No-knead white sourdough sandwich loaf recipe?
Hello! New here and new to sourdough & bread baking in general.
I have two toddlers and a hubby that prefers white bread and I'm looking for a no-knead white sourdough sandwich loaf recipe.
What I've got:
I have a 1 month old starter, white/wholegrain 50/50 wheat flour starter, fed 12 hourly and it doubles in size. I use Debra Wink's feeding ratio of 1/4 cup starter, 2 tbsp water & scant 1/4 cup 50/50 whole/white wheat flour. And when I'm baking I've increased the water & flour, just guesstimating quantities and ending up with a similar consistency that doubles (or slightly more than doubles) in size. I've attached a photo of my what my starter looked last night. The bread recipe I used called for 1 cup of starter. I mixed it up and left the dough overnight and then proceeded to over-flour the very wet & sticky dough when attempting to shape it into a loaf. Still learning!
Recipes I've tried:
http://artistta.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/easiest-sourdough-bread-recipe-i-know.html
and
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/10/rustic-sourdough-the-secret-to-making-amazing-bread-at-home-5-ingredients-simple-baking/
Two no-knead wholegrain dutch oven round loaf recipes - which work fairly well but I want a sandwich loaf shape.
And http://www.healthylife.net.au/healthy-you/recipes/basic-sourdough-bread/
Simple enough for me but involves kneading and I'm not confident here and might over-knead.
So.... help please!
Do you know of a no-knead white sourdough sandwich loaf recipe?
Thanks.
:)
but my simple sourdough will work here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44111/easy-sourdough-part-1
At the part where I briefly knead it, you can use a bench scraper to do a few stretch and folds - the effect will be just the same. Keep doing the stretch and folds until you get a tight ball then leave it to ferment.
And for what its worth - it's virtually impossible to over knead anything by hand. You really need a machine for that.
-Gordon
Thanks Gordon that's good to know. I don't have a machine to knead dough so I'll not worry about over kneading any more. And thanks for the link! Very descriptive and lots of photos. So I can dump the proofed dough into a loaf tin instead of a baking sheet as shown? Should turn out OK right?
So rather than put it in a basket, etc. shape into a log and put into your tin, then cover it with a cloth and leave in a warm place to prove. Mine take between an hour and 1.5 hours to prove after their long overnight ferment, so keep an eye on it - if there is a higher percentage of wholegrain wheat in it, then it's best to bake before you get to the "double in size" stage.
An alternative to shaping into a log is to divide into 2-4 pieces and shape into boulles/rounds and then pack them into the tin - they'll merge together during proofing as long as you've not used much (if any) flour when shaping them.
-Gordon
Reading through your recipe/tutorial again and at the end of part 1 you leave the dough overnight for about 10 hours at a cool 18°C. Our temp today here is 32°C with humidity at 50% and overnight temp is forecast to be 22°C. Do you think this will make much of a difference? Hope to have another go at making sourdough bread over the weekend.
My bakehouse is starting to get a little warmer - I noticed it was 21°C this morning (Now up to 25°C since the ovens have been on, and rising) but all the doughs seemed OK. The water out of the tap is still very cold which I suspect helps with the mix. It it seems a bit too lively in the morning, then reduce the amount of starter.
-Gordon
So Gordon I have followed your recipe to the letter, also taking photos at each step. The dough is now resting. What I have noticed so far is that the dough is a lot firmer than previous recipes, which makes me think that the dough won't be so sticky as previous others tomorrow. Maybe that's where I've been going wrong. And using a bit of water on the fingers instead of flour helped me manipulate the dough as you describe. Took inexperienced-me 5 minutes though instead of 30 seconds :)
Will post the piccies and an update tomorrow.
ETA This was at about 10pm - I'm in Australia.
Photos showing how I followed Gordon's recipe step-by-step. On the scales: starter then water then salt.
Next, wholemeal flour and white bread flour. Mixed and put onto a board.
Dough left to rest for 30 mins. Then I wasn't too sure what to do here for the 30seconds of kneading but had a go at it and put it in a bowl, covered and left overnight. It was just before 10pm.
The next morning at about 7am. Risen beautifully but this is where I've got stuck in previous recipes. The dough is just too sticky. And this morning it was sticky but not as sticky as before so I had some hope. Then I had a go at doing the "3 gentle stretch and folds with the forth being used to turn it over". As you can see it is still sticky. I had oiled the board before turning the dough out on to it. I'd tried using flour in a previous recipe and used about a whole cup just trying to get it to not stick. In another attempt I found that using oil/water made it a bit easier to handle a sticky dough. Which is why you don't see flour on the board in the photos. Yet...
After 10 minutes of bench rest I had a go at doing the "3 O'Clock, 5 O'Clock, 7 O'Clock and 9 O'Clock" stretching and folding. As you can see the dough is very sticky.
