A Spoon Full of Lovin'

This recipe is a basic one that you can always enhance and create your own special bread. It was developed for the home kitchen and home bakers that will usually bake once a week.
Please don’t let the 3 day process deter you from baking bread.  The yeast and bacteria does most of the work. Your patience will be well rewarded.

Keep in mind the following tips:

· Keep the starter/levain/dough (unless it’s in the fridge) in a room where the temperature is between 74⁰ and 80⁰ and there are no drafts.

· Use a good, organic artisan bread flour

· Use distilled water and keep it at room temperature

DAY ONE – FEEDING YOUR STARTER – CREATING A LEVAIN

“Starter” . . . “Levain” . . .”Poolish” . . . “Chef” . . . it’s a matter of sematics and language. The sourdough starter stays in the fridge until you take it out once a week (same day each week) and you remove 150 grams of starter required in this recipe. This is your “feed” day. Once you start feeding the 150 grams of sourdough starter with flour and water, it becomes a “levain” . . . a french term for a leavening agent. The levain is used instead of packaged yeast to leaven (rise) the sourdough bread. It takes more time for the dough to rise when you use a levain, but it is worth it!
On your feed day, you will feed the levain 4 times. There will be about 4 hours between feedings.
8:00 am, 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm is a suggested feeding schedule. This is a good schedule because after your 4th feeding, the levain will be left out overnight for 12, but no more than 15 hours. Using this schedule, your second day (the day you create your sourdough boules), you will be making the boules between 8:00 and 11:00 in the morning. 

DAY ONE: FEEDING SCHEDULE [same day every week if possible]:

1st Feeding:

150 grams starter

50 grams water

50 grams flour

This morning you will create and start feeding your levain. 

Take the starter out of the refrigerator in the morning, mix it well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and measure out 150 grams of starter. 

Weigh out 50 grams of tepid/lukewarm water.

Weigh out 50 grams of good, organic artisan bread flour.

Stir the starter and water in a large non-porous, non-metal container (glass bowl or a 6 quart “Cambro” 6 quart container, etc.) with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula.  

Stir the 50 grams of flour into the water/starter mixture using your wooden spoon or rubber spatula. The mixture does not have to be completely smooth.

Cover the container with cheesecloth.

Put the levain in a warm place.  Ideally, keep the room temperature between 74⁰ and 80⁰ and there are no drafts.

Let the levain feed on the sugars in the flour for 4 hours.

2nd Feeding:

200 grams water

200 grams flour

Remove the cheesecloth and mix the levain well with the wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Weigh out 200 grams of tepid/lukewarm water.

Weigh out 200 grams of good, organic artisan bread flour.

Stir the water into the levain.

Stir the flour into the levain. Remember the mixture does not have to be smooth.

Cover the container with cheesecloth.

Put the levain back in a warm place.  Remember to keep the room temperature between 74° and 80° and there are no drafts.

Let the levain feed on the sugars in the flour for another 4 hours.

3rd Feeding:

200 grams water

200 grams flour

Repeat the same steps for the 3rd feeding as you did for the 2nd feeding.

4th Feeding:

200 grams water

200 grams flour

Repeat the same steps for the 4th feeding as you did for the 3rd feeding.

After the 4th feeding, let autolyze (rest) overnight in a warm room for 12 hours, but no more than 15 hours.

DAY TWO: MAKING THE DOUGH:

260 grams levain

500 grams water

Mix the levain and water in a bowl.  I use my bowl for my Kitchen Master.

Add one of the following or be creative and make it your own signature bread.

½ cup pour le pain

3 tbls. dried rosemary and 2 tbls. dried garlic

4 tbls. roasted sesame seeds

½ cup chia seeds

½ cup molasses and ½ cup wheat germ

½ cup kalamata olives

½ cup “The Works” Bread Topping from King Arthur Flour

½ cup “Everything” Bagel Topping from King Arthur Flour

Now add 965 grams organic artisan bread flour.  I use Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Flour.

Using the dough hook for the Kitchen Master, knead the dough for a few minutes, just until dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Cover the dough and let it autolyse (just a fancy word for ‘letting it rest’) for 20 minutes while still in Kitchen Master.

While dough is autolysing, feed the leftover levain 100 grams water and 100 grams of flour and let it autolyse [covered] in the proofing room for 1 hour before it gets put back in fridge until next week.

After dough has autolysed 20 minutes, add 4½ tsps. finely ground Himalayan salt.

Mix the Himalayan salt into the dough using the Kitchen Master for a couple of minutes.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and (using envelope method) knead dough for a couple of minutes.

Turn dough into a lightly oiled non-metallic bowl (bottom side up), flip it and cover with saran wrap, put back in proofing room for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.

Turn dough onto floured work surface and cut in half. Weigh each dough ball to make sure they are the same size.

Knead each piece of dough (envelope style) for a minute or so and shape into boules or batards.
Cover and let autolyse for 15 minutes.

Turn boules or batards into bannetons dusted with white rice flour.

Cover with saran wrap and secure with rubber band.

Return to proofing room until doubled in size.

Then put in refrigerator to retard until following morning.

· Retarding should be between 8 and 12 hours.
· Refrigerator temperature should be set at 50⁰.

DAY THREE: MAKING THE BREAD:

Preheat oven and cast iron dutch oven to 450⁰ for an hour or so.

While the oven is preheating, take out one of the boules or batards so it can get to an internal temperature between 57⁰ and 60⁰

Put a piece of parchment paper on a baker’s peel.

Dust the parchment paper with white rice flour.

When boule or batard has gotten to the correct temperature, carefully invert it onto the parchment paper.

Dock the boule or batard so that the gasses can escape.

This is when you can be creative with the lame.

Carefully, take the dutch oven and place it on the counter.
Invert it so that the “top” is lying on the counter.

Take the “bottom” and set it out of the way on a counter.

Gently slide the boule or batard onto the “top/lid” of the dutch oven.

Cover the boule or batard with the bottom (larger portion) of the dutch oven and quickly return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, take the bread out of the oven and uncover the bread.

Return to the oven and bake until it reaches a temperature of 210⁰ and it nicely browned (about 15 minutes to 20 minutes).

Remove from oven, set on a cooling rack and let it cool for an hour or so.