciscensis. The common cheat is to build a starter from basic bread baking ingredients and then perpetuate that for future generations of loaves. That is the technique you will find in the recipe below.
Bread baking is not as intimidating as it may seem, but it does require time, and this is appropriate, for we are at the gateway to Imbolc. This holiday is the compliment to Lammas - when, among other things, we celebrate the wheat harvest - and just as Lammas marks the halfway point between summer and autumn, Imbolc marks the halfway point between winter and spring. Both holidays honor survival (all do, really), and that takes us back to those hearty prospectors. Start the starter at least a week before you plan to bake, and on baking day, plan to spend some time, though not necessarily all day, in the kitchen, connecting with the ancient art of bread baking. Thump the loaf for luck as it exits the oven. After the loaf and the baker rest, cut thin slices of the bread to toast and spread with butter or jam, or thicker slices to accommodate a layering of cold cuts or a heap of tuna salad. Nothing attracts congregants to the kitchen like the smell of baking bread, so perhaps you'll simply indulge in the nicest treat of all -- tearing a fresh loaf into chunks for everyone to share.
SOURDOUGH BREAD
Pay attention to the weather on bread baking day; such factors as humidity and air temperature will inform the process. The recipe below is written to account for that. When buying yeast, double-check the expiration date on the package and do not purchase any that is close to that date. A bread board is a large wooden board dedicated to bread baking; you can obtain a good one here.
For the starter
1 .25 ounce package active dry yeast
2 cups water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon honey
For the bread
Sourdough starter
5 - 5-1/2 cups all purpose flour plus additional for flouring and kneading
1 .25 ounce package active dry yeast
3 tablespoons white sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter plus additional for the baking pan and the rising bowl
1 week before baking
1. Affix a candy thermometer to a saucepan. Measure the water into the saucepan. Turn the burner to medium and heat the water until it reaches between 110 and 115 degrees. Once the water reaches that temperature spectrum, remove it from the heat.
2. Open the yeast package and sprinkle the yeast across the bottom of a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl.
3. Once the water reaches the correct temperature spectrum, measure 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl containing the yeast. Use a wooden spoon to incorporate the yeast into the water until the mixture is smooth.
4. Drizzle the honey into the mixture. Use the spoon to incorporate the honey into the mixture. It is okay if the mixture begins to bubble.
5. Add the flour and 1-1/2 cups warm water to the mixture. Use the spoon to incorporate the flour and water into the mixture. The mixture should start bubbling. If it doesn't, check the expiration date on the yeast packet. If the yeast has expired, discard this batch of starter and begin again with a different package of yeast.
6. Cover the bowl loosely with cheesecloth or plastic wrap. Place the covered bowl in a warm, food safe area.
7. Use the spoon to stir the starter twice a day for one week. The starter will continue to bubble and develop a strong odor; these mean that the starter is fermenting as it should.
8. At the end of one week, refrigerate the covered, fermented starter.
9. To feed the starter, introduce 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or honey into the starter every 10 days until or unless the supply of starter is depleted.
On baking day
1. Remove the starter from the refrigerator.
2. Butter an 11 x 14 inch rimmed baking pan and a large mixing bowl. Place both near the work area.
3. Place a large bread board on the work area. Sprinkle the bread board with flour.
4. Affix a candy thermometer to a saucepan. Measure the milk into the saucepan. Turn the burner to medium and heat the milk until it reaches between 115 and 120 degrees. Once the milk reaches that temperature spectrum, remove it from the heat. Add the butter to the warm milk.
5. Open the yeast package and sprinkle the yeast across the bottom of a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Add 1 cup flour, the sugar, and the salt to the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients.
6. Use one hand to stir the dry ingredients with the spoon while pouring the warm milk-butter mixture into the bowl in a thin stream. Use the spoon to thoroughly mix the ingredients together.
7. Measure 1-1/2 cups starter into the mixture in the bowl. Use the spoon to thoroughly mix the ingredients together, switching to using your hands if the dough becomes unwieldy.
8. Add up to 4-1/2 cups flour to the dough, one cup at a time, until a thick but manageable dough forms. As a rule, the warmer or more humid the climate, the more flour you will require. For most temperate climates, you will probably need about 3-1/2 cups more flour.
9. Turn dough onto the floured board. Use a scraper or silicon spatula to get all of the dough from the side of the bowl.
10. Sprinkle your hands with flour. Begin to work the dough by pressing against two sides and then pressing against the opposing two sides. As you work the dough, start bringing two sides up and into the center, switching sides so that you're always working with alternating edges of the dough. As you work, it will become evident how to knead the dough. Flour your hands when they start to stick to the dough.
