Sourdough Bread

100 grams active sourdough starter

200 grams water

300 grams bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix sourdough starter and water in a bowl. Add in flour and salt. Mix until a shaggy dough forms and all flour is incorporated. Cover with a damp towel or a lid just set on top, not sealed. Rest dough for 30 minutes. 

"Turn" dough by using your hands or a rubber spatula by grabbing from underneath the dough and pulling up and over the top of the dough. Turn bowl a quarter turn and do it again. Do this about 8 times. 

Let dough rest 30 minutes and turn again. Repeat by letting rest and turning 1 or 2 more times until you have a smooth dough. 

At this point, cover bowl with the lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 4 days. 

When you're ready to bake, prepare your proofing vessel (I use a round 8 inch atorage container) by lining with parchment paper.  Remove dough from the bowl and place on a floured counter. Do one more turn by pulling from bottom and stretching up over the top. You're trying to build up some surface tension on the bottom of the loaf. It should be nice and smooth. Flip uour dough over and tuck the edges under to create a nice smooth top. Place dough in parchment paper lined vessel, lightly cover and allow to rise until when you press a finger in it, the dent remains. This can take several hours since sourdough does not rise as fast as commercial yeast. 

At least  30 minutes before you want to bake, place a heavy dutch oven in a cold oven and preheat to 450 degrees. You want it to be good and hot. 

Lift the dough out of the container and place on counter. Make a slash across the loaf about 1/2 inch deep. Use the parchment paper to lift into the hot dutch oven and spray with 5 or 6 sprays of water. Cover and bake for 25 to 30 minutes with the lid on. Remove from oven and lift with parchment and place back on the oven shelf for an additional 5 to 10 minutes until it is as brown as you like it and an instant read thermometer reads 200 degrees in the center of the loaf. 

Allow to cool before slicing for best texture, or just hack it up and eat it slathered with butter. 

This recipe can easily be doubled or quadrupled. Bread freezes nicely in a ziplock bag, but you will lose the delicious crunchy crust. 

How to maintain sourdough starter:

If you keep it at room temperature it needs to be fed every 24 to 48 hours. Feed by mixing in water and flour approximately of the same amount as the starter. Make sure your container is large enough for it to double in size.

If you keep it refrigerated, it needs to be fed every 2 weeks. I remove it from the fridge, pour half into a separate jar, feed them both then leave one out on the counter with the lid just sitting on top to bake with and cover the 2nd jar and put back in fridge. Starter is active when it is bubbly and has doubled in size.