Adventures in Sourdough

Yesterday I made my first ever sourdough loaf. I don’t know if it’s because I made everything from wholemeal spelt flour but it was absolutely delicious!  It didn’t taste at all sour and the crust on the outside was crunchy and divine!

I was missing bread and looked back through the notes my nutritionist gave me and she said that sourdough was ok!  I thought I would make it from scratch to be totally sure it had no sugar in it. I used to get it from Gails Bread shop which listed all the ingredients. This is a good option if you live in London.

The first time you make sourdough you either have to make or buy a “starter” which replaces your yeast. I made mine, it took about 14 days to make, after a couple of days, every day you have to throw half away and add more ingredients so it’s a bit of a commitment and you end up eating a lot of sour pancakes! I found the Shipton Mill website gave amazing advice for this.  Once you have your starter you don’t need to make it again but you need to refresh it once a week.

I found the recipe for the bread had to come from many sources as I was making my bread from wholemeal spelt and I didn’t want to use sugar, orange juice or honey. It also depends on the temperature of you house, your oven, your equipment and the sleepiness of your starter.  I didn’t realise until afterwards how important the final fold was. I looked at a number of you tube videos and this was the best at explaining it. Go to 8:30 minutes in https://youtu.be/be57uXRf5xo.

Makes 1 loaf

733g wholemeal spelt flour

431 warm water

10g salt

127g sourdough starter

(50g wholemeal spelt flour if you want to top up your starter)

1.  Refresh the starter 12 hours before you start cooking so that it’s active.
2. Add the starter and water to the food processor bowl, stir.
3. Add the flour and mix with a dough hook on the food processor.  I couldn’t find my dough hook but I had something that had plastic “blades” instead of metal ones and that worked fine.  Mix until it forms a dough and the edges of the dough naturally move away from the sides.
4. Leave to prove for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile if you want to top up your starter its 50g wholemeal spelt flour, 76g warm water
6. Add the salt and mix for 2 minutes in the food processor.  You don’t want to overknead as you’re using spelt instead of flour so the gluten is more likely to break up.
7. Put the dough on the table and briefly knead whilst feeling the consistency.  It should be sticky but not sloppy.  It shouldn’t leave a residue on the work surface as you knead. Add more flour if needs be.
8. Oil a glass bowl and place in there with clingfilm over the top.  Take a photo of the side and the top so you can see when it’s doubled in size.
9. Leave in a warm dark place for 5 hours.  I used my airing cupboard.
10. Knead for 3 minutes.  Again, you don’t want to overknead.  When it feels like an elastic band that’s lost its elastic, stop immediately.
11. Line a bread tin with a tin liner.  I used a non stick silocone liner.  You can get these from John Lewis or Lakeland.
12. Go to 8:30 minutes in https://youtu.be/be57uXRf5xo to see how to fold the dough.
13. Place in the tin and cover with a tea towel.  Let it rise again for 3 hours, keep an eye on it, it should almost reach the top of the tin liner.
14. 20 minutes before the 3 hours is up, preheat the oven to 220C.
15. Spray about 10 squirts of water in the oven to increase the humidity.  Bake for 30 minutes.
16. Leave to cool on a cooling rack before serving.
17. Serve with no added sugar peanut butter, homemade chicken liver pate, hummus or just plain butter.