Rev 1.10, last revised: 15-Nov-05
This recipe is a rewrite of a recipe by a sourdough news group friend. It is his recipe essentially unchanged, except for reformatting it for my recipe pages.
1: 1-tsp. starter, 1/4-cup water, 3/8-cup flour; (base)
mix; ferment ~85°F until tripled in volume, ~10-hours or so...
2: add a 1/2-cup water and 3/4-cup flour; (double)
mix; ferment ~85°F until tripled in volume, ~4-hours or so...
3: add 2-cups water and 3-cups flour; (double-double)
mix; ferment ~85°F until tripled in volume, ~4-hours or so...
In a suitable bowl mix each stage in turn, adding the required ingredients. Temperatures and times are approximate. If it's cooler, times must be longer; if warmer, times must be shorter. Avoid temps in excess of 100°F as these can kill your starter. Note that depending on your starter and flour, the growth in step #3 can be most impressive. Be sure to use a large enough bowl to contain *all* of your sponge.
dry-mix, with a whisk, 3-cups flour and 2-tsp salt.
add to sponge created above.
The original recipe called for kneading 6-minutes with a Kitchen Aid K-45 stand mixer with dough hook. Add enough flour to keep dough ball on hook.
If you have a mixer, use it; modifying the instructions to accommodate your unit. I don't use a mixer, so I mix in the ingredients and knead the dough only enough so that it incorporates and absorbs all of the flour, adding a bit more if necessary just so it doesn't stick to everything in sight. Usually less than 1/4 cup additional flour, for about 2-3 minutes or so.
first rise, until doubled; at ~70°F (room temp) ~2-4 hours.
gently punch down by hand and split the dough (flatten & fold several times) into boules (or more or not, if you're making other sized loaves)
second rise, until tripled (maybe more); at ~70°F (room temp) ~2-4 hours.
Bake, from a COLD OVEN, at 425°F, for 45 minutes or so. No steam or water is used with this recipe.
Times are estimated, approximate. The time required to to raise the dough is very dependent on the technique of building the starter to the dough stage, and upon the temperature. Rise times may be shortened by incubating in a closed space at temperatures up to 90°F. In the example above, if you started at 2100hrs, you would be done at 2200hrs the next day.
Success is very dependent on building the fermentational activity in a will-timed manner--very similar to building a campfire from tinder. Feeding (adding water and/or flour) is to be done before the batter/dough quits expanding. The use of stout preferment's, as specified, is helpful towards this, since batters tend to foam rather than expand.
Using this recipe, the dough will have a hydration less than 60%, and it will rise quite vertically, but will not have the huge holes which some folks expect with sourdough bread. (Bakers hydration is the ratio of liquid weight to flour weight).
This recipe, as written, will yield 2 loaves or about 1-3/4 pounds each. It's about the most that can be made in a K45 mixer.
For more information you can browse Dick's web pages.
Enjoy!