Ur-Oma's Brötchen

Rev:  0.40; Last revised:  03-Feb-08

This is a recipe for Ur-Oma's Brötchen (rolls).  This recipe will make 1 small loaf of plain white sourdough bread or 6-8 of the small Brötchen that Ur-Oma likes.

Seeding the Sponge:

With a whisk or spoon mix the flour and water into a thin batter in a suitably large bowl.  Stir or whisk the sourdough inoculant into that mixture.  Seeded and ready for proofing, this 50:50 mixture will become the sourdough sponge around which this recipe will be built. 

Proofing the Sponge:

Cover; let it sit at or as near to 85F as possible for at least 3-4 hours, although I usually let it proof overnight for 10-12 hours; longer, if the proofing temperature is cooler.  This first proofing time is an interdependent function of the temperature, the nature and history of your starter culture, and to a lesser degree the nature of your flour and water.

Making the Dough:

Mix together the salt and 1-1/2 cups of the remaining bread flour, reserving the final 1/2 cup of flour for "adjustment" purposes.  You'll use this for your work table and to "tune" the final moisture level of the dough.  Whisk them together dry first, then add ALL of the sponge created previously with a spoon until well incorporated.

As you mix it, the dough will progress from very gooey to a really sticky mess!  Add your reserved flour a little at a time and keep scraping the bowl until the dough doesn't want to stick to the bowl any more.  At some point, it becomes too difficult to mix with a spoon.  By then, directly by hand is much easier.  Turn it out on a lightly floured table and knead it--only a little should be needed--in the conventional manner.  At this point you're done putting the ingredients into the dough.  It is also here that you make any final adjustments to this recipe.  Dough too wet or too dry?  Then tweak it as needed.

Here is where I recommend that you get a cup of coffee or other beverage of your choice, and take a break.  Let the dough just sit there ( called "rest" in many recipes), tightly covered, to absorb the moisture into the flour components.  After a half-hour or so, and you'll see and feel how the dough has begun to exhibit a silky, smooth outer covering.  This is what you're looking for.  If the dough "handles" fairly easily (i.e. it doesn't stick to everything in sight), then it's about right and you're done.  If it's still too sticky, work in as much of the remaining flour (even adding a few tablespoons of additional flour if needed) as you can without making it so that when kneaded, the fold won't "seal".  If it's too dry, add a tablespoon or two of starter out of your starter pot.  Say what?

Fermenting the dough:

This step is often referred to as proofing, as well.  Proofing is just a baking techno-geek term for "feeding the culture".  It it's healthy and has been fed, it should demonstrate that by growing.  I call this step "fermenting" in order to differentiate it from the earlier proofing.  You can call it whatever you want...

In a large lightly oiled bowl; cover and let it ferment until it appears to have noticeably increased in size.  Indication of activity is all that's really required.  Instead of allowing it to "double", I usually wait for it to 1/2 double or so.  This step can be accelerated by keeping the sponge warm. 
NB: Take care to NEVER permit temps to exceed 95F!
  Say why? 

Keep in mind that sourdough doesn't have the same ability as commercial yeast to repeatedly raise the dough.  So when you see a recipe that calls for doubling, and then rising it double again, you can be sure that it was a yeast dough recipe that someone tried to convert...and left in some bad (yeast) instructions.  While some cultures can do it, I recommend only a single rise or at most a short 1/2 rise, with the final rise being done in the oven as it heats up (which is why I bake into a cold oven).  However, that's just me, and this method works super well--for me!  YMMV; so you're of course welcome to do it any way you wish...

Rise:

Once positive activity (growth) is established, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Lightly dust hands and top of dough with flour.  Lightly press dough into the shape you want it to become with the flat of the hand from center to edge.  For Brötchen, divide the dough into as many Brötchen of the size you want, that your dough allows, and continue the following section for each one of them.  The idea here is to push out or pop any large bubbles--if you have any, you should be able to hear them "pop". 
NB: I usually skip the previous step, because I like and want large "flavor" bubbles.
 

For each roll or loaf, fold the edges into the center, overlapping slightly.  The idea here is to stretch the skin on top and roll it underneath.  Do it gently.  Do it too much and you'll break that skin.  Then you'll have to ball it up again, knead it a little, let it rest some more, and do it again.  Finally shaping the dough balls so that the finished Brötchen are about an inch wide, 2 inches long, and an inch thick--or any other size you'd like them to be.  Keeping in mind that they'll roughly double or more when baking.

Transfer the Brötchen to a COLD cornmeal dusted, rimless cookie sheet, or baking stone.  Cover loosely with large sheet of plastic or aluminum foil lightly oiled to prevent sticking.

Cover and put into COLD OVEN or other protected, draft free place, and let rise.  When ready, the dough should have approximately doubled or so, and should retain an impression--without pushing back--when pressed lightly with a fingertip.
NB: Use care here, as this *may* be a test of dubious merit!

I let them rise about 3-5 hours or so at room temp.
NB; letting the dough become twice as long AND twice as high, is NOT a doubling; it is a quadrupling!  If you let it rise too high and/or too long, it'll become overextended, weak, and will collapse.  It'll taste okay, it'll just be a bit less fun to eat.

Bake:

Remove covering.  Adjust baking rack to put bread near the middle of the oven, taking care that the rising dough can not touch the top of the oven.  On the lowest oven rack or oven bottom, place a shallow container to hold water--metal is probably your best selection.

In a separate pan or kettle, bring to a boil about a cup or so of water and pour into the pan or skillet.  Let the steam envelop and permeate the oven and dough for 10-15 min. before you begin baking.

Turn oven, set to 450-475 degrees, to "ON"; baking time should be 40-50 min.  

Since I like my crust a bit more crispy than chewy, I find using only the water in the pan as outlined above to be sufficient.  But if you're a fanatic and need a really, really chewy crust; 10-minutes after you turn on the oven, about 3-times--at 5 minute intervals (or until the crust starts to darken); open the door a crack and spray the back, walls, floor, and loaf with more water.  The steam created by the water treatment is what makes the thick, chewy crust that legions of sourdough aficionados crave so much.  Beware the steam--it is hot and will burn!
NB:  My oven is electric with a "folding" element attached at one side of the bottom.  I use an old cookie sheet under that element--makes a great water holder.  It's flat and wide, and seems to eliminate the need to "spritz" the oven during baking.  I add boiling water to it; wait 10 min or so, and turn the oven on and walk away.  40 min at 450F seems to be just about right.  Keep in mind that there's a thousand different kinds of ovens out there, and that YMMV...

Bake until crust is very dark brown--about 40 minutes for the smallish loaf of Brötchen created by this recipe.  If not browning evenly, turn the bread around after about 20 minutes or so.  Turn oven off, open door, and let bread remain in oven 5 - 15 minutes longer.  Remove from oven, then let cool to room temperature before slicing—about 2 hours.  For a less dark loaf, turn the temp down 25F or so and/or take it out sooner...

All other amounts and types of sourdough bread are made as multiples of this basic recipe.  Derivative breads; whole wheat, rye, and so on, are made from this same basic recipe substituting the specific flour ingredient in order to get the desired results.  Note that using different flours may necessitate some compensation in order to accommodate the abilities of the various flours to absorb the water.  Changing the amount of water by a tablespoon or so, and the flour by 3 tablespoons or so should be more than enough to get you "into the window".

After reading reams of pages and listening to legions of "experts", I've distilled down all of that input and made myself the "expert".  Just like me, everybody that makes SD bread has their own methods, ideas, and goals.  Too many are "hinky" and pointless at best, or slaves to technology and methodology at worst.  What you've just read is mine...