Most people are surprised, like I was, at how easy it can be to make sourdough bread. A few days ago I shared my sourdough method with a group of people at Tubbut. Its a frustrating activity in a way, because sourdough answers only to itself and most people had to head home with their loaves uncooked. Those above were cooked a couple of days later in Laura’s oven on the Errinundra and as you can see, it was well worth the wait. On the left is Laura’s sourdough rye/wholemeal and on the right, Zian’s white loaf. Just yum

When it works, there is nothing better than sourdough bread: a crisp browned crust and a soft firm crumb inside with a nutty irresistible flavour if the oven is hot enough.

A pizza oven makes perfect bread. It is VERY hot and after the pizzas have been eaten, you can pop the bread in. It will cook in half the time of your oven at home. In many European villages, people prepared their bread at home and cooked it together on the same day in a central bread oven, enjoying each other’s company. It makes sense to light the fire to heat the oven only once a week and make enough bread to last each family a few days. They would share sourdoughs too, each family with their own, perhaps a result of many years of breadmaking.

 

Why make Sourdough bread

The ‘starter’ or ‘leaven’ was probably discovered accidentally when someone left a bit of flour and water on the bench too long. It could be used for pastry and cakes before baking powder and indeed supermarkets started supplying all our needs.

As communities get more sophisticated, without time or patience to put up with sourdough, people got used to the light fluffy bread that came sliced in a plastic bag and got stale after a couple of days. I can remember when this began in the 1950s; gone were those crusty loaves that you ripped the insides out of on the way home from the shop. This bread, usually made entirely from white flour, provided little nutrition apart from the wrong kind of carbohydrates but added to our salt and sugar burden.

Some people found that their chronic stomach pain was due to their consumption of gluten, found in wheat, rye and some other grains and, of course, bread. Gluten is the protein that yeast eats. Commercial bakers increase gluten to make their bread rise larger and faster. The good thing is that in sourdough bread, the gluten is transformed by the acebactor and lactobacilli, making it much easier to digest. Its good for your gut.

So if you have trouble with gluten, don’t give up bread (unless you are a coeliac), try sourdough. Living in this glorious region of Tubbut-Bonang we have the bread (pizza) ovens to do it well.

The starter

Easiest way to get a starter is to get some from someone else. It doesn’t have to be very much. But if you want to make your own, that’s easy too.

Combine 50g of flour, rye if you have it, with one quarter cup of unprocessed water. Cover with a clean cloth and stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Over a fortnight, feed by adding the same each day. Sniff it – the smell is the best test of its health. At this stage, it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. It is ready to use when it doubles in size, so use a container – glass jar is good – where you can see this happen. Now you can keep it in the fridge with a closed lid. Get it out at least a few hours before you need to use it and allow it to warm to room temperature; if need be, wake it up with a spoonful of flour and add some lukewarm water.

You can feed your starter with any flours you have at the time, including gluten-free.

• Use only rainwater
• Salt – a decent pinch – is a good addition, being ‘antiseptic’ and slowing down rising
• Sometimes I add a spoonful of honey to my bread as sugar also feeds the yeast
• If you don’t bake often, feed your starter once a week. If you do, leave it on the bench covered with cloth
• I keep my starter in the fridge except in winter when the back porch is colder than the fridge.

Making sourdough bread

Best to give yourself lots of time as sourdough runs to its own timetable. Many a night have I had to stay up past midnight because that is when it is ready to bake.

You shouldn’t hurry up the rising process because slower makes the sweeter loaf. Yes it may take a couple of days but patience will be rewarded.

You can make a wet dough loaf or a dry kneaded loaf. They are different textures so choose which you like best. Kneading is a traditional part of breadmaking, but good mixing can replace it.

My method

I get the starter out of the fridge and tip it into a bowl. I add potato water if I have it, with a bit of hot water to make it the right temperature – yeast likes this – or tepid water made from mixing hot and cold to the temperature where it feels neither hot nor cold on the skin.

I then add about half the flour I will need and let it absorb that. It is ready to start using when bubbles surface.

At this point I take out some and put it back in my starter jar (which I have washed) and pop that in the fridge for next time.

Then I may add more liquid depending on how many loaves I want to make. I usually make about 4 loaves and freeze some so breadmaking is fortnightly.

I usually use about a litre of liquid and however much flour is needed to make a kneadable dough. I love kneading bread but you might prefer to keep it wet and use the wet dough method. This means getting the dough to a thick consistency like a cake.

This is the point at which you add honey and fruit if you want to make a sweet loaf. You can also add a handful of rolled oats, sunflower seeds, olives, cheese, mashed cooked pumpkin or potatoes or whatever to make an interesting bread to your taste.

If you are making a dry dough, knead it until it is lively and smooth.

I have my pans greased for either method, as I do the final rising in the pans. I choose a warmish spot, perhaps the windowsill.

Using a knife I put some shallow cuts on top so I can see how it is rising. I cover it with a clean wet teatowel while rising as it can dry out.

When it is ready for the oven, I brush with olive oil to get a crisp brown crust. You can use milk too.

The oven must be very hot to start. – 220 degrees. If my stove is not cooperating, or it is too hot to light it, I use my barbecue which has a lid. Its not perfect, the bottom can burn, but it achieves that alchemy that I am looking for (when metal turns to gold, when flour and yeast turns into bread).

Putting a bowl of water in the oven to make steam helps in the cooking process. Alternatively, placing the bread in a dutch oven can achieve the same effect.

Start checking after 20 minutes or so – the bread may need turning around in the oven. Sometimes I take mine out of the tin and turn upside down and cook a further 5-10 minutes to create a crisp crust on the bottom as well.Turn out to cool and resist cutting while hot as it will crumble. However, I usually can’t wait. And now – enjoy!