Just how hard is it to make sourdough from scratch?
Our family has a new pet. It’s quite demanding. It needs to be fed once a week, will die if we forget about it and takes up valuable space in the fridge. On the other hand, it has brought us a lot of joy and our home smells great.
Let me introduce you to the sourdough starter (if you’re a snob and/or French, you call it levain).
In a bid to make sure I never leave him, my husband has started making bread from scratch. Someone at his work gave him the starter, and he gave it a go.
If it was just me, I would probably have given up as soon as I saw the recipe.
The instructions run to five pages and include incredibly specific measurements, such as ‘‘22 grams of salt’’ and ‘‘614 grams of flour’’. Just reading it I started sweating a bit: ‘‘make sure the dough never ever sticks to your hands’’ (is that even possible?) and ‘‘if you leave it to rest for too long, you will get bread soup’’.
You basically need two days to make a couple of loaves.
Nick fed the levain on Friday night (it thrives on flour and water), and on Saturday night mixed some of it with more flour, water and salt. The dough rose quietly overnight. On Sunday morning, he split it into loaves and let it rise again until it was ready to go in the oven around midday.
By then, he felt defeated. He was sure he had let the dough rise for too long (it’s difficult to know exactly how long it needs to rest as it depends on room temperature). He put the first loaf in the oven anyway, expecting he would throw the other one in the bin.
But then the most amazing thing happened. Yeasty warmth filled our kitchen as a rough-looking globe rose in the oven.
We sat around the kitchen bench with our 2.5-year-old son and waited. About half an hour later – tada! – we had freshlybaked bread.
It wasn’t perfect – maybe a bit dense – but had everything I love about good bread. A satisfyingly crunchy crust giving way to a chewy, moist and slightly tangy crumb. Comfort food. Our son demanded a piece with ‘‘peany butta and puney (honey)’’, and pronounced his verdict: ‘‘deeleecious!’’
By Wednesday, we had finished the two loaves and wanted more. I noticed I was full for longer in the morning and felt less heavy after a couple of pieces of bread compared to eating toasted Vogel’s.
There is growing evidence that slowfermented bread is easier to digest. I
Just reading the instructions I started sweating a bit: ‘‘make sure the dough never ever sticks to your hands’’ (is that even possible?).
know a couple of people who are glutenintolerant but can happily munch on sourdough as the fermentation process breaks down the gluten to make it basically harmless.
The process also makes it easier for our bodies to absorb nutrients such as iron, zinc, magnesium and folic acid. So we are hooked.
Yes it is demanding and timeconsuming (that’s why I got my husband to do it), but it is also cheaper than buying fancy sliced bread and has health benefits to boot.
Beyond that, it is deeply satisfying to watch the dough rise. It’s almost magical to see a bunch of flour, water, salt and yeast turn into bread. And it brings us together as a family. Sitting in the kitchen, breaking bread together: I have rarely felt more at home.