Let’s Talk Yeast!

Sourdough starter is a collection of wild yeasts and bacteria typically used to leaven breads.

My sourdough starter was born during late August of 2019 in Puglia, Italy.

I wasn’t too familiar with this certain fruit in Italy. In late August, I watched bugs circle these orange, translucent, tomato-shaped things. If you take a closer look, you can see that some of the fruits are cracked. The torn skin on these persimmons exposed the juicy, sweet and creamy interior that I was interested in.

One day I had the idea to ferment this fruit to make my own sourdough starter. There were also dark grapes that hung from the trellis in the castle’s garden. So, I grabbed only the ripest persimmons and a few of the grapes to bring back into the kitchen. After two days, I saw some bubbling activity from the hand squeezed fruit mixture I made. I strained it’s liquid and mixed it with white flour. Days later, I realized I created something special.

When using a sourdough starter, make sure it is at least a year old. It should be an off-white color and have almost a yellow tinge.

I tend to feed my starter with a ratio of 1:3:3 using only white flour. Feeding your sourdough larger quantities of flour and water will help your bread rise more effectively and hopefully double/triple in size! Do this at least once a day to ensure a healthy starter.

Bread Essentials

Challenger Bread Pan

https://challengerbreadware.com/product/challenger-bread-pan/

Brod & Taylor Folding Proofer

https://brodandtaylor.com/collections/folding-proofer-slow-cooker/products/folding-proofer-slow-cooker

Measurements:

(Medium 800g Loaf)

300g water

400g flour

80g starter

10g salt

(Large 950g Loaf)

360g water

480g flour

96g starter

12g salt

Flour Breakdown

15% Castle Valley Mills Hard Whole Wheat Flour

40% King Arthur Sir Lancelot High Gluten Flour

45% King Arthur Unbleached Organic Bread Flour

Step 1: Autolyse

Mix the flour and water together in a bowl. Leave to rest at room temperature for 1-3 hours.

Step 2: Mix

Add all of the ingredients to a stand mixer. Using a dough hook, mix ingredients at medium speed for 5 minutes until smooth.

Step 3: Bulk Fermentation with Stretch and Folds

Allow the dough to rise in bulk at 78 degrees Fahrenheit for a total of 4 hours. Giving the dough a series of folds will provide the extra strength.

Bulk Fermentation:

Fold #1 after the 1st hour

Fold #2 after the 2nd hour

Fold #3 after the 3rd hour

Step 4: Shaping

Make sure to dust your banneton evenly with flour.

After shaping, allow the dough to rise in the banneton for 3 hours at 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

One hour before the dough is finished rising, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with bread bakeware inside (placed on the middle rack of the oven).

The dough should almost double in size.

Step 5: Bake

Add the dough to the bakeware. Score the surface of the dough, cover and bake for 25 minutes.

After this time, remove the loaf from the bakeware. Bake the bread for 20 minutes on the oven rack.

“Ecco qui!”

A sourdough bread baked low and slow.

Complex smells seeped from the cracks of the oven doors.

The dark, crisp crust encases the spongey soft crumb.

“An irresistible loaf of bread.”