My Sourdough Recipe

 Link to the Recipe Video

Equipment and Supplies: 

Spreadsheet to all the stuff I use for my sourdough bakes

Ingredients:

900g Total Weight in Flour

• -800g King Arthur Bread Flour
• -100G Alternate Flour (Wheat, Rye, All-Purpose OR More bread flour)

660g Water (73% Hydration)

• 600g for Autolyse
• 60g set aside for Dough Mixing

200g Levain (Fed and Active Starter)

18g Kosher Salt (2% of your total weight in flour)

To make your Levain (Your Starter):

• 75g Unfed Starter
• 75g wheat based flour of choice (Bread Flour, All-Purpose, Wheat or Rye. In the video, I used whole wheat)
• 75g water at approx. 78° F

Mix your unfed starter, flour, and water either the night before or at least 5 hours before mixing. Ideally at roughly 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM. Your starter is ready when it roughly doubles in size.

Recipe:

Phase 1: Feeding & Autolyse

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Feed your Levain using the instructions above. Keep your starter at a moderately warm temperature, roughly 75°-80° F / 24° - 27° C

10:00 AM-ish: Approximately 2 to 4 hours before mixing your dough together, combine 900g total flour with 600g of water. I recommend roughly 90% weight in bread flour and 10% in an alternate flour such as wheat or rye. Combine your 900g of flour with 600g of water until all the dry flour is absorbed. This phase is called Autolyse. Let your dough rest in a warm environment at approx. 75°-80° F / 24° - 27° C. 

Pro Tip: Turn your oven on for 30-Seconds then turn it OFF and let your dough rest in the warmed oven if your house is cold. Alternatively, let it rest outside during the summer.

Phase 2: Mixing The Dough

1:00 PM: Mix 200g of starter with your autolysed dough, 60g of additional water and 18g of salt. In your large bowl, bring your dough into a single mass until all the water and starter is thoroughly combined. This may involve a technique such as the rubaud method (linked below) or a slap and fold technique on your work surface. It should come together into a shaggy dough that mostly holds it's shape. Set a 20-Minute Timer.

Additional Resources for Mixing

Phase 3: Bulk Fermentation

1:30 PM: Perform your first set of stretch and folds. To do a stretch and fold, first soak your hand under cool water. at the 1:00 O'clock position, slip your fingertips just under the dough and move your hand counterclockwise to the 12:00 O'clock position; gently grip and pull your dough upwards as high as it will go without any significant tears or holes and pull the stretched dough towards yourself at the 6:00 O'clock position. Rotate your bowl 90 Degrees and perform another stretch and fold. Complete 4 stretch and folds until you have rotated your dough 360 degrees. 

1:50 PM: Second stretch and fold

2:05 PM: Third stretch and fold

2:20 PM: Fourth stretch and fold

2:50 PM: Fifth stretch and fold

3:20: PM Sixth stretch and fold

After the 6th stretch and fold, let your dough rest for another 90 - 120 minutes. 

Phase 4: Pre-Shaping The Dough

4:45 PM - 5:30 PM-ish: When your dough has increased grown in volume by roughly 75% more than it's original size, you're ready to pre-shape. Remove your dough from your bowl using a flexible bench scraper. Roughly maneuver your dough mass with your stiff bench scraper into a rough boole / ball and let it rest for 10-15 Minutes. During this short rest, prepare your bannetons with liners and rice flour. 

With a stiff bench scraper, separate your dough into two roughly equal size portions. Using your bench scraper, turn and spin your dough until the topside is mostly smooth. Liberally flour the top of your boole and flip it over. Grip the corners of the dough  and turn them into the center then roll the boole onto itself and flip over so that the flour side is upwards once again. With your bench scraper, turn the boole away from you then pull it towards you to help close the seam on the bottom. 

With your banneton at the ready, use your bench scraper to lift your dough and gently place your dough into your rice floured banneton. Loosely tent with a floured kitchen towel or plastic bag. Perform the same procudure to the second boole and rest it in the fridge overnight.

Phase 5: Cold Retardation

6:00 PM: Let your dough rest for 10 to 12 hours in the fridge. I don't recommend going beyond. 

Phase 6: Bake

Upon waking, set your oven to 500°F / 260°C  with your lodge combo cooker or Dutch oven within and preheat for at at least an hour but ideally 90 minutes. 

8:30 AM: Prepare your work surface with a heat resistant trivet and your lame and dusting brush at the ready. Remove your first sourdough from the fridge and uncover it. Lightly dust the visible side of the dough with rice flour and use your brush to spread it towards the edges.

Remove your bottom of the pot from the 500°F / 260°C degree oven. DO NOT TOUCH THE POT WITH A BARE HAND.  Dust the bottom of the pot with rice flour and use your brush to evenly distribute the flour grains. Take your banneton with the raw sourdough within and gently tip it over so that the dough falls into the bottom of the pot. Slice your dough on the topside with a deep incision; optional but not necessary, place two ice cubes in the edges of your pot and immediately place into your oven with the lid ON. 

Set a 20 minute timer and let your sourdough bake at 500°F / 260°C for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and set the oven to 465°F / 240°C for another 15 to 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can pull your dough at 205°F / 96°C (+/- 3° degrees). 

Between bakes, let your pot reheat at 500°F / 260°C for 20 minutes. 

Allow your bread to rest for 2 hours before cutting into it. 

And if you've made it this far, enjoy! Add some protein to your bread for a sandwich or have with peanut butter (I personally am not a fan of butter toast for health reasons but if that's your jam, go for it). You could also do jam. 

Thanks for reading. Always remember, eat 1g protein per pound of body weight and you'll make some GAINZ. kthxbai!!!! 

Oh, by the way, I thought it would be worth sharing ALL the sources for my information because #citeyoursources These are shared in a rough order of when I started my sourdough journey.

Paul Hollywood Sourdough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cODwTSqHmIE

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xETLp7dmV7k

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPmHO_-V4r0

Food Wishes Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FkGX3xGlog

Food Wishes Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WytffmZQGwA

Joshua Weissman Sourdough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTAiDki7AQA

Brian Lagerstrom Starter Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHm1aKxAsIs

Brian Lagerstrom Sourdough 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEtU4Co08yY

Basics with Babish Sourdough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSYdABrPrtM

Joshua Weissman Ultimate Sourdough: https://youtu.be/jJpIzr2sCDE?si=uwdD4hwlEzQGLnSR