Everyday Sourdough Bread
I love this recipe! This is a sourdough bread you can make everyday. I believe it might be our favorite dinner bread. Delicious with just a pat of butter or dunked in a good olive oil. It also makes amazing grilled sandwiches.
It's the simplest bread recipe I make. I use my stand mixer, sourdough starter, a dutch oven and only 1 teaspoon of yeast. It takes 10 minutes to put together and it's done in about 3 hours depending on the temperature in my kitchen. The warmer it is, the faster the dough rises.
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These are pictures of another loaf I made following the same recipe. Depending on the humidity and temperature of my house, the bread will change from day to day, although not too much.
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This was a loaf that I made using whey instead of water. I often have whey on hand as a by product of cheese making.
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Whey contains a lot of protein and has the flavor of skim milk. This makes a loaf of bread that has been enriched. When using water, the loaf of bread is technically referred to as a lean or non-enriched bread.
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For another great simple sourdough bread and more tutorials on how to bake sourdough bread take a look at my Whole Wheat Sourdough Rye Bread Recipe. It's made using the same process but with different ingredients.
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Click on the images below for a better look at the process of making this delicious everyday sourdough bread.
One of the things I like best about this bread is it's ability to stay fresh. Of course most of us are buying breads that have preservatives added to them so they have a fairly long shelf life but what if you have a loaf that has no preservatives?
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A beautiful part of making your own bread is getting to eat it in the first few hours after it's been baked but also that it will last nearly a week in your home if it's not eaten right away and still taste great. When I feel like we won't be getting through a whole loaf right away I store what is left in the freezer and thaw it out later when we're ready for it. I warm it in the oven and it's as if it were freshly baked!
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Cheers!
~Melisa
Everyday Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup sourdough starter, fed the night before
1 cup warm water or whey at about 105 degrees
1/2 cup flour for forming the loaf and baking
Method
Add all of the dry ingredients to a mixer and mix on low speed just to combine, then add the sourdough starter and begin mixing on low speed.
With the mixer running on low speed slowly add the warm water up to one cup until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl as shown above. If the dough has not fully combined, add warm water one tablespoon at a time until it does. Be sure to give it time to mix in before each addition. If the dough becomes too wet add a little more all purpose flour until it comes together.
Once your dough has come together, continue to mix for 6-8 more minutes on low. The dough should be fairly sticky.
Scrape the dough onto a well floured board and knead with floured hands 4-5 times and form the dough into a ball.
Place the ball into a bowl with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and swirl it around until all sides are lightly coated with the oil.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled. (60-90 minutes)
After the dough has risen, move the dough back onto the floured board, knead 4-5 times and reform into a ball.
Place the ball of dough into a well floured banneton or alternatively, into a bowl lined with a thin cotton towel that has been well floured.
Cover with the banneton cover or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with oil and allow the dough to rise once more in a warm place until doubled (45-75 minutes)
Begin heating a Dutch oven with the lid on inside of your oven to 450 degrees.
When the dough has risen, gently roll the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with cornmeal or polenta and score as desired.
Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 450 degree oven. Remove the lid and lift the bread using the parchment paper and place it inside the hot dutch oven, paper and all. Replace the lid and place the dutch oven back into the hot oven and lower the heat to 425 degrees.
Bake 40 minutes without peeking.
Uncover your beautiful bread and carefully lift it out of the dutch oven and onto a bread board to cool using the parchment paper.
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Be sure to let it cool completely before slicing.