In the end my husband stepped in and used flour to shape the dough into a rough log which went into a greased loaf tin. (He's worked with dough at home to make pizza bases so he has a little more experience than me.) After one hour I can't tell if the dough has risen or just spread. (ETA - my finger stuck to the dough when I did a finger-poke test so I have no idea if it was under/over proofed.)
Oven was turned on to 230c fan assist (in between traditional and fan forced) and 1/2 hour later the tin went in with three ice cubes chucked on to the tray beneath. I've also covered the top of the tin with foil.
Now it's been in for 1/2 an hour and I've removed the foil. The bread hasn't risen much. I'll get another picture of it once it's out and cooled and then... I'd really really really pretty please like some help!
The humidity here today is 82% - would that have an effect on how sticky the dough is? I just can't seem to get the taught tight smooth dough that I see on photos and videos.
And here's my very average looking loaf. I waited an hour before cutting into it. It was still warm but I couldn't wait any longer.
Some questions...
Should I leave the dough for a shorter time overnight, maybe for six hours instead of ten hours? My sourdough starter on the counter is fed 12 hourly. It doubles and then starts to drop just after the 12 hour mark.
Should I leave it to rise overnight in the tin instead of the bowl and then bake instead of stretch&fold?
Any tips/advice appreciated. Thanks!
Had another go today. Same recipe, but with a six hour wait in the middle of the day instead of a ten hour wait overnight. And a different size loaf tin, and some more stretch & folds. Soooo much better! I think my previous loaves were over fermented/proofed? Or weren't developed/kneaded properly? Will post more details & piccies later.
Here's some photos. Same recipe but a bit different (after much googling and reading & watching of video tutorials).
100g wholemeal, 400g white bread flour, 285g cooled boiled water, 150g starter and 2tsp salt, mixed together and left to rest for 30min. It was 11:30am. Temperature on the day was 30c and humidity 52%.
Then instead of kneading, I did a stretch & fold at roughly 12, 12:30 and 1pm. (After the first stretch and fold I could see a difference and I think that's where I have been going wrong in previous bread making attempts. I haven't been developing the dough properly. I'm still no expert but I know what I should be doing now.) I then placed the dough in a clean bowl and left it covered until 6pm.
At 6pm, following Gordon's recipe/instructions again, I turned it out on to a board and did another stretch & fold. Left it for a bit more and then flipped it, patted it out, stretched and folded starting at the top and then at "3 O'Clock, 5 O'Clock, 7 O'Clock and 9 O'Clock positions". Then this post helped me understand what to do to shape the dough http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/19346/shaping-boule-tutorial-pictures
I put the dough into a smaller enamel loaf dish, left it for 1.5hours, and at 7:45pm it went (uncovered) into a hot 230c oven with a few ice cubes on to the tray underneath. I turned it down after 15min to 200c and took it out after another 20 minutes. I'm so much happier with how this one turned out. The inside is not so dense and the crust is better. It's far from the best of course but it shows improvement. And that's encouraging. :)
Where a bouts in Oz are you? I'm bayside SE of Brisie. I just pop my baking tin in the fridge overnight then let it return to room temp and finish rising in the morning before baking. The main problem I've had is with steam so I went to Lifeline and bought a domed Pyrex casserole lid. What a difference that made. Preheating and wetting it first pop it over the baking tin which has just gone on the oven throw on the ice cubes and bingo a beautiful loaf. Best $8 I've ever spent :)
Up north in the wet tropics. I used a round casserole dish with lid instead of a dutch oven when I baked a no-knead sourdough bread, and that worked well, but I've been wondering what to put over the top of my enamel loaf dish... so thanks for the tip. I'll look out for one of those domed lids next time I'm op-shopping.
I've just baked my perfect sourdough sandwich loaf. :)
I even heard the crackle afterwards that I had read about so many times.
I took the recipe from one blog and simplified it slightly after reading another blog.
The recipes use a sponge and I've added my *slightly modified* recipe to the end of the post.
This video of the slap and fold way of kneading helped. The other thing that helped me handle the wet dough was letting it rest 20-30 mins after mixing, before adding the salt, apparently called "autolyse" which I had always bypassed, not understanding it, but those extra minutes make all the difference when handling the dough.
Large Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
Make a sponge in the evening:
100-115g starter
375g strong white bread flour
500g cooled boiled tap water
Mix in a large bowl, cover and leave overnight.
In the morning before breakfast add to your sponge:
450g strong white bread flour (I used 400g white and 50g wholemeal)
Mix, cover, then have breakfast or wait 20-30 minutes.
Add 15g salt, then slap/stretch/fold for 10 minutes.
When the dough is looking and feeling gorgeous, shape into a sausage and plop into large greased loaf tin.
This (for me in QLD, Australia) more than doubles in 4 hours.
Heat oven to MAX (230/250c?). Ice-cubes in tray create steam just before putting loaf in.
10min @ 250c
10min @ 200c
10min @ off (with fan still going)
Remove from tin and put back into oven for 10min.
This recipe makes a very satisfying 1.3 kg loaf.
Nicely done! Your loaf looks amazing.
Happy baking!