YOUR FIRST SOURDOUGH (Sourdough Bread For Complete Beginners)

[00:00] hey what's up unfortunately i think most

[00:01] people's first attempts at sourdough

[00:03] bread

[00:04] end in failure so in this video my goal

[00:06] is to show you how to make the simplest

[00:08] possible loaf of sourdough bread and to

[00:11] speak to the fundamentals of this

[00:12] process so that you

[00:13] can make a crusty rustic loaf of

[00:16] sourdough bread at home if you don't

[00:17] have a sourdough starter and you want

[00:19] one

[00:19] i made a video a couple weeks ago called

[00:20] how to make a sourdough starter i will

[00:22] definitely throw the link down in the

[00:23] description for that

[00:24] and if you don't want to sit around for

[00:25] two to three minutes of sourdough bread

[00:27] theory up front here

[00:28] that's the timestamp click ahead if you

[00:30] want to get right to business okay so

[00:32] you've captured and cultivated your

[00:33] sourdough starter and now you've moved

[00:35] on to the maintenance phase we are

[00:36] giving that starter fresh water and

[00:38] fresh flour on a daily basis to keep it

[00:40] in good shape

[00:41] for eventually baking bread so to go

[00:43] from starter to finished loaf we need to

[00:45] follow six stages

[00:46] of the sourdough process the first stage

[00:48] is where we take our starter from this

[00:50] daily maintenance stage and build it

[00:51] into 11 for our bread

[00:53] 11 is basically just a custom blend of

[00:55] sourdough starter

[00:56] flour and water that you make for an

[00:58] individual dough

[00:59] to leaven it think of your leaven as the

[01:01] engine for your bread

[01:02] this stage can take anywhere from 6 to

[01:04] 24 hours depending on the ratios or the

[01:07] temperatures

[01:08] and we'll call this the build stage in

[01:09] the second stage we combine the flour

[01:11] the water and all the lemon that we just

[01:13] mixed with some additional salt because

[01:15] bread without salt is gross and we call

[01:18] this the mix stage that's simple enough

[01:20] in the third stage we ferment that dough

[01:21] that we just mixed with wild yeast and

[01:23] bacteria

[01:24] from our 11. this produces gas in

[01:26] acidity we call this step the

[01:28] bulk fermentation we're also going to be

[01:30] doing some strength building folds that

[01:31] are really important to this process

[01:33] think of adding strength as like a

[01:35] secret ingredient that doesn't weigh

[01:36] anything but

[01:37] it's essential to creating a good loaf

[01:39] of bread adding strength to a dough is

[01:41] just as essential as adding salt

[01:43] without it it doesn't work okay stage

[01:45] four is the shape stage the bulk

[01:47] fermentation has given us a nice

[01:49] gassy blob of dough and now it's our job

[01:51] to organize that blob into a nice

[01:53] strong taut loaf of bread that will

[01:55] properly rise in the oven

[01:57] and hold itself up during the bake stage

[01:59] five is the proof stage this is where we

[02:00] continue that gas

[02:02] and acid production to grow the size of

[02:04] the loaf this is a really essential part

[02:05] of the process and a lot of recipes

[02:07] either misunderstand this part or leave

[02:09] it out all together and then finally

[02:11] stage six the bake stage that's where we

[02:13] bake the loaf of bread

[02:14] and that's pretty self-explanatory of

[02:16] course there's tons of ways that you can

[02:17] manipulate this process to make better

[02:20] and better versions of sourdough but

[02:21] think of this as like the training

[02:23] wheels version of sourdough bread we've

[02:25] taken a lot of the water out to make it

[02:27] so that anybody can handle it we've

[02:28] really

[02:29] upped the amount of sourdough starter as

[02:31] well and we're not gonna be making any

[02:32] fancy shapes or shooting for like

[02:34] pornographic

[02:35] instagram crun crum before we start

[02:38] mixing though let's talk about the tools

[02:40] you need to get this thing done

[02:41] first up you need an active sourdough