11. Stop kneading when the dough is smooth and elastic and demonstrates that it cannot receive any more flour, typically 8 - 10 minutes.
12. Transfer the dough to the buttered bowl. Turn the dough once it is in the bowl to coat it with butter. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.
13. After 1 hour check the dough; it should have doubled in volume. Flour your hands. Punch the top of the dough down into the center. The dough should compress but it should not deflate.
14. Recover the bowl with the towel. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
15. After 15 minutes, turn the dough back onto the board. Use a bread knife to separate the dough into two equal sized pieces. Lightly toss the pieces in the flour on the board. Transfer the pieces to the prepared baking sheet.
16. Shape each piece into a ball. Cover the loaves with the towel and let rise 1 hour.
17. 1/2 hour into the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
18. After 1 hour, remove the towel from the loaves. They should have doubled in size. If their sides are touching on the baking sheet, gently scoot them apart.
19. Sprinkle the loaves with flour. Place the baking tray in the oven.
20. Bake the loaves for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, carefully test a loaf by tapping its top -- the bread should sound hollow. If it doesn't or if you detect resistance in the dough, bake for another 5 minutes.
21. After 30 - 35 minutes, carefully remove the baking tray from the oven. Transfer the loaves to a wire rack until they are cool enough to handle.
A hydrologist could advise better than I can about the differences in water tables, but whether we blame the Pacific ocean or dismiss that idea as bupkes, it doesn’t matter, because west coast bagels are noticeably different from east coast bagels. But that also doesn’t matter, because even if to an easterner west coast bagels barely qualify for the name, the west coast has at least one baked good that is as endemic to the region as the bagel is to the east, and whose execution the opposing coast can just as surely not approach: sourdough bread. Sourdough is a simple white loaf with a noticeable tangy flavor and pliant texture.
The epicenter of sourdough culture, pun intended, is
Among the more genteel epithets prospectors had for each other was “sourdoughs,” because a pouch of sourdough starter was common among the wares threatening to break the legs of a prospector’s mule. Sourdough starter is not harmed by such excesses of cold as the
To understand sourdough bread you have only to taste it, but to understand baking it, you have to understand a bit about bread baking. There are two kinds of breads: "quick" breads, which are called that because they rise through the chemical reaction of a leavening agent such as baking powder and therefore don't require the rise- and rest-periods that yeasted breads do, and yeasted breads, which rise as yeasts introduced into the dough feed on it. As we learned last October, yeast is a fungus. In traditional sourdough, the starter -- typically flour, water, and milk -- is left exposed to attract yeasts that occur naturally in the air. Though starting sourdough in this way is one of the oldest and most pungent food preparation techniques, the process accounts for modern sourdough's association with San Francisco, for the airborne yeasts that are attracted to the starter are native to the Bay area. Yeasts can perpetuate indefinitely in the right conditions, and some
If you don't live in the Bay area don't despair (if you must, do so for reasons other than the air quality), for it is not just possible but common to make an acceptable sourdough without access to L. sanfranciscensis. The common cheat is to build a starter from basic bread baking ingredients and then perpetuate that for future generations of loaves. That is the technique you will find in the recipe below.
Bread baking is not as intimidating as it may seem, but it does require time, and this is appropriate, for we are at the gateway to Imbolc. This holiday is the compliment to Lammas - when, among other things, we celebrate the wheat harvest - and just as Lammas marks the halfway point between summer and autumn, Imbolc marks the halfway point between winter and spring. Both holidays honor survival (all do, really), and that takes us back to those hearty prospectors. Start the starter at least a week before you plan to bake, and on baking day, plan to spend some time, though not necessarily all day, in the kitchen, connecting with the ancient art of bread baking. Thump the loaf for luck as it exits the oven. After the loaf and the baker rest, cut thin slices of the bread to toast and spread with butter or jam, or thicker slices to accommodate a layering of cold cuts or a heap of tuna salad. Nothing attracts congregants to the kitchen like the smell of baking bread, so perhaps you'll simply indulge in the nicest treat of all -- tearing a fresh loaf into chunks for everyone to share.
SOURDOUGH BREAD
Pay attention to the weather on bread baking day; such factors as humidity and air temperature will inform the process. The recipe below is written to account for that. When buying yeast, double-check the expiration date on the package and do not purchase any that is close to that date. A bread board is a large wooden board dedicated to bread baking; you can obtain a good one here.
