Simple sourdough loaf

Makes 1 full size loaf

Ingredients

• 130g active sourdough starter, fed 8-10 hours before
• 340g tepid water
• 500g bread flour*
• 1 teaspoon salt

* You can either use strong white flour, or a mix of flours that add up to 500g (e.g. 400g strong white flour and 100g plain wholemeal flour)

Equipment

• You’ll need a covered cast iron casserole dish, at least 2.5l capacity, to act as a dutch oven for cooking the loaf.
• If you want the traditional sourdough ridges on the crust of your loaf, you’ll need an oval or round banneton.
• As the dough is quite wet, it’s easier to knead it using a mixer with a dough hook, but you can do it by hand if necessary.
• A plastic dough scraper makes it easy to get all the dough out of the bowl and to scrape it off the board when you’re kneading it. (You can get metal ones but the plastic ones are more flexible so they do a better job of cleaning the bowl.)

Method

Making the dough

1. Mix the starter and the water in the mixing bowl, then add the flour and knead using the mixer for 5 minutes.
2. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.
3. Knead again for 4 minutes, sprinkling in the salt during kneading.
4. Cover the bowl with the tea towel again, and leave for another 30 minutes.
5. Knead again for 2 minutes.
6. If you’re using a banneton, transfer the dough to a floured board and form it into a ball. Generously coat the banneton with flour and transfer the dough into it.
7. If you’re not using a banneton, leave the dough in the mixing bowl or transfer it to another bowl if you need the mixing bowl for something else.
8. Cover the bowl or the banneton with the tea towel, put it in the fridge and leave it for between 12 and 36 hours. (The longer you leave it, the more rich the sourdough flavour will be.)

Baking the loaf

1. About an hour before you’re ready to bake the loaf, take the dough out of the fridge to come up to room temperature. If your house is cold, put it in the airing cupboard or on top of a radiator to warm through.
2. About 40 minutes later, put the empty casserole dish in the oven and heat it to 230 degrees C.
3. When the oven is up to temperature, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl or banneton using a palette knife. Carefully take the hot casserole dish out of the oven, remove the lid and tip the dough into it. Replace the lid and return it to the oven.
4. Bake the loaf for 20 minutes at 230 degrees C, remove the lid then bake for another 20 minutes at 210 degrees C. It should now have deep golden brown crust.
5. Tip the loaf out onto a cooling tray and leave it for at least 1 hour, preferably longer if you can resist eating it!

Example timeline for making a loaf

DAY 1

9.00 am – Feed the starter

6.00 pm – Make the dough. (The starter should have a bubbly, mousse-like texture by now.)

6.45pm – Knead the dough again while adding the salt.

7.20pm – Knead the dough one last time and transfer it to another bowl or banneton, if necessary, then put it in the fridge

DAY 2

8.00am – Take the dough out of the fridge and leave somewhere warm.

9.00am – Pre-heat the oven and casserole dish

9.20am – Bake the loaf

10.00am – Leave it to cool

12 noon – Eat!