Make Your Own Sourdough From Scratch

I absolutely love the taste of sourdough bread and I find it easier to digest too. The biggest challenge with making your own bread is to try to avoid eating the whole loaf straight away, because to my mind there's nothing more tasty than freshly cooked bread!

Sage Green Linen Bread Bag from the Garden Collection by Helen Round

Sourdough does take a little longer to make than standard yeasted bread or soda bread but I'm sure that you'll agree that it's well worth it for the taste and health benefits.

A good Starter is essential to getting the dough to rise and helps to create the distinctive taste of sourdough. Here's how to make your starter!

How To Make A Sourdough Starter

Day 1 - weigh 50g strong bread flour. Add 50g water, ideally at 24°C. Mix and leave for 24 hours in a warm place.

Day 2 - after 24 hours, take 50g of the mixture, add 50g flour and 50g water, ideally at 24°C. Mix and leave for 24 hours in a warm place.

Day 3 - repeat day 2. You should be seeing some bubbles on the surface of the mixture. If not don’t worry.

Day 4 - repeat day 2. If you don’t have any bubbles, something is wrong and you should start again.

Day 5 - you should see bubbles and it is now ready to be used or stored in a lidded container in the fridge.

In the morning of the day before you want to bake - take your Starter out of the fridge and mix 25g of Starter with 25g of flour and 25g of water. Leave this mixture in a warm place at approximately 22°C.

In the evening, use 25g of the Starter and mix with 75g of flour and 75g of water. The following day your Starter will be ready to use. It will be bubbly and should have increased in size by 20%.

Starter with Linen Cover photo from www.floatygoatkitchen.com

Keep 50g of Starter in a lidded pot in the fridge. This is now your Starter for the next loaf. It can be stored for up to 3 months.

Now you're ready to make your first loaf!

Make Your Loaf

This recipe makes one loaf.

Linen Bread Bag in Sea Green Check Linen from the Check Collection by Helen Round

First prepare your starter:

1. Remove your starter from the fridge and discard half (you can use this in other recipes, put it on your compost bin or in your food waste bin).

2. Add 50g warm water and mix with remaining starter.

3. Add 50g strong flour and mix

4. Leave the starter somewhere warm to double in size. Depending on the season, this can take up to 8 hours in winter and 5-6 in summer.

5. Once your starter is lovely and bubbly, it is ready to use.

Prepare your bread dough:

1. Add 320g warm water to a large mixing bowl.

2. Add 100g of your bubbly starter (it should float to the top).

3. Mix the starter into the warm water.

4. Add 500g of strong flour. I use white organic flour. If you want to try different flours like rye or wholemeal, use small amounts to start with as this can affect the rise.

5. Mix the flour, water and starter until you have shaggy dough.

6. Leave for 30 minutes to let the flour absorb the water.

Give your starter some attention:

1. Feed your remaining starter with 50g or water and 50g strong flour and place back in the fridge for next time!

Continue with your bread:

1. Add 10g of sea salt to your dough and mix well. I use Cornish sea salt.

2. Perform four sets of stretch and folds over the next hour.

3. Leave your dough somewhere warm to double in size (again this will depend on room temperature/season

Shape your dough:

1. Tip your proved dough onto a floured surface and perform simple shaping.

2. Place in a rice floured banneton or lined tin, cover and pop in the fridge to cold prove - you can leave it here for up to 24hours

Duck Egg Blue Linen Oval Banneton from the Garden Collection by Helen Round

Bake your bread:

1. Preheat your oven to 230 degrees

2. Remove your loaf from the fridge and place on a flat baking tray or leave in tin if cooking that way.

3. Score the top of your dough using a sharp blade.

4. Pop your loaf in the oven and bake for 35 minutes

Eat:

Enjoy your beautiful loaf of homemade sourdough! Try and resist cutting your loaf until is is cooled.

Why not try this recipe during Sourdough September or anytime! Sourdough does take a little time, but once you find your routine, it's a relatively easy way to make delicious bread that's healthy and delicious.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, we'd love to hear from you and do please post any pictures of your sourdough on our social media pages. Find us on Facebook or Instagram.

Don't miss our Breadmakers Bundles too - a great way to buy a large linen bowl cover to prove your loaf and a linen bread bag to store it.

Linen Bread Makers Bundle with Bee Design, including Bread Bag and Large Bowl Cover by Helen Round

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