Making Dough From a Sourdough Bread Starter

By : Mary Stage | 0 Comments | On : April 15, 2020 | Category : Sourdough Bread

All credits go to Cindy Ward

SOURDOUGH “DOUGH” part 1

If you don’t have your sourdough starter made yet, you can follow along the 7 day process Cindy outlines starting with Day 1 Sourdough Bread Starter and then come back to this page for instructions for making the dough with it.

Cindy says, “Good Morning All. It is time to start the dough making process. It is a simple process with only a few ingredients, but it does take some time, mostly waiting time though. So here we go!”

You will need:

• 525 grams (2 1/2 cups) water, divided (measure the 2 1/2 cups and then from that measure 1/4 cup and put into a small bowl.)
• 1 Tbs salt
• 700 grams (5 1/2 cups) all purpose flour or bread flour

Instructions:

Step 1 – Dissolve the salt. Pour the 1 Tbs salt into the separate 1/4 cup water. Stir and set aside. Stir every so often until needed to be sure it dissolves.

Step 2 – Mix the leaven with remaining water. Pour the water into the leaven we made last night. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula to mix the leaven thoroughly into the water. It’s fine if a few clumps of the leaven remain…just stir it together really well.

Step 3 Add flour. Add your flour into the leaven/water mixture and stir together well. Mix together until no more dry flour remains in the bowl. It will make an ugly, shaggy mixture and that is exactly what you want!

Step 4 – Autolyze…this was a new word for me when I started learning about baking bread. You will see it in A LOT of artisan-type bread recipes…but don’t let it intimidate you. It basically means let the flour absorb the water. At this point you cover your bowl with a towel and let it sit on your counter for awhile…anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. I do an hour.

Ok, that is the first part of the process. At this point you should have your large bowl of dough, covered and the small bowl of salt and water.

Go have a cup of coffee and meet me back here in an hour!

Continue on to SOURDOUGH “DOUGH” – part 2