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If you haven’t already done so, do give Part 1 of this masterclass a read - unless, of course, you already have a sourdough starter that is good to go.
Important Note Before We Start: For the Pain au Levain (regardless of which of the two methods you choose), you should be using a newly refreshed starter. The best time to bake is, therefore, the day after you have done your weekly/fortnightly feeding (once you have fed your starter, measure out the amount that you need for your bread, leave it at room temperature and use the next day). If you’d like to bake at any other time of the week, measure out 15g of starter and feed it with 20g of flour and 15g of water a day in advance, leaving it at room temperature. As for pizzas, your starter needn’t be newly refreshed, so feel free to turn your kitchen into a pizzeria anytime.
=> Easy method
1) Mix all ingredients together till homogenous and leave to rest for 5-10min.
2) Knead dough for 10min or until it passes the “windowpane” test.
3) Proof dough for 3-4h.
4) Flour your work surface, dough, hands, and - if you decide to use one - bench-scraper.
5) Shape dough into a boule and transfer into a floured banneton (or a bowl lined with a liberally floured tea towel).
6) Proof dough for 2.5h at room temperature or 8-48h chilled in the chiller.
7) Carefully invert banneton/bowl to release dough onto a baking sheet or into a preheated Dutch oven pot.
8) Using a lame/sharp paring knife/razor blade, slash dough as desired.
9) Splash or mist water into oven (or Dutch oven pot) to create steam.
10) Bake for 35-45min, depending on how dark you like your crust. (if using a Dutch oven: bake for 40min covered and 15-20min uncovered instead)
=> “Proper” method
1) Mix flour and 180g of water till homogenous and leave to rest for 1-2h at room temperature or overnight in the chiller.
2) Mix in starter till homogenous (you might have to, very literally, claw at the dough for quite a while to incorporate the starter here) and leave to rest for at least 10min.
3) Mix in salt and 10g of water till homogenous and leave to rest for at least 1h.
4) Proof dough for 3h, giving it 4 stretches and folds every 1h and adding some of the remaining 20g of water at each interval.
5) Flour your work surface, dough, hands, and - if you decide to use one - bench-scraper.
6) Shape dough into a boule and transfer into a floured banneton (or a bowl lined with a liberally floured tea towel).
7) Proof dough for 2.5h at room temperature or 8-48h chilled in the chiller.
8) Carefully invert banneton/bowl to release dough onto a baking sheet or into a preheated Dutch oven pot.
9) Using a lame/sharp paring knife/razor blade, slash dough as desired.
10) Splash or mist water into oven (or Dutch oven pot) to create steam.
11) Bake for 35-45min, depending on how dark you like your crust. (if using a Dutch oven: bake for 40min covered and 15-20min uncovered instead)
Recommendations and FAQs
For both methods:
🔪If you are looking for good-quality flour that ain’t too pricey, go for Bob’s Red Mill or Origins Healthfood. They work just as well as the (usually) uber-expensive King Arthur Flour!
🔪Sourdough bread is supposed to be less cottony and more gelatinous (but not gummy) than a store-bought sandwich loaf. If you are not used to such a texture but would still like to enjoy the flavour of sourdough fermentation, replace 15-20g of the water with oil or melted butter/margarine and add a small pinch of instant yeast.
🔪For visual demonstrations of shaping dough into a boule, click here (no fuss 30sec clip) or here (3min tutorial with explanations).
🔪For the best non-stick effect, flour your banneton/tea towel at Step 5 of the Easy method or Step 6 of the “Proper” method with a 50-50 mix of rice flour and all-purpose flour.
🔪If you’d like a sourer final product, opt to proof your dough in the chiller at Step 6 of the Easy method or Step 7 of the “Proper” method. Chilling causes the dough to mature slower, hence the longer proofing time, and longer proofing times make for sourer loaves. Also, the lower temperature will allow the heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria in the dough to produce more acetic acid, which, in turn, will impart more of a vinegary acidity to your final product as opposed to a sweeter, milkier, yoghurt-like tang.
🔪Do remember to cover your loaf with a damp towel when proofing, especially if you are leaving it in the chiller.
🔪No matter what dough slashing pattern you go for (do browse the internet for some inspiration), be sure that you are swift with your slashes lest you drag and tug at the dough with your blade, which would deflate many of your precious air bubbles!
🔪What do you recommend for the optional 60g flour substitute? Buckwheat, German rye or oat flour. You can make oat flour by grinding oats yourself, so don’t buy it pre-ground - it’s daylight robbery!
🔪Why does the recipe call for both all-purpose and bread flour? Using only bread flour will yield you a loaf that has bubbles as tight as that of store-bought sandwich bread, while the gluten in a dough made solely from all-purpose flour will not be strong enough to expand and hold in large air bubbles. The combination of all-purpose and bread flour is meant to yield the right gluten strength for an irregular and open crumb, which is crucial for artisanal bread.
↳For the Easy method:
🔪To minimise your dishwashing load:
=> measure all ingredients in the same bowl
=> remember to tare/zero your scale before measuring out each new ingredient!
🔪What on earth is the “windowpane” test? Click here and skip to 0:20. Do note that the hydration level of this recipe is much higher than that of the dough in the clip, so wet/oil your fingers before handling the small piece of dough so it doesn’t stick.
↳For the ‘Proper’ method:
🔪The long resting at step 1 is called an autolyse. With the dough left undisturbed, gluten will form through natural distribution of water, imparting more extensibility to your dough and yielding you a creamier crumb in your final product than if you were to rely on kneading.
🔪Salt is added only at step 3 because it can inhibit the autolyse in step 1 and tighten your dough such that it becomes harder to incorporate the starter in step 2. Adding water at the same time helps to distribute the salt more evenly.
🔪Click here for a visual demonstration of stretching and folding for step 4 (the video shows exactly 4 stretches and folds).
🔪You’ll notice that step 4 calls for gradual addition of water. This is a technique called eau de bassinage, which greatly increases your chances of achieving an open crumb by suspending tiny pockets of water within a fully developed network of gluten that has been strengthened by salt. That being said, do not be tempted to add more water in hopes of getting even larger bubbles in your final product. Having higher hydration is definitely fine, but the additional water should be mixed in during the autolyse phase at step 1. Adding too much water here at step 4 would impart large pockets of water into your dough which would only water-damage it, severely compromising its overall structure and taste (it may even turn out to be rather inedible).
1) Mix all ingredients together till homogenous and leave to rest for 20-30min.
2) Knead dough till smooth.
3) Proof dough for 3h.
4) Lightly flour work surface, dough and hands.
5) Divide dough into 3 and shape into rounds.
6) Proof dough balls for 24h in the chiller.
7) Flour work surface, dough, and hands.
8) Flatten and stretch out (or roll with a floured rolling pin) dough and top as desired.
8) Bake for 9-13min.
Recommendations
🔪To minimise your dishwashing load:
=> measure all ingredients in the same bowl
=> remember to tare/zero your scale before measuring out each new ingredient!
🔪If you are looking for good-quality flour that ain’t too pricey, go for Bob’s Red Mill or Origins Healthfood. They work just as well as the (usually) uber-expensive King Arthur Flour!
🔪We recommend going for a pesto or white base as the acidity of tomatoes will compete with that of your sourdough..and why wouldn’t you want to appreciate the taste of your sourdough fully? Do note that the combination of sourdough and a white base will yield very yoghurt-like flavours overall.