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PdfStoring and using your sourdough starter
If you make sourdough regularly, store your starter at room temperature in a place where you'll look at it once a day. Remember it is alive and needs to be fed.
You need to refresh, or feed, your starter at least every couple of days (it may be more often if it is particularly active). You'll need to add more flour and water in any case after you take some of the starter away to make a loaf.
The best time to feed the starter is after it has bubbled up and is starting to drop again. This tells you that the yeast has fed on the available food and will need more.
The starter should be like a thick batter. When you feed it, stir in about 100g strong white flour and enough tepid water to keep it to roughly the same consistency.
Unless you are making sourdough regularly, the best place to keep your starter is in the fridge. This will slow down the activity of the yeast but not kill it. A brown film will form on top, but don't worry about this.
Just take the starter out of the fridge, stir in the film, discard half the starter and feed or refresh it as above with flour and water. Leave at room temperature and it should get going again.
If the starter is outside the fridge and seems to be inactive and has a brown film on top, throw half of the starter away, give it a feed and perhaps some chopped grapes and it should get going again.
Over time, the chopped grapes will disintegrate into the mixture. You can also fish them out and discard them once the starter has got going.
Classic sourdough
Once you've got a good, active starter you are equipped to make a sourdough. With its lengthy rise and slow prove this loaf takes longer than other breads but it's well worth the wait. It has a lovely crust, a great chewy texture and a delicious tangy flavour.
Sourdough requires a good knead and careful handling to develop the dough so it can rise and keep its height. A dusting mix of flour and semolina stops the dough sticking to the proving bowl or banneton and helps to prevent it spreading on the baking tray.
Combine the flour, starter and salt in a large mixing bowl. The amount of water you will need to add will vary according to your flour and the thickness of your starter. Add 150 ml water initially and mix it roughly into the dry ingredients with one hand. Then mix in as much of the remaining water as you can in small amounts to get a soft dough.
Pour a little oil onto a work surface, then tip the mixture onto it. Knead thoroughly for 10-I5 minutes or longer, until the dough is soft, elastic and smooth. The dough is ready when it is stretchy and starting to form a soft, smooth skin.
Tip the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film or a tea towel, or put into an oiled roomy plastic box with a lid. Leave to rise for 5 hours, or until at least doubled in size. The ideal temperature is 22-24°C; don't let it go cooler than I5°C or higher than 25°C.
Mix equal quantities of white flour and semolina together for dusting and scatter on a work surface. Tip the risen dough out onto the dusted surface. Push the dough down with your knuckles and the heels of your hands, then with your fingers to knock out the air. Fold the dough in on itself several times to strengthen its structure.
Flatten the dough down into a rough rectangle. Fold the two shorter. ends in towards the centre and press them down to get a chunky squarish shape. Turn the dough over so that the join is underneath.
Now shape the dough into a ball: cup it with your hands on either side and turn it round and round, tucking the dough in slightly underneath as you go and pulling it in to create a ball with a smooth, taut top.
Dust your ball of dough with the flour and semolina mix. Dust a small round 500g banneton or smallish round mixing bowl generously too. The banneton gives a good appearance to the end loaf but a bowl will work fine. Tip the dough, smooth side down, into the dusted banneton or bowl (it must be very well dusted or the dough will stick when you turn it out).
Put the banneton or bowl inside a large, roomy plastic bag, making sure there is plenty of space above the surface of the dough so it won't touch the plastic when it rises. Leave the dough to rise for 4-8 hours, or until at least doubled in size. The dough is ready when it springs back if you push a finger into it. Don’t rush the proving; it’s an important stage for the development of the flavour and structure of the end loaf.
Heat your oven to 220°C. Put a roasting tin on the bottom shelf as the oven heats up. Heavily dust a nonstick baking tray, or one lined with parchment or silicone paper, with the flour and semolina mix. Very gently tip the loaf onto the baking tray, trying to keep its domed shape. Slash the top with a sharp knife.
Pour 1 litre water into the roasting tin in the oven. This creates steam in the oven and helps the crust form well. Bake the loaf for 30 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 200°C and bake it for a further 15-20 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap it on the base. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.