Sourdough Basics

This is what I follow when I am making bread from my sourdough starter.  The process starts with a starter needing to be fed and completes with a loaf of bread.  

Feeding the starter

Remove your starter from refrig, allow it to come to room temp for a few hours.  When ready these are steps I use to feed the starter to refresh it and prep for making bread.

1. Pull about 1/2 to 1 cup of starter and put it in a medium bowl or dough bucket.  The amount does not have to be exact.  I like to mix up the starter some before pulling the portion so to no just get what's on top.   The remaining starter will be tossed out but can use some to make a batch of waffles/pancakes or chocolate sourdough cake.  
2. To the bowl with starter, add ~100 to 200g of cool water.  Use a dough whisk or spoon to break up the starter to dissolve some in the water.    The amount of water to use will depend on how much of a starter you normal keep in the refrigerator.  I keep a decent amount to allow pulling parts off a portion without refreshing the whole batch.
   
3. Add 1.7 x water weight of flour.  For example, if you used 100g of water then you would add 170g of flour.  You can add less or more which depends on if you like a thinner or thicker starter.   My starter tends to be like a thick pancake batter.   Mix the flour in to break up as many lumps, cover and let the mixture sit for a few hours.  
4. After the wait, make sure the mixture is showing signs of activity.   Move the starter to your storage container (jar, crock...) but save about 1/2 to 1 cup to be used to make your bake good (bread, bagels,..).   Put your container back in the refrig to rest for next time.
   

Use fed starter for bread

With your portion of fed starter you save, it is time to make bread.   I usually take two days to make bread which requires maybe a total of 1 hour of work with a lot of rest time.   I use a ratio of flour to water to make bread.    Here are the ratios I use with flour g (grams) = water g * factor for various styles of bread.

• Focaccia 1.1 to 1.25 flour to water.  This will create a wet, sticky dough which require extra stretching or mixing to produce the gluten.   The bread will be light and airy.  A great dough to make a unique pizza.
  
• Ciabatta 1.3 to 1.4 flour to water.   Produces the classic ciabatta loaf. 
• Baguettes 1.5 to 1.6 flour to water.   For a denser baguette use the larger number.  
• Country loaf 1.7 to 2 flour to water.   Produces a rustic country loaf.  The larger number is great for making bagels.

Select the bread style / ratio to will use to make your bread.   

Day 1  

• Later afternoon of the first day, add your saved starter portion to your bowl or dough bucket. 
• Measure in your cool water.  I usually use 200 g of water which will produce one to two loaves.   Mix the starter into the water or you can let the starter sit in the water for a few hours before mixing. 
• Using your ratio, calculate the amount of flour you need.   Measure your flour into the bowl.  I usually use bread flour (favorite King Arthur Sir Lancelot).  Sometimes I use 1/2 whole wheat or rye.  Mix the flour in well to break up clumps and gather all flour.   Don't worry if it's not complete mix, the sourdough will do the work. 
• Cover the mixture.  Let sit on the counter for a few hours then into the refrig or let it sit out all night.  The more time out of the refrig will produce more sour flavor.

Day 2

Next day, let the dough from Day 1 come to room temperature.   When ready, follow these instructions which are partly a duplicate of Day 1.   I commonly move the dough to the mixing bowl of my stand mixer for knead.   This is helpful when making a softer, wetter dough like Focaccia.   Other times, I use the same container to follow a low knead approach.

• Measure the same amount of water from Day 1 into your container with the dough.   Mix water and dough to mix.
• Measure the same amount of flour from Day 1 into the same container.   Mix the flour into the dough with your stand mixer or preference.    For making a Focaccia with the stand mixer, I like using the paddle attachment on medium speed until the dough pulls away from side of the bowl and the gluten has developed. 
• Using the same container or your proof container of choice, add the dough.   I like using a dough bin commonly used for pizza. 
• Sprinkle on salt (~2 g) over the dough.   Don't mix it, yet.  Cover the dough and let sit for 30 to 60 mins. 
• After the rest, pull, stretch and fold the dough a few time to start build gluten and mix in the salt.   This first stretch the dough will most likely break with not much stretch.  No worries, the gluten will build and sourdough will begin the fermentation so next stretch will be better.   Cover a let rest again 30 to 60 mins, often I forget so the dough sit longer but won't hurt since sourdough will do some of the work.
• After the rest, repeat the pull, stretch and fold with more rest between.   Repeat the process for at least 3 total stretches or until the dough holds nicely when stretched and the dough has a nice skin. 
• After the last stretch, it is time to form/shape the loaves for the final proof then baking.   Forming a the loaf depends on the style you are making.   Focaccia might be a simple stretch to a rectangle / circular shape.  Dough with more flour would be shaped into the loaf style you wish.  For most loaves, I following the common shaping technique to fold the dough side to side then end to end.  This is a good description for shaping dough.  
• Gather the baking dish you want to use for your loaf.  This might be a cast iron skillet, ceramic pan, baguette pan, etc.   I like lining my dish with parchment paper.    Add the shaped dough and cover for final proofing. 
• After proofing, pre-heat the oven to your desired temp to bake usually 350 to 400 F.  Bake the loaves until inside temp is 180F.   Often I like pulling the dough from the container using the parchment paper then place the parchment and dough in the oven.  I have a large, rectangular pizza stone or this one which is always in my oven.