Low Knead Sourdough Bread

This is a low knead approach to making sourdough bread.  The style was presented on the Netflix Chef Show Season1 Episode 18 "Pasta a la Raimi" .   The process seems lengthy and will take about 4 - 6 hours but most of the time is waiting with short steps in between.  This isn't an exact process so you might need to add more wait time or repeat a step, more time will improve the sourdough flavor.    I work from home some days of the week and have made bread while working, just taking 5 mins here and there to move the process along. 

Ingredients: 

• 100g or  ~ 1 cup of active, well feed sourdough starter or poolish made from yeast the day before.  You know the starter is active if it floats when you add it to the water.   Starter should be like a really soft, wet dough.   
  
  I prefer a sourdough starter which provides much more flavor.  Sourdough starters are easy to make from Rye flour, Milk and fruits.  Some people prefer very wet while others very dry starters.  A starter is basically a dough used as a base for making bread.  I keep my starter in a large glass jar  in the refrigerator and feed it once a week.  If you wait too long between feedings, it will take longer to get the starter ready for use.
  
• 450 g of water cool tap water (~ 2 cups), I skip the whole lukewarm thing.  The starter won't mind the cool water but you can kill the starter if the water is too warm,  > 110F. 
• 700 g of bread flour (1/2 C = ~70 g)  Some can be whole wheat or rye.  If rye or whole wheat (and if not too much) mix it in the water when you add the starter.   
• 16 g of sea salt  (~2 tsp)

Mixing Dough:

1. Mix the starter and water, again the starter should float.  Get as much of the starter to dissolve as possible by using a fork or even a whisk.  If using some whole w

   

   Flour mixed in, looking dry

   heat / rye, mix it in as well.  Cover with a wet towel, shower cap or something that forms a nice seal to keep the dough from drying out.   Let sit for 30 - 60 min. 
2. Add the flour to the start mixture.  The result should be some what dry and maybe even some spots where the flour didn't mix.  Even though it looks dry, don't worry things will change.   Let sit for 45 - 60  mins. 
3. Uncover the dough. You should notice that the dough is a bit more wet compare to the end of Step 2.
   
   
   

   

   Wetter after starting to ferment

4. Sprinkle the salt over the dough.  Use your hands to squeeze in the salt and break up any flour that didn't get mixed. 

   

   Squeezing the dough to add salt

   Squeeze the mixture like your are playing in mud or playgdough, sorta like giving the dough a massage. You want to squeeze hard enough so the dough squishes through your fingers, don't be too gentle.  Work for a couple of minutes, long  enough to make sure the salt is mix.  Cover again and let sit for 60 mins. 
5. This step will be repeated  2 - 4 times every 30 to 60 mins. 
   
   Uncover the dough.   Keep the dough in the bowl.  Using a scrapper or spatula, scrap the dough and any extra flour off of the sides of the bowl and off the bottom.   If the dough seems too sticky, lightly dust it with flour.
   
   With the dough scrapped, reach down and grab one side of the dough, pull up to stretch and fold over into the middle. Wetting your hand helps.  Don't break the dough off but just stretch it.   The first time the dough won't easily stretch.  Spin the bowl and do this 3 or so more places.    Most likely your hands will be quite sticky after this stretch which is normal.  Clean your hands and continue. 
   
   Cover the dough and let sit again.  As you repeat this step, the dough will be come less sitcky.  Avoid adding anymore flour.  The dough should continue to build more elasticity. 
6.  Prepare a proofing basket or bowl which is lined with a towel.   Make sure the towel covers the bottom of container and drapes over the sides.   The container should be deep and large enough to allow space for the dough to expand.   Sprinkle the towel inside of the container with whole wheat flour.   Have the container ready for Step 7.
7.  Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured counter.  Perform the stretch and fold process similar to what you did in Step 5.  Think about that your are folding up a piece of paper into itself from its four sides.  Starting on the right side, pull, stretch and fold it into the middle that side of the dough.   Going clockwise, repeat this with the bottom and left.   Last fold should be from the top to the bottom (closest side to you). When making the last fold, bring the dough over and around to make a ball. 
   
   Move the ball to a proofing basket putting it in upside down.  Make sure to re-flour you towel.    Upside down means that the surface which was on top when you finished stretching will be placed in the bottom of the basket.  The surface on the bottom of the basket will become the top of your bread.  Let dough rest 45 - 60 mins. 
   
   The dough now should be able to hold a nice skin on the outside and have good elasticity.   After it has rested, you can prepare for baking or repeat the step again which gives more time for the fermentation to develop flavor.  One or two more times is enough, if you too many more times the dough won't hold the structure.       

Baking:

The dough can be cooked in a variety of containers.  It is best to have the container (bowl, pan, etc.) in the oven and hot before putting in the dough.   One method which creates a nice artisan style dough is to use a ceramic pot and a cast iron pan for a lid.

FeatherStone Pottery, baguette pan in front.

I have also used ceramic baguette pans, cast iron pans with no lid and even dutch ovens.  I get the baguette ceramic pan (a.ka. half sewer pipe)  from FeatherStone Pottery, Red Wing, MN.   The ceramic pot in the below photo is also from FeatherStone.

FeatherStone makes a variety of cookware which is dishwasher safe.  The glazed pottery is like a not stick pan.  I use them for roasting, brazing and baking in the oven and even on my Green Egg smoker. 

Each September they have a kiln and a sale in November.  It's always a great time to go even if you might not need another piece.  I always like to hunt for that perfect "hobbit" cup for sipping whiskey.

Ceramic pan with cast iron lid.

If using the ceramic pan with lid,  place pan with a lid  into a cold oven with the lid on.  You can add a couple tablespoons of water to the pan which will create moisture as it heats.   Heat oven to 400F.  Once the oven gets to 400F,  let the pan sit for 10 - 15 mins to make sure it is evenly heated.   I like putting the pan in the bottom of the oven on a rack which is on the last or next to last setting.

Pan with lid on

When the oven hits temp and pan is nicely heated, open the oven, remove the lid and pull the pan out of the oven.   Place the pan on a work surface with a hot pad underneath.  Leave the lid in the oven and closed the oven door.

Rye bread, baked in baguette pan

Add a bit of oil (at most 2 tsp) to the bottom of the pan, spread the oil around with a spoon.  I like having oil in a small squirt bottle.   Take the basket of dough and carefully pour the dough into the pan.  The top of the dough will be in the bottom of the pan.  The dough will most likely look small in the pan, no worries it will change in the oven.   You can cut slits in the dough if you want.

Finished bread, slits were cut

Open the oven,  put pan in and put the lid back on.  Cook for 25 mins.   After 25 mins, lift the lid and check the dough.  It should have expanded and the outer crust should have formed.  It it looks like it is has a nice crust, won't be dark at this time, then remove the lid and leave the bread in its pan in the oven.   If not, leave the lid on and set a timer for another 5 mins and check again.  As you make more and more loaves you will learn the best cooking time for your oven.

Inside structure

With the lid removed and the oven closed,  set a timer for 20 mins.  This extra cooking time is to darken the crust.  When the timer expires, the bread color should be darker brown.   If not, reset timer for another 5 mins and wait.   You can also check the done-ness of the bread by tapping on it (bottom is preferred), it should have a hallow sound.