Sourdough home recipe, based on a Rye Levain (similar to Baking Labs Rye Batards)
This recipe is a typical sourdough bread we bake and demonstrate during workshops.
| Totals for the entire dough formula | ||
| Total Flour | 350 | gram |
| Toral water | 250 | gram |
| Hydration | 71% | |
| Salt | 2% | |
| Pre fermented flour (levain) | 14% | |
| Total dough yield | 607 | gram |
| Flour mix | ||
| Strong whole wheat bread flour (12% protein) | 100 | grams |
| Strong white wheat flour ( 14.5% protein) | 100 | grams |
| All purpose white flour / T65 ( 11% protein) | 100 | grams |
| Additional Ingredients | ||
| Salt | 7 | grams |
| Water ( 27 C) | 185 | grams |
| To build up your levain | ||
| active starter | 10 | grams |
| warm water ( around 27 C) | 60 | grams |
| whole rye flour | 45 | grams |
Making the bread
| DAY 1 | |
| 12:00 [build levain] | Mix water with active starter (milky consistency) |
| 5 to 6 hours | Add rye flour, mix well, temp 27 C |
| Levains should rise within 4- 5 hours | |
| Stir once when risen (bubbles), leave warm to rise again | |
| 18:00 [bulk ferment] | Making the dough & Bulk fermentation |
| 2 hours | mix the flour with water ( autolyse), 30 min before the levain is ready |
| add salt, mix well | |
| add levain, mix well | |
| stretch and fold every 30 minutes | |
| 20:00 [final shape] | Final shape |
| 20:30 [fridge] | Leave 20 minutes to proof warm, put in the fridge for 10-12 hours |
| Day 2 | |
| 10:00:00 [baking] | bake the bread next morning, immediately from the fridge |
| baking methods, dutch oven, cold and warm |
Notes
– The longer you wait with baking the more sour your bread will be.
– The final proofing time might need adjustments, depending on the speed of cooling (fridge) and final dough temperature.
– Dough should never dry out during warm or cold fermentation.
– While strong bread flours (high protein content) mentioned in this recipe help, you can try other bread flours as well.
Optional: reuse old bread (as we do at Baking Lab)
We reuse 4.3 % of old bread in our formula. You can replace all purpose flour (11 % protein) with 15 grams of old bread, soaked in 50 grams of boiling water. In that case correct the the above formula:
– All purpose flour (11% protein) : 100-15 = 85 gram
– Water: 185-50 = 135 gram
Baking
The classic method requires you to heat up the oven upfront to 230 C, including the pan. After reaching the right temperature (in about 20-30 min) you can add the dough to the hot pan and close the lid. Bake for 20 minutes with lid and another 20 without the lid, check the crust to make sure it’s not burned. When done, take out from the oven and let the bread cool on a rack for at least 1 hour.
The cold method. Let your bread proof in the Dutch oven itself. Put it in the oven, turn the heat up to 220C ( fan) or 230C (non fan). Total time in the oven +/- 55 to 60 mins. Read more about using the cold baking method: King Arthur Baking; Food bod sourdough. Make sure you read the blogs before using this method, which may result in different results.