[02:43] starter again check the link in the

[02:44] description for my video on how to make

[02:46] one of these things next up is a digital

[02:48] scale

[02:49] weight measurements are much more

[02:51] accurate when it comes to making bread

[02:52] and as a professional baker 100

[02:54] of the breads that we made were measured

[02:56] in grams however i will put the

[02:58] volumetric measurements for this recipe

[03:00] in the description for those of you guys

[03:01] without scales

[03:02] next you're going to need a sturdy spoon

[03:04] like this one then

[03:05] a medium bowl which i highly recommend a

[03:07] 12 inch stainless steel one like this

[03:09] it's restaurant grade it will last

[03:11] forever and it's pretty cheap i'm going

[03:12] to be mixing

[03:13] and fermenting the dough in this bowl

[03:15] behind that you need something to proof

[03:17] the loaves in these are linen lined

[03:18] bread baskets and they're great but if

[03:20] you don't have a proofing basket that's

[03:21] no sweat i'm going to be showing you

[03:22] another option

[03:23] and it'll be cheap and something you

[03:25] probably already have on hand next

[03:26] you're going to need a way to trap steam

[03:28] and heat around the loaf during the bake

[03:30] for me i use a dutch oven most of the

[03:32] time this one is really worn from

[03:34] hundreds of loaves being baked in it but

[03:36] if you don't have a dutch oven or you

[03:37] don't want to put the wear and tear on

[03:38] your nice one i will be showing you a

[03:40] cheaper

[03:41] lower tech option later in this video

[03:42] that also works just as well finally

[03:44] you're gonna need a way to measure

[03:46] temperature i have a few digital instant

[03:47] meat thermometers here and one of them

[03:49] is a laser that's dope okay now to

[03:52] actually make a loaf of sourdough bread

[03:54] we're starting with stage one of this

[03:56] process at 9 pm the night before we want

[03:58] to make our bread this stage is where we

[04:00] build our leaven so grab your sourdough

[04:02] starter in a high sided vessel and into

[04:04] that measure 100 grams of room

[04:05] temperature water or in this case

[04:07] 78 degrees fahrenheit or 25 degrees

[04:09] celsius on top of that 25 grams of our

[04:11] ripe sourdough starter and then 100

[04:13] grams of all-purpose flour from there

[04:15] i'm going to stir everything up to

[04:16] combine

[04:17] it should look like thick gloppy pancake

[04:19] batter

[04:20] excellent now a lid goes on and we're

[04:22] going to ferment this on our countertop

[04:24] overnight 12 hours later this 11 is

[04:26] fully ripened and it's very full of life

[04:29] it smells sweet it's slightly acidic and

[04:31] to make absolutely sure that you have a

[04:32] ripe leaven

[04:33] a good trick is to grab some warm water

[04:35] and scoop a little bit of starter into

[04:37] it this is called the float test and if

[04:38] your starter is sitting on top of that

[04:40] water

[04:40] you're good to go now i'm going to grab

[04:42] my mixing bowl and i'm also going to

[04:44] check the temperature of the water for

[04:45] this dough 92 degrees fahrenheit or 33

[04:47] degrees celsius is what i'm looking for

[04:49] so for stage 2 or the mix stage into

[04:51] this bowl we're going to measure 310

[04:53] grams of water 200 grams of that

[04:55] overnight

[04:56] leaven that we mixed yesterday and there

[04:58] should be about 25 grams of that left in

[04:59] the container by the way we're gonna use

[05:01] that to perpetuate our starter from here

[05:03] on out so

[05:03] set that aside and then behind that 400

[05:05] grams of all-purpose flour 50 grams of

[05:07] whole grain

[05:08] wheat flour and finally 12 grams of salt

[05:10] i'm gonna grab my sturdy spoon now and

[05:12] start stirring everything up to combine

[05:14] real quick i've been asked a lot in the

[05:16] comments from these bread videos why i

[05:18] use all-purpose flour instead of bread

[05:20] flour

[05:20] the shorter answer is that bread flour

[05:22] is too strong for me in the us where i

