Everyday Sourdough

My first sourdough bread! Yay! Have been wanting to make sourdough bread for ages, but the whole process sounds very intimidating, from the making of the sourdough starter to the baking! I finally took the plunge! 

Sourdough is slow- fermented bread. It does not use commercial yeast, but made with live fermented culture (sourdough starter), which acts as the leavening agent. The sourdough starter (the most basic one) is made by mixing flour and water. The most frustrating part of the whole process is the beginning, the making of the sourdough starter. It took mine, three whole weeks, feeding it with water and flour, before the starter began to grow to almost three times in volume and began to puff and bubbly and ready for baking. 

Meet Bubbles, the starter. It smells nice, yeasty, sour and sweet. 

My first sourdough bread is the most basic one, perfect for a newbie like me, Everyday Sourdough. I mixed the dough and let it rise in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I shape it and left to rise in a cloth-lined banneton for the second and final rise, then invert onto a parchment paper. Scatter some flour on the dough, and rub gently, then score the top with a cross-cut pattern. Transfer the dough together with the parchment paper onto a Dutch Oven, cover and bake in a very hot oven for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to bake for another 30 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread and bake directly on the oven rack for a further 10 minutes to crisp the crust.

Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Ooh... the crispy sound as the knife cuts into the crust, is like music to my ears! 😊 The crumb is soft with a mild sour taste, very nice!

Spread with butter, and lightly toasted, makes a delicious sandwich with some deli ham, tomato, avocado and lettuce greens. 

Both the starter and the Everyday Sourdough bread recipes are from this fabulous book Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa. I love this book and am looking forward to try if not all, then most recipes from it!

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #34