“One cannot live on bread alone,” or so the saying goes. But I would have to disagree. I’m pretty sure that I would be quite content with a diet consisting of only this sourdough bread… well and some butter of course. And let’s be honest, I pretty much do. I eat bread everyday and often multiple times a day. My favorite breakfast is toast and jam; my favorite lunch is soup or salad with a slice of buttery bread; and I am never one to turn away the bread basket at dinner.

I have always been a big bread lover, and bread was one of the first things I ever baked. It started in fifth grade when my teacher allowed us to take turns adding the boxed ingredients to the bread maker for a freshly baked afternoon snack each day. Let me tell you, as a 9 year old, this was the best thing in the universe. I continued making my own bread using active dry yeast for quite some time, but I began to wonder how bread could be the most traditional food in existence if we needed little packages of commercially produced yeast to create it. And in this way, bread was the food that drove my first academic inquiry into what we eat.

At the time, the science behind sourdough fermentation was much less well known, and American artisan baking was in its infancy. So it took a bit of digging for me to learn that humans made bread centuries ago by allowing flour and water to ferment using natural yeast. In fact commercial yeast is an entirely different kind of yeast; sourdough culture is actually a unique symbiotic composition of various yeasts and bacteria. Commercial yeast, on the other hand, consists of the same kind of yeast used in beer making.

Now there’s been a lot more research on bread making and much has been written about sourdough and its nutritional benefits. Although each sourdough culture has its own unique chemical composition, the loaves they produce are generally believed to be more nutritious than those leavened with commercial yeast. This is because the bacteria and yeasts in sourdough culture require long fermentation times in which they break down gluten and make the nutrients in wheat more digestible and more easily absorbed by the human body.

Nevertheless, there is a reason commercial yeast came to dominate bread baking. Sourdough cultures are infamously unstable, laborious, time consuming, and inconsistent. For commercial and home bakers alike, it’s a lot easier to forego the whole bubbly business of sourdough starter and just buy the sure thing. But if you’re like me, and you have an undying love for the caramelized, crunchy crust and the tender, rich crumb of a good loaf of bread, then there’s really no getting away from sourdough.

In truth, I think of my starter as my first child. I started it in college, before I was a real mom, but it has taught me a lot of valuable parenting skills. I am hyper aware of the temperature of my starter at all times; I even put a little towel under my dish while it’s proofing to prevent it from getting a chill. I’m also attuned to it’s hunger; if my starter is grey-tinged and shows water separation, it’s famished. If it’s got a bright, zesty aroma and a nice bubbly surface, it’s ready to make into bread.

But beyond physically caring for the sourdough culture, I’ve learned to look at my relationship with sourdough more as that of a parent to a child rather than that of a producer to a product. I can care for the dough, give it every opportunity to develop, and try to guide it into its most lovely delicious self, but there are things out of my control - the humidity, the seasons, and, most importantly, the culture itself. Sourdough is a living thing, and, like a child, it has a will and a force all its own. I can only feed it, and love it, and keep it warm, and hope it springs into the beautiful loaf I know it can be. And fortunately, most of my sourdough babies have grown up to be very good loaves indeed.

I've used many different bread recipes over the years, but most recently I have settled into Chad Robertson’s formula from Tartine Bread. He is recognized across the globe as one of the best bakers alive today, and I really can’t say I disagree. This recipe is originally from his book, but I have adapted the timing to fit my own schedule and lifestyle. Additionally, I have included my own method for feeding the starter prior to mixing the leaven (day 1 below). While most bakers forego this step, I’ve found that it’s tremendously helpful in getting consistent results when you’re a home baker working on an inconsistent baking schedule.

One thing I will say about this sourdough is that it is not the easiest recipe at first. It’s a high hydration dough that is sticky and can be tricky to handle. The series of turns do require you to be around the house for four or five hours, and the whole thing takes three days start to finish (don’t worry most of that is not hands on time). But, it is the best bread you will ever have, and if I can do it with a bunch of young children and a busy schedule, well then so can you!

Equipment:

• Food scale

• Food thermometer

• Bench knife

• Dough scraper

• 2 9in proofing baskets (I use these from Bread Bosses)

• Bread lame (I use this one Wire Monkey Shop)

• 1 Large lidded container for bulk fermentation (I use Rubbermaid 12 Qt. and lid)

• 1 or 2 dutch oven combo cookers (I use these from Lodge)

• 1 spray bottle filled with water (optional and only for seasoning your bread baskets)

• Really good pair of oven mitts

Ingredients:

• Bread Flour (I use central milling artisan craft plus*)

• Whole Wheat Flour ( I use King Arthur*)

• Tap water

• Kosher Salt (I use Redmond Real Salt*)

• Mature sourdough starter

• Rice flour for dusting

*I’m not paid to advertise any products or brands. However, I love these products, and I think they’re the best for this recipe.

Method:

Day 1: Between 8-9 PM (this step is optional but recommended if you’re not baking daily)

1. Feed your starter. In a small, glass container (be sure to use one with a lid) combine 86g of warm (between 75-86ºF) water, 46g cold, mature sourdough starter, 46g of whole wheat flour, and 46g of bread flour. Stir to mix completely, close the lid, and rest on the counter overnight. I put a dish cloth under the container to keep the starter warm.

Day 2: Between 6:45-7:30 AM

1. Make the Leaven. Combine 200g of warm (75-85ºF) water with 100g of whole wheat flour, 100g of bread flour, and 1 heaping TBS. of the renewed starter from the night before. Mix well, cover with a lid, and rest on the counter for about 6 1/2 hours.

