Cracking the code of sensational sourdough
Some people go to South Beach or Savannah or the Sonoran Desert for a vacation.
I went to a sourdough bread retreat in the Catskills.
I’ve been baking bread ever since a friend sent me the famous no-knead recipe that went viral on the New York Times website in 2006. In the simplest terms you mix flour, water, salt and yeast into a dough, leave it alone for about 16 hours, then bake it in a Dutch oven. It is delicious and will make you lifelong friends when you share it.
The only negative is handling the sloppy dough. When no-knead bread is made with all white flour, it’s wet and gooey. I missed being able to touch, poke and knead dough.
So I started down the sourdough path.
Sourdough is a method of making bread rather than a type of bread. It starts with a starter, a mix of chemistry and magic using the basic ingredients of flour — which contains wild yeast and water. Find a formula, mix those two together and the concoction replaces the need for commercial yeast. The starter is like ignition in a car: mix it with the other ingredients for bread and voilà — you have takeoff.
By the time I saw the bread retreat being talked about on Instagram, I had been making sourdough bread with mixed results. After several tries making my own starter from complex formulas, I found a simple recipe that worked for me on The Perfect Loaf website.
The starter is made by mixing equal parts rye flour and all purpose flour with the same amount of water. Put it in a glass container, leave it on the counter and wait for it to increase in volume and start to bubble. Once the starter is active, you’ll need to learn the nuances of feeding and maintaining it.
There’s plenty of information about this online and in books. One of my favourite books is “Sourdough, Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads, Sweets, Savouries and More” by Sarah Owens.
Through Instagram I learned that baker Owens (www.bk17bakery.com) was leading a two-day immersion course in sourdough and whole grain baking at the Riverbend House (www.riverbendcatskills.com), located on the beautiful Delaware River, two hours west of New York City.
Owens arrived with flour, rolling pins, bowls and towels for the eight of us taking the course. The eager students included an avid baker from Virginia, an Airbnb executive from Manhattan, and a mother and daughter from NYC.
What’s the big deal about sourdough bread? Well, it’s delicious and nutritious and, as Owens explained, the natural formula that combines wild yeast with bacterial fermentation makes whole grains and glutens easier to digest. It’s good bread for people with gluten sensitivity but not a solution for people with wheat allergies or celiac disease.
Over two days Owens shared insights about the behaviour of sourdough bread. It’s a little unpredictable, exciting and always delicious. The temperature of the kitchen, the type of flour, the consistency of the starter — all of these things affect the performance of the dough and the taste of the bread. In my kitchen, sourdough bread always takes longer to rise than most recipes suggest. But even if it seems flatter than predicted, or misshapen, it always tastes better out of your oven than you can ever imagine.
We learned how to score the bread using a razor or scissors, how to make beautiful patterns on the crust using stencils, and how to use a banneton or basket for the final proofing before baking. Between sessions in the kitchen we feasted on wonderful food made by chef Ian Boyle, son of the owners of Riverbend House.
There’s no denying that making sourdough bread is a process. Recipes from Owens’ book, such as the roasted chestnut bread I recently made, require the dough to rise in various stages over two days. But only once, during the stage called bulk proofing, do you need to be around to turn and fold the bread every 30 minutes over a four-hour period. Otherwise the bread is left alone to rise.
While the challenge to master sourdough is addictive, other easier breads are just as joyful to make. Two recipes from the cookbook “Earth to Table: Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm” by local chefs Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann are simple to make. Milk and Honey Bread and Oatmeal Molasses Bread are both made with commercial yeast and turn out consistently good each time.
One of the most delicious breads I’ve made is Finnish pulla, a braided egg bread flavoured with a hint of cardamom. The recipe, pulled from a newspaper years ago, uses commercial yeast and can be made with a food processor or stand mixer with good results. The braiding technique takes practice, but even if the finished result is uneven it tastes divine.
Making easier breads is a nice rest before going back to the more involved pursuit of sourdough mastery. Owens’ book contains recipes that use fruit, cheese, herbs and vegetables, and often unusual flours such as chestnut or buckwheat, that take time to source.
The time and the technique it takes to make sourdough are worth it. The taste and texture is complex, and the bread is so satisfying to eat. It will last several days stored at room temperature and makes award-winning toast.
Information on making this ancient
bread is abundant, but if you can, do go on a trip seeking sourdough secrets. It’s a chance to bond with other fervent bakers.