Slocan Sourdough
A couple of month ago my Daddy and I went to something called the "Pickle Palooza".
While there, I picked up a sourdough starter from one of the vendors. I've named it George.
George makes a lovely sour-ish tasting bread with a squishy/bubbly centre and crunchy crust.
The internet seems divided on how to make the perfect sourdough. Most of the people that I read seem to think you need to let it rise from anywhere between 8-12 hours. I wanted to make easy sourdough cause I'm lazy. No waiting 8-12 hours for me please and thank-you!
If you don't have a starter you can easily make one.
If you do have one, great! Lets get this show on the road.
You are going to need:
2 Cups Sourdough Starter
4 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
4 Tsp Sugar
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
2 Cups Flour
Before you go to bed for the night, put about half of your starter into a non metal bowl. I use Pyrex bowls from garage sales. Cheap and easy to clean. After you plop some starter into your bowl feed the left over starter a Tbsp or two of flour and water, mix it up, then pop it back into the fridge.
In front of you right now should be a bowl with some icky smelling goop in the bottom. To this goop you are going to add equal amounts of flour and non chlorinated water until you have approximately 2 cups of yogourt textured goop. Cover this bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warmish place. I pop mine into the laundry room cause it has the furnace in it and is quite probably the warmest place in the house.
Now comes the easiest part ever. Go to bed. In the morning your warm place will smell slightly gross and you'll be ready to bake.
Your bowl of goop should now be all bubbly and have a white froth on the top. Add 4 tsp of Active Dry Yeast and mix it in. Make sure it is Active Dry Yeast and not something else. Breadmaker or Instant yeast will NOT work.
Next you are going to add 4 tsp of sugar, 2 tsp salt, 2 tbsp of oil and then stir it up. Let this mix sit for 10 minutes.
Once your dough has sat for a bit, add 2 cups of flour. Stir this in. I usually start with a chopstick then graduate to my hands. If your dough is dry add water. You are looking to have the exact same texture as you do when making regular bread. If you've never made bread before read this link or try to make it feel like your earlobe. Knead the bread a couple times then pop it back into it's bowl.
Cover the bowl and place it back into your someplace warm for an hour. You can leave it for more than an hour if you feel like it.
Your bread should rise at this point. It will get bigger than it was when you left it and if you poke the top your fingerprint will fill in like one of those memory foam mattresses.
After an hour rescue your dough and tip it out onto a floury surface. You are going to knead your bread and shape it now. Treat it like you do regular bread. A.k.a knead all the air bubbles out and shape it into the baking shape. I kind of squish mine around for 3 minutes or until it stops farting.
After shaping your bread you can score the top if you want. Use a sharp knife and cut the top lightly. Place your shaped/scored bread onto a baking sheet, cover it with a tea towel, and back into the warm place it goes. Let it sit for an hour.
After an hour pop your bread into a preheated oven at 350 F for 45 minutes. Your bread should be done after 45 minutes. If you have any doubt tap the bottom of the loaf with a spoon. It should sound hollow like a watermelon and not like a brick.
Don't worry if your first few are bricks. Mine were half baked and SOLID. The first one ever made I dropped on my foot and got a massive bruise. It sure was tasty though.