Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
Like many people, I took making sourdough bread during the COVID lockdown. Once I got my sourdough starter right, I used it for making pancakes and waffles, but my favorite is making homemade sourdough bread in my Dutch oven.
Servings
1 Loaf
Prep time
6 hrs + 1 hr Baking
Ingredients
- 5.35 oz (150g) bubbly, active sourdough starter
- 8.80 oz (250g) warm (80°- 85°) water, preferably filtered
- .90 oz (25g) olive oil
- 17.65 oz (500g) bread flour (not all purpose flour)
- 0.4 oz (10g) fine sea salt
Preparation
Make the Dough
Using a dough whisk, whisk the sourdough starter, water, and olive oil in a large bowl. Add the flour and salt. Squish everything together with your hands until all of the flour is absorbed. The dough will be dry and shaggy. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Let rest (autolyse) for 1 hour.
After the dough has rested, work the dough in the bowl into a rough ball, about 15 seconds.
Bulk Rise
Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen cloth. Let rest in a warm spot to rise. The dough is ready when it no longer looks dense and has increased 50% in size. If left in a warm place, this should take about 90 minutes.
Stretch & Fold the Dough
During bulk rise, it’s best to perform a couple of ‘stretch & folds’ to strengthen the dough. Start 30 minutes into the bulk rise. Gather a portion of the dough, stretch it upwards and then fold it over itself. Rotate the bowl ¼ turn and repeat this process until you have come full circle to complete one set. Do this a second time at 60 minutes. Although this step is not mandatory, it promotes the gluten structures which will increase the total volume and height of your bread. Remember, when it comes to baking bread, gluten is good!
Shape the Dough
After 2 hours, lightly flour your work surface. Remove the dough from the bowl, and place it onto the floured surface, so that it does not stick. To shape, starting at the top, fold the dough over toward the center. Give it a slight turn, and then fold over the next section of dough. Do this on all four sides. Next, fold over the four corners. Continue folding the remaining “corners” over until the dough essentially is circular in shape.
Second Rise
Flour the proofing basket to prevent the dough from sticking. Using a scraper, remove the dough from the work surface and place it in the proofing basket, folded side up. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for another 90 minutes for the second rise of the dough.
60 minutes into the second rise, preheat the turn on the oven to 500° F (260° C) degrees and place a cast iron Dutch oven into the oven.
At 90 minutes, if properly proofed, the dough should be nice and puffy. If the dough is not quite ready, allow the dough to proof for another 30-60 minutes, as needed. When the dough is ready, roll the dough from the proofing basket onto a piece of parchment paper, folded side down.
Score the Dough
Your sourdough is now ready to go. Right before your bread goes into the oven, make a shallow slash about 2-3 inches long (or more) in the center of the dough using a bread lame (or scissors). The cut should be about 1/4-inch deep.
Bake the Dough
Remove the preheated large Dutch oven from the oven. Lift dough by the edges of the parchment paper and carefully place it on the bottom of the Dutch oven. Put the lid on and place the Dutch oven into the oven on the center rack. Reduce the temperature to 485° F (250° C) and bake for 18 minutes. Remove the lid, and reduce the oven temperature to 465 F (240° C) and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until deep, golden brown.
If you’d like, you can check the internal temperature of your bread to double check that it is done. For sourdough, it should read about 205-210º F (96-98º C).
Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing. This enables the crust to harden and maintain its shape--while leaving the bread inside light and fluffy.
Source: The Clever Carrot
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