Citylife in Lichfield September 2021

Sourdough
September
By Ruth Redgate
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Rye Starter
Day 1
Ingredients
50g wholegrain rye flour
50g cold water
Method
Mix the flour and water together. Cover and leave at room
temperature for 24 hours.
Days 2, 3, 4 & 5
Ingredients
50g wholegrain rye flour
50g cold water
On day six you can either bake with your starter or place it into the
fridge to rest until you are ready to use it (up to two weeks). When
you are ready to use it, remove it from the fridge the night before and
feed it with the amount of starter your recipe calls for. So if it calls for
150g starter feed, with 75g each of flour and water, the next day
remove the 150g of starter and away you go.
CStarted in 2013 by the Real Bread Campaign, September is
all about celebrating genuine sourdough (yes there is such
a thing - be wary of faux sourdough!) and the people who
make it.
The three main reasons for the campaign are to encourage people
to buy from local bakeries; make their own sourdough (hands up who
did this during lockdown!); and, of course, support the charity work of
the Real Bread Campaign.
But what is sourdough? And what is the sourdough starter (aka
‘mother’) that you hear that talk of?
A sourdough starter, in simple terms, is a mix of flour and water
which is used to cultivate the wild yeast that is all around us, but
especially in flour, so a starter just makes this into a form we can use.
It really is as simple as that, no magic, grapes, apple juice or yoghurt -
just flour and water. By regularly feeding your initial mix after six day
(yes just six days!) you will have something you can bake with.
What is wild yeast? Whilst I want to say that before we had
commercial yeast we had wild yeast, but we still do have wild yeast, in
the air that we breathe, in bags of flour, on grapes etc but it can be
fussy - hence why we need it in the form of a starter. But even then it
needs to be constantly maintained - think of it as nurturing.
Sourdough can be a difficult loaf to make as it takes constant
adjustments to cope with the changing ingredients, temperatures and
timescales, and the balance of sour taste to flour, which is difficult to
get just right, however given time you will settle into a routine that
suits you. As you ‘care’ for your starter it will take on the lactobacillus
bacteria that is local to you (so buying a renowned San Francisco
Starter will soon take on the local lactobacillus and no longer be a San
Francisco one!)
For this technique we will be using rye flour which is more stable
than white flour
Basic Sourdough Loaf
Below is a recipe for a basic loaf, but please do find one that works
for you and your schedule as they are all different.
This is a loaf you can start at 8pm the night before you are going to
bake it - we will show the times for you.
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour
12g salt
385g water
90g starter (remember to feed your starter the night before or 8-10
hours before using)
Method
8pm
Weigh the flour and salt into a bowl. Combine the starter and water
in another bowl until well mixed. Add the liquid into the dry
ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon until all the flour is
incorporated - it should be a shaggy, thick heavy dough (not smooth).
This will take about two minutes and it should be hard to mix. Cover
with a damp tea towel and leave for 15 mins, it will relax during this
time.
Now it’s time for the stretch and folds - which is why sourdough is
sometimes referred to as a ‘no knead’ bread.
8.20 pm
With one hand pull the dough up from opposite you and stretch it
up and fold it over to the centre of the dough. Do a quarter turn of
the bowl, repeat the stretch, turn the bowl, repeat the stretch turn the
bowl and repeat for the final stretch. This is known as one fold.
Repeat the fold a further three times, leaving the dough to rest for
15 minutes in between each.
Once you have finished the four folds you will need to prove the
dough overnight. Cover the bowl (shower caps are ideal) and leave on
the counter for 8-12 hrs. The ideal temperature is 20 degrees Celsius,
so if it’s too warm use your fridge or prove for less time. If it’s too cold,
it will take longer.
Dining Out - A City of Flavours