Recipe to make Bread at home using sourdough. How I do it.

Date: 30 november 2010 Author: Arnaldo Maggiora Vergano

Quantity needed. First of all consider that 1 Pint is 2 Cups
That is not really true but it is very near, so it's easier to convert.

You can modify quantity in a proportional way for your family needs. In my case:

First Dough:
Put in a glass container:
0,33 Cup of sourdough (equivalent to 0,22 of flour and 0,11 of water. Remember to refresh the remaining sourdough. See after)
1,15 Cup of  "00" Flour
0,66 Cup of warm water
1 teaspoon of sugar
Knead until you have a compact and elastic dough (about 5 minutes)
Flour a little the top of your dough, shake the container to spread the flour and cover it with a napkin.
Let leaven for 8 hours (I do it during the night, so I can start the machine bread early in the morning having the bread ready for lunch).
Check the leavening, your dough must double it's size. If you are using a glass container, as reccomended, you can see the bubble made by leavening.
If your dough did not grow let the "leaving go on".

If you are using a new sourdough, method 2, it will be better to pour an 1/2 Cup and not 0,33 Cup. That because the new junior self made sourdough is less strong. An older sourdough will be stronger and you will need less. Then you will change the recipe for the First Dough adding 1 Cup of flour and 0,6 Cup of water instead of the recipe quantity.

Refreshing your Sourdough:
When you have done with your First Dough you have to refresh your remaining sourdough.
In the glass container where you store your sourdough pour proportionally: 2/3 of "00" flour and 1/3 of water (Cup).
I normally add at least the quantity used for the First Dough, adding an extra 1/2 teaspoon of honey.
Knead until you have a compact and elastic dough (about 5 minutes)
Flour a little the top of your dough, shake the container to spread the flour and cover it with a napkin.
Refreshing is usefull to make your sourdough stronger and to have the needed quantity for your next First Dough. If you need more sourdough simply refresh more than once or add more ingredients.
Many people use to get a tablespoon or as much as needed of dough from the bread machine when it beeps to use it as next sourdough. I prefer to preserve the sourdough and refresh it because in the dough taken from the bread machine there will be also, salt, oil, milk, different kind of flour, etc.

Let's do bread. Using this sequence add these ingredients in the bread machine:
0,66 Cup of water
2,5 teaspoons of salt (2 it's also good for me)
2 tablespoons of olive oil (you can use other oils, butter or margarine, extra virgin olive oil it's tasty)
0,1 Cup of spelt flour
0,1 Cup of whole wheat flour
0,9 Cup of "00" flour
(Total flour 1,1 Cup. You can use different mix of flour, but be very carefull to add not too much of "00" flour)
The First Dough made before
2 teaspoons of sugar (brown sugar/honey)
I set the "French Bread" program for a total of 3 hours and 39 minutes of "bread machine" work

Do you have a recipe you want to share?  Share your experience, send it to me and I will publish your recipe with your name.

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