Learning to add more water to open up the crumb structure
Learning Objective
You will learn how to make a retarded, mid-hydration 20% wholemeal classic sourdough boule. This is a great recipe for a beginner.
Makes: | 2 x 1kg |
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Level: | Intermediate |
Created Over: | 3 days |
Kind of Bake: | Retarded overnight – San Francisco Style – mixed in the morning, retarded in the fridge overnight, baked at any point the next day |
Gut Factor: | Introducing diversity in the wholegrain |
Diversity Score: | 14 (Botanical Blend No. 2) |
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Suggested Botanical Blend: | Almost any - but start with blend No 2 |
Probiotic: | Serve with cultured butter |
Recommended For: |
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Avoid if: |
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This method involves getting your dough fermenting and then finishing the prove in the fridge. This is typical of the style of sourdough baked in San Francisco, and made famous by Chad Robertson, and perfected by Richard Hart. I first started baking this method in 2010 when the Tartine book was published. It was not an easy bake, but the texture, flavour and structure of the crumb was very different from the French method I had always baked with.
In the summer of 2016 I got to hang out with the Tartine team and learned more about their approach. The retardation slows down the yeast and allows the heterofermentative bacteria (which prefer lower temperatures) to really get to work and produce acetic acid, giving the bread amazing sour and lightly vinegary flavours. It is this sourness that really contributes to the digestibility and the increased bioavailability of nutrients in long, slow-fermented bread. It also happens to be flexible in the timing to bake it
It is so good to wake up in the morning and take your dough out of the fridge, preheat the oven while you have coffee and put your bread into the oven. Alternately you could just leave the dough in the fridge until the later in the afternoon to bake it.
So this formula is the School’s classic beginners retarded sourdough formula, the one from the Sourdough School book on page 114 and the one I have used for over a decade to teach beginners. I use this one because it gives reliable results and helps build confidence. It’s made with white roller milled flour and 20% stoneground wholegrain flour - but my method builds in the Bread Protocol. We use our Botanical Blend No. 2 freshly milled to increase the nutritional benefits and depth of flavour compared to a standard sourdough loaf. The leaven is also made with freshly milled botanical blend flour. This loaf is also the foundation for the porridge loaf techniques.
It is the best loaf to start getting a feel for the process and it is the easiest one to handle to familiarise yourself with the techniques that I teach.
LESSON: Why 1kg of flour?
We work in the school with 1kg of flour. There are several reasons for this.
- It is easy to work out bakers percentages with 1kg
- The larger amount of dough holds the DDT temperature.
- You can use the base dough for other things, such as a pizza base or Foccaccia
- You can make half (500g of flour) but in my experience a smaller amount of dough loses the DDT quickly so never seems to be quite as open crumb as 1kg
When you first start I recommend you bake this loaf at least 5–7 times to get a feel for the timings before you move on to other formulas – familiarity will give you a better understanding of the process – and build an instinctive understanding of the dough and how it behaves.
Try to use the same flour each time to begin with, as this will help you to recognise the nuances of the dough as the seasons change. What might appear to be pretty subtle differences become more noticeable as you improve as a baker. With time, you will notice that the dough feels slightly different with each batch that you bake. Once you have become familiar with this formula, move on to a formula that uses more wholegrain flour.
A note about blood sugar management. This bread is an average bread when it comes to blood sugar. Personally I find it raises mine moderately depending on what I have eaten it with. With about 30% wholegrain in total and retarded overnight, it is fine, but not necessarily the best if you need to be level. It's one of those recipes I find I bake when I need to detach from the world. My favourite be of baking this is the hand mixing and the bassinage. I have to turn my phone off and be in the moment. It is a break from everything else and I recommend this one for that huge sense of delight when you cut into it and get bigger holes too.
Equipment
- Medium bowl for mixing leaven
- Clean t-towel or wax cloth
- Large mixing bowl
- Dough whisk
- Dough scraper
- 2 x 1kg banneton
- Lame
- Baking cloche
Tin Size
- No Tin
Suggested Starter
Status of Starter
bubbly, lively second-build starter
Hydration
75%
DDT
26°C (79°F)
Flours
To Ferment Your Dough
- 40g starter
- 80g wholegrain flour
- 80g water at 30C
Baking Time
1 hour in a Cloche or Dutch Oven and 5 - 10 minutes uncovered depending on your preferences
Bake At
220°C/200°C fan/425°F/gas mark 7
Baking Tips - During/After Baking
- At the end of the baking time, remove the cloche lid and bake for another 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the oven and leaving on a wire rack to cool.
- For a really crusty loaf, turn off the oven at the end of the baking time and leave the bread in there with the door open as it cools.
- For soft crusts, remove the bread from the oven at the end of the baking time and place on a wire rack. After about 5–6 minutes, wrap the loaf in a clean tea towel (or a sheet of greaseproof paper followed by a tea towel if you have added butter).
Tutorials
Total Active Time: 46 minutes
Step | Timings | Active Time (min) |
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Refresh starter 1st Refreshment | 10am Day 1 | 3 |
Refresh starter 2nd Refreshment | 10pm Day 1 | 3 |
Plan Your Bake | 9am Day 2 | 5 |
Make a leaven | 10am-11am Day 2 | 5 |
Mix 700g of the water & leaven into dough | 1pm | 5 |
Autolyse with leaven | 1pm | |
Bassinage 25g (1 x 25g) | 1.30pm | 5 |
Add salt - Start bulk | 2pm | |
Stretch and fold | 2.30pm | 2 |
Bulk Ends - Now Preshape | 5pm | 5 |
Final shaping | 5.30pm | 5 |
Put in Fridge 5C | 6pm | |
Bake | between 12pm - 5pm Day 3 | 5 |
Analyse & Recalibrate | On Eating | 3 |
Total Active Time | 46 |
Guidance, tips & techniques
Please follow the step by step timings and click on the links for detailed lessons about each step.![](https://thesourdoughschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Vanessa-and-Katie-Shoot-12-680x850.jpg)
Please do not attempt to bake this unless you have mastered your basics.
When you begin baking this bread, expect it to go wrong. It is part of the learning process. You will learn nothing from a perfect bread!
Every time you change a variable the bread will change too. This method has rock star status not just because of the flavour and look, but it reflects your ability and skill as a baker, to connect to the process and interpret the dough each time you bake.
Please follow the step by step timings and click on the links for detailed lessons about each step.
How to Store
You can eat this bread for up to 4 - 5 days, although I use it for toasting from day 3.
it's best stored wrapped in a clean un- fragranced tea towel.
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Learning Outcome
You will be able to build confidence in making this classic sourdough boule and understand the techniques involved in making sourdough bread.