For the starter
1 .25 ounce package active dry yeast
2 cups water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon honey
For the bread
Sourdough starter
5 - 5-1/2 cups all purpose flour plus additional for flouring and kneading
1 .25 ounce package active dry yeast
3 tablespoons white sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter plus additional for the baking pan and the rising bowl
1 week before baking
1. Affix a candy thermometer to a saucepan. Measure the water into the saucepan. Turn the burner to medium and heat the water until it reaches between 110 and 115 degrees. Once the water reaches that temperature spectrum, remove it from the heat.
2. Open the yeast package and sprinkle the yeast across the bottom of a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl.
3. Once the water reaches the correct temperature spectrum, measure 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl containing the yeast. Use a wooden spoon to incorporate the yeast into the water until the mixture is smooth.
4. Drizzle the honey into the mixture. Use the spoon to incorporate the honey into the mixture. It is okay if the mixture begins to bubble.
5. Add the flour and 1-1/2 cups warm water to the mixture. Use the spoon to incorporate the flour and water into the mixture. The mixture should start bubbling. If it doesn't, check the expiration date on the yeast packet. If the yeast has expired, discard this batch of starter and begin again with a different package of yeast.
6. Cover the bowl loosely with cheesecloth or plastic wrap. Place the covered bowl in a warm, food safe area.
7. Use the spoon to stir the starter twice a day for one week. The starter will continue to bubble and develop a strong odor; these mean that the starter is fermenting as it should.
8. At the end of one week, refrigerate the covered, fermented starter.
9. To feed the starter, introduce 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or honey into the starter every 10 days until or unless the supply of starter is depleted.
On baking day
1. Remove the starter from the refrigerator.
2. Butter an 11 x 14 inch rimmed baking pan and a large mixing bowl. Place both near the work area.
3. Place a large bread board on the work area. Sprinkle the bread board with flour.
4. Affix a candy thermometer to a saucepan. Measure the milk into the saucepan. Turn the burner to medium and heat the milk until it reaches between 115 and 120 degrees. Once the milk reaches that temperature spectrum, remove it from the heat. Add the butter to the warm milk.
5. Open the yeast package and sprinkle the yeast across the bottom of a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Add 1 cup flour, the sugar, and the salt to the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients.
6. Use one hand to stir the dry ingredients with the spoon while pouring the warm milk-butter mixture into the bowl in a thin stream. Use the spoon to thoroughly mix the ingredients together.
7. Measure 1-1/2 cups starter into the mixture in the bowl. Use the spoon to thoroughly mix the ingredients together, switching to using your hands if the dough becomes unwieldy.
8. Add up to 4-1/2 cups flour to the dough, one cup at a time, until a thick but manageable dough forms. As a rule, the warmer or more humid the climate, the more flour you will require. For most temperate climates, you will probably need about 3-1/2 cups more flour.
9. Turn dough onto the floured board. Use a scraper or silicon spatula to get all of the dough from the side of the bowl.
10. Sprinkle your hands with flour. Begin to work the dough by pressing against two sides and then pressing against the opposing two sides. As you work the dough, start bringing two sides up and into the center, switching sides so that you're always working with alternating edges of the dough. As you work, it will become evident how to knead the dough. Flour your hands when they start to stick to the dough.
11. Stop kneading when the dough is smooth and elastic and demonstrates that it cannot receive any more flour, typically 8 - 10 minutes.
12. Transfer the dough to the buttered bowl. Turn the dough once it is in the bowl to coat it with butter. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.
13. After 1 hour check the dough; it should have doubled in volume. Flour your hands. Punch the top of the dough down into the center. The dough should compress but it should not deflate.
14. Recover the bowl with the towel. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
15. After 15 minutes, turn the dough back onto the board. Use a bread knife to separate the dough into two equal sized pieces. Lightly toss the pieces in the flour on the board. Transfer the pieces to the prepared baking sheet.
16. Shape each piece into a ball. Cover the loaves with the towel and let rise 1 hour.
17. 1/2 hour into the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
18. After 1 hour, remove the towel from the loaves. They should have doubled in size. If their sides are touching on the baking sheet, gently scoot them apart.
19. Sprinkle the loaves with flour. Place the baking tray in the oven.
20. Bake the loaves for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, carefully test a loaf by tapping its top -- the bread should sound hollow. If it doesn't or if you detect resistance in the dough, bake for another 5 minutes.
21. After 30 - 35 minutes, carefully remove the baking tray from the oven. Transfer the loaves to a wire rack until they are cool enough to handle.
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