Secrets to homemade sourdough bread
Among the 10 or so breads made daily at Sage Bakehouse, owner Andree Falls said her sourdough bread has been a consummate favorite among customers since the Cerrillos Road bakery opened in 1996.
“It’s extremely popular and has lots of flavor and character,” Falls said of the sourdough bread made at Sage Bakehouse, where 700 to 1,000 loaves are made daily.
Falls compares her sourdough bread to wine, where the bread’s flavors are best appreciated by consuming it at a slow pace.
“I liken it to wine,” Falls said, referring to a well-balanced white burgundy from France and a chardonnay from California, both of which are made from the same grape varietal. “The sourdough is our version of that California wine. You can’t miss the sourdough — it’s not subtle.”
Falls said that the bread’s signature flavor and character is derived from three simple ingredients: flour, water and salt. Noticeably missing from her bread equation is yeast, or some other agent used to raise the bread dough.
“We don’t use commercial yeast,” she said. “We use some of yesterday’s dough to make our bread. We feel like it has to be a 100 percent pure sourdough starter to get the most amount of flavor.”
Wild yeast is born
A starter, according to Chad Robertson, author of Tartine Bread, is a fermented culture made by combining flour and water. As the culture ferments, the microorganisms present in the flour grains and air will begin to produce wild yeast and bacteria rich in lactic and acetic acids.
Once properly fermented and routinely fed — a process where a portion of the old culture is discarded and replaced with equal parts flour and water — the starter will rise and fall predictably and can be used as the sole raising agent in sourdough bread, producing a distinctive tang and moist texture.
The starter used at Sage Bakehouse is European and dates back more than 100 years. Falls said she purchased the starter from Michael London, a former poetry professor turned baker, who taught Falls how to bake bread.
“He [London] traveled the world in search of great artisan bread,” Falls said. “We purchased starter from him, and he in turn purchased it from a bakery in Europe. We’re just one of the younger generation of bakeries that is using this starter.”
Regardless of the fact that both she and London (along with other bakers in Europe) use the same starter, Falls said each bread has unique, distinctive flavors.
“Because the air and microbes are different, bread is going to taste differently in Santa Fe than if it were would made in New York or San Francisco,” she said.
Slow, rewarding process
Although Falls admits that the process of making bread with a cultured starter is considerably more unpredictable than bread made with commercial yeast, she said the end product is superior to most other breads.
“We proof everything in the open bakery,” she said, “and we don’t have much control over how long it takes for the dough to ferment. It can take several hours longer to ferment in January than it does in July.”
After bakers have mixed the dough, Falls said the sourdough loaves take an average of eight to 10 hours to ferment. It’s this slow process that gives sourdough bread its characteristic flavor.
“The beautiful thing about sourdough is that the process is really slow, which allows the dough to absorb all the grain taste,” she said.
Using commercial yeast, according to Falls, yields opposite results. “With commercial yeast, the dough moves so quickly that it doesn’t have time to develop any sort of character. To me, commercial yeast has the flavor of pop-up dinner rolls from the 1970s and doesn’t have any rich-tasting characteristics.”
‘Bread is the boss’
Because sourdough is not physically strong, Falls said a high-gluten flour should be used to strengthen the dough during its fermenting process. Likewise, the dough should also be handled with care and mixed and shaped using a gentle hand.
Having a patient demeanor, too, is an essential ingredient when making bread with a starter. Sourdough breads have many “human qualities,” which can alter the baking process from day to day, Falls said, and bakers must be adaptable.
“We say the bread is the boss,” she said. “It takes a dedication to the quality of the bread, and it takes a lot of good qualities in a human being to be that steward for the dough during its process.”
Sage Bakehouse is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 820-7243.
Makes one loaf.
Recipe requires a food scale.
Water (70 to 80 degrees)
Leaven (See page C-2)
Bread flour
Whole-wheat flour
Salt
Preparation:
Pour 400 grams water into a large mixing bowl. Add 100 grams leaven and mix until its evenly distributed. Save the left
over leaven and feed it regularly — this is now your starter (See Starter recipe for feeding instructions). Add 400 grams bread flour and 100 grams whole-wheat flour and mix until a
rough dough forms (figures 1 to 3). Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Add 10 grams salt. Work the salt into the dough until a cohesive
mass forms. Transfer the dough into a clear food-storage container
(figure 4) or glass bowl. Cover and set aside for 4 hours. During this time, the dough must be turned. To turn, grab the
underside of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over the top (figure
5); repeat two more times. This is one turn. The dough must be turned
every half hour. By the end of the third hour, the dough should be
billowy and have increased in volume.
Remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface (figure 6). Cover with a clean towel and set aside for 30 minutes.
Gently shape the dough into a round loaf (figures 7 and 
and place
on an 8-inch parchment paper circle. To shape, fold the third of the
dough closest to you over the middle. Gently stretch the dough
horizontally to the right, and fold this third over the middle; repeat
with the left side. Stretch the top of the dough and fold it over the
center. Using cupped hands and a circular motion, shape the dough into a
taut round. The seams should now be on the bottom. Cover with a towel
and let sit for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature.
A half hour before the dough is ready to bake, place a cast-iron
Dutch oven (including the lid) inside an oven and preheat to 500
degrees. Using a razor blade, score the top of the loaf in a square
pattern (figure 9). Wearing oven mitts, carefully take the Dutch oven
out of the oven and remove the lid. Place the scored loaf (still on the
parchment) into the Dutch oven and cover. Place in the oven and bake for
20 minutes. Lower the oven to 450 degrees and remove the lid from the
Dutch oven. Continue to bake for 20 minutes, or until the bread is
golden and cooked through.
Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Serve warm.
Method adapted from Chad Robertson
Recipe requires a food scale
Active starter (at least a week old; see directions below)
Flour blend (use same blend as for starter; see below)
Water (70 to 80 degrees)
Preparation:
The night before the dough is mixed, discard all but 2 teaspoons starter and feed it with 100 grams flour blend and 100 grams water. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
By the next day, the leaven should have increased slightly in volume. It should smell sweet. To test the readiness of the leaven, drop a spoonful into warm water. If the leaven floats, it’s ready to be used. If not, let the leaven sit out at room temperature for a few hours, or until it floats in warm water.
Recipe requires a food scale
2 pounds unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably organic
2 pounds whole-wheat flour, preferably organic
Preparation:
Mix together the flours in a large food-storage container. This the flour blend that will be used throughout the feeding process. Fill a small, clear container, such as a 1-pint mason jar, with 120 grams flour blend. Pour in
120 grams water and mix until a thick, lump-free batter forms. Cover and place in a cool, dark area for 48 hours to ferment.
The starter should now be the consistency of pancake batter and have a sharp, slightly acidic aroma with bubbles on the surface. If no bubbles are present, let the starter sit for another
24 to 48 hours.
Once bubbles are present, the starter is ready to be fed. To feed the starter, discard about three-quarters of it. Replace with equal parts flour blend and water — 60 grams flour blend and 60 grams water — and mix until well combined. Cover and place in a cool, dark area for 24 hours.
Continue to feed the starter — discarding about three-quarters of it and replacing with equal parts flour blend and water — every 24 hours at about the same time each day. Leave in a cool, dark area and continue to feed for one week.
During this time, an active starter (established with wild yeast) should increase in volume after feeding and collapse toward the end of the 24-hour feeding cycle. The aroma should be slightly sweet but still sour. The starter also should have no off-colors, such as green or red streaks. If this happens, the starter should be thrown out.
To maintain the starter, feed it every 24 hours with equal parts flour blend and water.
Once the starter rises and collapses predictably, it’s ready to be used for bread making.
Makes four cups
1/2 pound of dried apricots, diced in 1/4-inch cubes
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1 pound pumpkin, diced in 1-inch cubes
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cinnamon sticks
Preparation:
The night before, soak the apricots in the apple juice, plus 2 cups water. Strain and reserve the soaking liquid.
Pour the reserved soaking liquid into a sauce pan fitted with a steam basket and bring to a boil. Add the pumpkin, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and steam until tender, about 30 minutes.
Remove the cooked pumpkin to a food processor and add the sugar, reserving the steaming liquid in the sauce pan. Process the pumpkin and sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes. Remove the steam basket from the sauce pan, and bring the steaming liquid to a boil and reduce to a 1/4 cup, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
Pour the pumpkin mixture into a clean sauce pan. Add the reduced steaming liquid, lemon juice and cinnamon sticks, and cook, over medium heat, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Add the apricots and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to break down, about 30 minutes.
Decant jam into sterilized jars and process according to canning instructions. Cool and refrigerate.
This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)
Return from bread to Home Page
