This gorgeous loaf still requires patience, but instead of a challenging ‘starter’ it uses kefir. Both contain similar bacteria and yeasts for leavening and flavour development – it’s just that one requires a week’s prep before you can start to bake, the other you simply pick up in the chiller aisle
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
See more of Sarah Cook’s recipes
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
See more of Sarah Cook’s recipes
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Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust
1 tsp fast action dried yeast
1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
200ml plain kefir
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Keeps for up to 2 days ,or can be frozen (well-wrapped). A defrosted whole loaf should be crisped up for 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 160°C, fan 140°C, gas 3.
Start this the day before you want to eat your bread, beginning in the morning. Weigh 100g of the flour into a medium-sized bowl and stir in the yeast. Add 150ml of lukewarm water. Mix to a batter, then cover and leave for 5 hours at room temperature.
After 5 hours, weigh the remaining flour into your largest mixing bowl, or a stand mixer, and stir in the salt. Mix your kefir with 50ml water, then add this and your now bubbly batter to the flour. Mix to a smooth dough, progressing from a wooden spoon to hands. The dough will be very, very soft. Tip onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is very smooth, elastic and springy. It will be fairly sticky but try to add as little extra flour as possible. If you’re using a stand mixer instead, the knead time will be halved.
Return the dough to the cleaned bowl, cover and leave to rise overnight at room temperature.
In the morning, scrape out the bubbly batter-like dough onto a floured work surface. Leave to settle and spread for a few minutes, then gently stretch and fold the dough over itself, from each of the 4 sides. Repeat this a few times to help strengthen the dough’s structure; it will start to hold its shape. If it is really too sticky to handle you can incorporate a little more flour as you go, but only if it’s absolutely necessary; this dough is meant to be quite slack and stretchy, not like a normal bread dough. When it will hold a rough ball shape, flip onto a sheet of floured baking paper so that the ‘folds’ are underneath, and finish shaping into a neat ball. Leave to rise, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes – don’t worry if it spreads out a bit.
Meanwhile, place a deep, lidded casserole dish into the oven and heat to 240°C, fan 220°C, gas 9 (the casserole acts like a miniature steam oven, trapping moisture from the bread and giving a better rise).
When the casserole is really hot, carefully lift in the loaf on its paper. Score a pattern in the top, cover with the hot lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid (use oven gloves) and bake for 15 minutes more until the crust is dark golden. Cool on a wire rack before slicing and eating.
Tip
This gorgeous loaf still requires patience, but instead of a challenging ‘starter’ it uses kefir. Both contain similar bacteria and yeasts for leavening and flavour development – it’s just that one requires a week’s prep before you can start to bake, the other you simply pick up in the chiller aisle.
There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.
At its most basic calculation, a loaf of sourdough bread costs between $1 and $2 to bake at home (depending on the type of flour you use). If you add in your time/labor, as well as energy costs, you could be looking at anywhere from $5 to $20 a loaf.
A 1:2:2 feeding ratio would consist of one part existing starter, two parts flour and two parts water. For example, if you have 30g of existing starter, you would feed it 60g of flour and 60g of flour. The most common feeding ratios for daily maintenance are 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.
It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.
It strikes a perfect balance of softness and structure, making it an ideal choice for various recipes. Due to its wide availability and affordability, all-purpose flour is often my top recommendation for creating and maintaining a sourdough starter.
Is it healthy to eat sourdough everyday? You could eat sourdough every day, but it isn't necessarily healthy to do so. A healthy diet is characterized by balance and moderation. Whether or not it is healthy for you to consume sourdough every day depends on the rest of your diet.
Sourdough bread may be easier to digest than white bread for some people. According to some studies, sourdough bread acts as a prebiotic, which means that the fiber in the bread helps feed the “good” bacteria in your intestines. These bacteria are important for maintaining a stable, healthy digestive system.
Whether you buy sourdough from the store or make your own, it has a pretty impressive nutrition profile. Most sourdough isn't made with whole-grain flour, but if you make it at home you can use whole-wheat flour for your bread.
What makes Dunkin's Sourdough bread so special? Dunkin's Sourdough Bread is one of the only mass-produced sourdoughs that uses a “true” sourdough starter. Many other companies that make sourdough bread on a large-scale use either a powdered substance as a base or use sourdough flavoring to flavor their bread.
Have you ever wondered whether you have to clean your sourdough starter jar? The simple answer is you don't need to clean your sourdough jar. It's just not necessary to clean your jar all that regularly, unless it's super crusty or you can't get your starter out or fresh flour and water in.
If you didn't discard a portion of your starter each time you feed it, two things would happen: Your starter would grow to an enormous, unmanageable size. Your starter would likely become more and more inhospitable to the bacteria and yeast we want as the mixture would become ever more acidic.
It's important to note that overfeeding can also have negative effects on a sourdough starter if done excessively or too frequently. If the starter is overfed, it can become too acidic or develop an unpleasant odor which is the result of excess food rotting in the jar.
A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a culture which is kept and fed with water and flour at equal weights. Like for instance 5 oz water to 5 oz flour. A 166% hydration starter is fed with equal volume of flour and water, which most typically is one cup of water (8.3 oz) and one cup of flour (5 oz).
Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter. All-Purpose flour, for example, will not rise as robustly as a blend of bread flour and whole wheat flour.
Place your starter in a warm spot to rise and activate, ideally 75-80 F. Temperature is really important. The warmer it is, the faster it will rise. Your starter is active when it shows the following signs: doubles in size, small and large bubbles appear, has a spongey or fluffy texture and exhibits a pleasant aroma.
Introduction: My name is Pres. Lawanda Wiegand, I am a inquisitive, helpful, glamorous, cheerful, open, clever, innocent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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