Day 2: Between 1:30-2:00 PM (or when the leaven passes the float test*)

1. Mix the dough: In a large lidded container, combine 700g of warm (75-85ºF) water with 200g leaven, 100g whole wheat flour, and 900g bread flour. Mix until well combined but do not knead. There should be no remaining clumps of flour, but the dough will look like a large shaggy mass. Top the dough with 20g of kosher salt, cover with the lid, and let rest for 25-30 min. This is called the autolyse.

2. Add 50-60g** of warm (75-85ºF) water to the dough. Squeeze the dough several times like you’re squeezing a lemon to incorporate the salt and water. Then pull the corners of the dough up and over to continue mixing. Do this until all the water and salt are mixed in and the dough is a uniform consistency (about 3-4 minutes). Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

3. Bulk Fermentation: Turn the dough. Wet your hand to prevent sticking, and then grab a handful of the dough from a corner of your container. Pull the dough up and press it down near the opposite corner of the container as if you were wrapping up a small gift in the middle of the dough. Do this 4-6 times until all sides of the dough have been “turned.” Close the lid and let rest for 30 minutes.

4. Continue turning the bread every 30 minutes for 3-5 hours or until the dough has increased in size by about 25%, it feels airy and light, the surface is smooth and shiny, and it holds the shape of the last turn.

5. First shaping: Gently pour the dough out onto a floured surface using the dough scraper. Flour the outsides and the center line of your dough. Use your bench knife to cut your dough into two roughly equal portions. Fold each onto itself and shape into a ball using your bench knife. Douse each boule in a little more flour and allow to sit for 15-30 minutes. This is the bench rest, and the dough will relax and spread during this time.

6. After the bench rest, prepare your bread baskets. Spray them with a little water (if they’re new) and coat them evenly each with a handful of rice flour and a handful of bread flour. It is better to be liberal with the flour than not, especially when your baskets are new. As you use them, you will not need to spray water on the bread baskets or use as much flour.

7. Second shaping: Lightly coat the top and sides of each boule with more bread flour. Use your bench knife to flip the dough over. Gently pull the bottom of the dough down and then fold it up towards the middle of the ball. Then gently pull the right side of the dough over to the right before folding it back towards the middle. Repeat this on the left and the top before lightly flipping the entire boule back over onto its seam. Flour the top again and use your hands and the bench knife to gently pull the boule this way and that, forming a more rounded ball and building more tension. Let the dough rest for a minute, then gently scoop the dough up with the bench knife, flip it into your hands and place it into one of the prepared bread baskets. Repeat with the other boule. Coat the seam with a little rice flour, cover the baskets with a tea towel, and retard the dough in the refrigerator over night.

Day 3: Between 5:30-9:30AM (Or really whenever you’re ready to bake)

1. Preheat the oven to 500ºF with the dutch oven combo cooker inside on the bottom rack. Allow it to reach 500 for 20-30 minutes before baking bread for the best results.

2. Once the oven is fully preheated, remove the dutch oven using good oven mitts. Carefully transfer the bread to the lid of the dutch oven (the shallow pan) by either flipping it directly onto the pan from the bread basket or flipping it onto a parchment round or pizza peel dusted with rice flour and sliding it to the pan.*** Quickly but carefully score your loaf, and then cover the loaf with the bottom of the combo cooker (the deeper pan). Very carefully (it’s hot and heavy) transfer the bread in the combo cooker into the oven. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 450ºF and bake covered for 20-23 minutes.

3. After 20-23 minutes, remove the cover from the combo cooker, but leave the bread on the shallow pan. Continue baking for another 20-25 minutes or until the crust is nicely caramelized all over. Remove the bread from the oven, and then set it on the stove or a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before cutting.

4. Return the pan to the oven, raise the temperature to 500ºF, and preheat for 20 minutes. Repeat the scoring and baking process with the second loaf. Alternatively, if you have two dutch ovens, you can bake both loaves at the same time.

Note: My house is usually about 72ºF, with little humidity. If you are finding that your dough is not rising or developing over the course of 5 hours of bulk fermentation, try putting the dough in the oven with the light turned on. You can also put a pan of boiling hot water in the oven with the dough to increase fermentation rates. However, I do not recommend keeping your dough too warm. A rapid fermentation will prevent your dough from developing enough tension, and you will end up with a flatter and chewier bread. I’ve had the best results with 3-5 hours of bulk fermentation.

*To test your leaven using the float test, drop a tablespoon of leaven into water. If the leaven floats at the surface of the water completely, it’s ready to mix into dough. If not allow the leaven to mature for an hour or two longer before mixing the dough. Once you’re familiar with you’re leaven, you’ll be able to skip this test, but your entire leaven should float in the

**If you’re newer to bread baking, stick to 50g of water. The more water you add, the stickier your dough will be, and the more difficult to handle. In time, you will be more comfortable shaping your dough and may prefer, as I do, extra hydration in your loaves.

***For more intricate scoring patterns, transfer the dough to a parchment round while leaving the combo cooker in the oven to heat. For first time bakers, I recommend a simple square score which you can execute in the hot pan. For more detailed scoring tips and tricks, check out my Bread Scoring Guide

Citations:

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York, Scribner, 2004.

Pollan, Michael. Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. Penguin, 2013.

Robertson, Chad. Tartine Bread. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2010.