Sourdough Bread

With or without bread machine

I got my sourdough starter during the 2019 winter holiday season from CulturesforHealth. I started with regular (San Fransisco) sourdough but feed it with rye flour when I have it. In CT, where I grew up, we had the best pizza and the best breads. Bread flavor is in part credited to the regional water. I definitely missed Leon’s Bakery rolls once I left home. I use a bread machine to work the dough for 1st rise and then bake in the oven. If you want to, you can complete the entire process in the bread machine. I have the Zojirushi’s Home Bakery Virtuoso® Breadmaker (BB-PAC20). I got it a few years back, maybe more than a few 🙂 since my son enjoyed gluten-free bread. Their recipe was a success from start to finish. The recipe in this post has this and that from several recipes. The Clever Carrot is a great place to get directions. I had not done the stretch and fold before finding this site. You can skip this step, but it does work. Last time was the first time I used the bread machine on the homemade setting for 1 rise. That takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I transferred the bread to a board for the second rise. I preheat my pizza stone in the oven. When I transferred the dough to the stone after the 2nd rise, it fell. This time I will use parchment paper for the 2nd rise and place dough and paper on the stone. I keep my starter in the fridge. If I plan ahead, I take it from the fridge to the counter the day before and feed it. Tip: ❶ Try not to under salt bread. ❷ water temp is like that for yogurt around 110-115 degrees F. Follow your bread machine instructions for order of ingredients. My old one used wet into dry and this one uses dry into wet.

• 3/4 cups starter
• 1 cup + 1TB warm water (careful not too hot)
• 2 TB olive oil
• 4 cups bread flour (I now use Morrison’s Peter Pan AP flour from Sam’s Club during COVID-19)
• 1-1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp active yeast (you do not need this but I like the extra rise)

As I said, the 2nd rise is on parchment. I sprinkled some corn flour in the paper. I put a small amount of olive oil on top of the dough and covered with saran wrap. I covered the wrap with a damp dishtowel. Let it rise fo 30 minutes to an hour. I preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with the pizza stone in the oven part way through the 2nd rise. Just before placing the dough in the oven I score it several times with a bread lame. I have not attempted lame art, yet. Mine is the Saint Germain Premium Hand Crafted Bread Lame. I place the bread in the oven (center shelf) and spritz the dough with water. Lower the oven to 400 degree F. I also put water in a pyrex dish on the bottom shelf of oven with plenty of water so it does not evaporate. The Internet said that Pyrex can take 450-degrees (not 500) and Anchor Hocking less than 450. To be safe, I do not put in the water until the bread goes in. Bake for 30 minutes or until deep, golden brown. The Clever Carrot recommends that the internal temperature should read 205-210 F. I usually thump my bread.