Courtesy Polly Goldman, Aromas
Sourdough starter (see below)
2.75 pounds plus 1 cup whole wheat flour, preferably freshly ground*
2.25 pounds plus ¾ cup water
1½–2 tablespoons salt
Linen-lined or cane baskets in which to let the bread rise
Bread peel (a wooden or metal paddle for shoving the loaves into the oven)
Pizza stone, kiln shelf and/or bricks for the oven
SOURDOUGH STARTER
You can make your own starter (many easy instructions can be found online), get some from a friend or buy it. Sourdoughs International (sourdo.com) sells many different cultures from around the world, including the one used to make the classic San Francisco sourdough bread.
SOURDOUGH BREAD
The evening before, soak the flour. Mix 2.75 pounds of flour with 2.25 pounds of water in a mixing bowl. Cover with a plate, damp towel or plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature overnight.
Refresh the starter. Put about 1 cup of starter in a large mixing bowl, then add 1 cup of whole wheat flour and ½ cup of water to it. Mix well, cover the bowl and leave at room temperature overnight.
In the morning of breadmaking day, add the soaked flour mixture to the refreshed starter. Mix briefly using your moistened hands then cover bowl and let sit for about 2 hours. During this time, periodically remix by moistening your hands and grabbing one side of the mass of dough, pulling it up and folding it over the rest of the mass. Turn the bowl and repeat several times.
After about 2 hours, add the salt and ¼ cup of water, incorporating using the pulling up/folding over method as before. At this point you may also add in tidbits like olives, dried tomatoes, cheeses, etc.
Again, let the dough sit to incorporate the water more fully. Then mix again by pulling and folding, just enough for the water and salt to be evenly distributed throughout the dough. Kneading is not necessary.
Cover the dough in the bowl. Place in a warm spot to rise. It will take longer to rise than yeast bread does, maybe 3–5 hours, depending on the weather, temperature of the water used initially and condition of the starter.
Once the bread has risen, find out if the dough is ready for the next step. Poke a wet finger into it. If it leaves a hole that fills back in slowly, it is ready. If the hole fills back in immediately, wait longer. If the dough around the hole deflates, you waited too long.
Once the dough is ready, wet or oil your hands, gently remove the dough from the bowl and place it on an oiled surface. Divide it into loaf or bun sizes (I make 4 loaves or 32 buns with this recipe) and form into loaves.** I do this using a combination of rolling and twisting movements that not only shape the loaves but, also, organize the gluten in the dough to give it some loft.
(Several videos on YouTube demonstrate this next process—search for “shaping sourdough boule.”) Gently flatten the dough into a rectangle, then lift one end of the rectangle and fold the dough toward the center. Repeat with the other end of the rectangle. Then repeat with the rectangle’s other two sides, ending up with a sphere. Next, put your hands on opposite sides of the sphere and twist a quarter turn. Repeat this twisting a few times. With each of these steps, the dough should feel firmer. Once you are happy with the shape, coat the loaves with flour (and/or with seeds—e.g, sesame, fennel, pumpkin) then place in flour-coated baskets. Sprinkle flour (or seeds) on top of the loaves then cover them lightly with a cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place.
Note: At this point, I usually refrigerate the formed loaves to bake later. This allows for some flexibility in timing and also affords additional fermenting time.
When you’re ready to bake, put a pizza stone, clean bricks or other heat-holding material in the oven. Preheat the oven to 500° F. When the loaves have risen (about 2 hours if at room temperature), flip them out of the bread baskets and onto a flour- or cornmeal-coated peel. Slash the tops of the loaves with a razor blade and slide them onto the pizza stone or bricks in the oven.
Spray water onto the loaves immediately and after 5 and 10 minutes of baking. Bake 18–20 minutes until almost burned on the outside; the loaves will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool on wire racks. The bread is still cooking while cooling, so eating it while warm, although irresistible, will decrease the quality of the remainder of the loaf.
* There are about 3 cups per pound of flour, but it varies a lot, so it is better to weigh than to measure by volume.
** You may avoid all the complicated forming and baking steps by cooking the bread in traditional loaf pans, but it is not nearly as good.
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