Artisan Sourdough Method
Here is my daily boule(s) method for our family’s sourdough. I do have a highlight on my instagram with a follow-along-as-I-bake series, but if you dive in here you should be just fine. It only looks daunting until you’ve done it once, promise!
Ingredients:
200g fed and bubbling starter
525 g warm water
730-740 g Bread Flour (I use King Arthur)
1 tbs kosher salt
AUTOLYSE PHASE
To 525g warm water add the 200g starter (it should float) in a large bowl.
Add the bread flour and bring together with your hand into a sticky dough.
Cover loosely with a towel and leave for 1-4 hours.
STRETCH AND FOLD PHASE
Add 1 tbs kosher salt and integrate well, kneading with your hand. This will take a few minutes. Cover with the towel.
Every 30 minutes reach your hand underneath the dough mass and stretch from the bottom to fold over the top, rotating the bowl so that you pull and stretch up from each of the 4 “sides” of the dough.
Continue to do this stretching and folding until windowpane is achieved (you can gently stretch the dough and light will shine through without it just tearing). This will take 2-3 hours.
Once windowpane is achieved leave it sit for 20-30 more minutes.
BULK RISE
Cover with a towel, a piece of plastic wrap, a shower cap - even a grocery bag and pop the bowl into the fridge for 12-15 hours.
FIRST SHAPING
Remove bowl from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for two hours.
Scrape dough onto your counter and divide into two roughly equal halves.
Pull up from the bottom of each half to the top, then flip over and shape into a boule cupping your hands around the ball and gently creating tension on the surface of the dough.
Leave for 20 minutes and make sure it keeps its rounded edge.
FINAL SHAPE
Stretch the dough from bottom to top again, flip, and do your final shaping of your boule.
Place each one top side down into a floured banneton or bowl lined with a generously floured towel.
Cover with a banneton cover or a shower cap or even a plastic grocery bag and place in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
BAKING
30 minutes before baking preheat your oven(s) to 450 F, with your baking vessel in the oven (I use a Dutch oven).
Gently invert a dough loaf into the preheated Dutch oven and score the top.
Bake at 450 for 30 minutes with the lid on the Dutch oven.
Remove the lid and continue baking for ten more minutes.
Remove loaf to a cooling rack. Allow to cool before slicing.
Notes:
Timing: I time my feed for 7-8 am, dough making 11-12, then it goes in fridge in the evening for the bulk rise and I pull it out of the fridge at breakfast and bake in the early afternoon.
Shaping: some people flour the bench, I prefer to work directly on my countertop because I like the slight tackiness I get at the bottom of the boule that holds the center while I shape. This is personal preference.
Likewise there are different methods for shaping, this is what I do on the regular and I’ll post a video to help those new to shaping a boule get a feel for it. You want to create tension on the outside of your dough without destroying all the air inside - do not knead the dough.
Scoring: you can used a small sharp knife or a dough lame, but if you’re new to scoring you will most likely be surprised that a couple nice, deep scores across the top do the trick. Your loaf is going to want to “break” somewhere during baking and scoring is you giving the loaf an outlet - rather than getting a random bubble out the side.