[05:23] live all-purpose flour is a very hefty

[05:26] 11.7

[05:27] protein that is plenty to properly

[05:30] strengthen a european style hearth bread

[05:32] okay

[05:32] back to mixing once this dough has come

[05:34] together to form a shaggy mess

[05:36] like this we're going to lose the spoon

[05:37] and switch over to a wet hand now i'm

[05:39] just gonna jump in with my wet hand and

[05:40] give this a simple squeeze

[05:42] to combine i'm pinching and turning and

[05:44] folding to get all that starter and salt

[05:46] evenly distributed throughout the dough

[05:48] after about two to three minutes of this

[05:49] mixing it's looking pretty good but

[05:51] as you can see it's still sticky and

[05:53] shaggy and it's a total mess but it's at

[05:55] least a well mixed and

[05:56] properly combined one don't worry about

[05:58] this it is normal it should look kind of

[06:00] sticky at this point you're going to see

[06:02] how we get it from here

[06:03] to a more bread dough looking thing in a

[06:06] few minutes from here i'm gonna pop a

[06:07] lid on this and then throw it into a

[06:09] warm place to begin stage three or the

[06:11] bulk fermentation stage in this case the

[06:13] warm place is my oven with the light

[06:15] turned on and i'm gonna come back in 30

[06:17] minutes

[06:17] after that 30 minutes you can see that

[06:19] there's not much action going on in this

[06:20] dough and that's totally fine

[06:22] we're going to give this dough the first

[06:23] of two strength building folds to do

[06:25] that i'm going to grab a big

[06:27] old grip of dough from the side i'm

[06:28] going to stretch it out as far as it

[06:30] will let me go and i'm going to fold it

[06:31] over to the opposite side i'm gonna

[06:33] repeat this move three more times one

[06:35] fold for each side

[06:36] as a reminder we're doing these folds to

[06:37] layer the gluten network and replicate

[06:39] the mechanical work that happens in a

[06:41] stand mixer once we got four folds done

[06:43] now we're gonna fold up the corners

[06:45] maybe do that three or four times and

[06:47] from there we're gonna finish this up by

[06:48] gripping

[06:49] folding and rounding this dough into a

[06:51] nice taut

[06:52] little ball i'm grabbing the bottom

[06:54] folding the dough in half and then

[06:56] tucking it up

[06:56] under itself to stretch the top out and

[06:59] that looks good now the lid goes back on

[07:01] we throw it back in the oven or a warm

[07:03] place and we check

[07:03] back in 30 minutes okay here we go 30

[07:06] minutes later or

[07:07] 60 minutes total into this bulk

[07:09] fermentation now it's time for set

[07:10] two of folds this is going to be an

[07:12] exact repeat of what we just did

[07:14] that's four folds on top followed by

[07:16] some corner folding

[07:17] then a slap and fold rounding thing to

[07:19] get things into a nice

[07:21] taut ball i'm also going to check the

[07:22] dough temperature here as you can see

[07:24] mine's rolling at 77 degrees and i just

[07:26] want to mention dough temperature is one

[07:28] of the main ingredients in good

[07:29] sourdough bread if yours is running

[07:31] significantly colder than this you might

[07:32] want to pop your oven on for a second to

[07:34] get a little heat in the box

[07:35] that's what i'm doing here pop it off

[07:37] after maybe two minutes and then

[07:39] now you've got something that's gonna

[07:40] raise the dough temperature a few

[07:41] degrees all right

[07:42] after two hours or three hours total

[07:44] since we've mixed our dough bulk

[07:46] fermentation is complete

[07:48] as you can see this dough ball is now

[07:49] buoyant and alive

[07:51] and it's grown by about 50 to 60 percent

[07:53] now we're gonna move into stage four

[07:55] the shaping stage for that we need our

[07:56] loaf proofing basket that i mentioned

[07:58] earlier i'm gonna lightly flour that and

[08:00] be liberal if this is the first time

[08:02] you're using these baskets the dough can

[08:03] stick

[08:04] and stand by if you don't have a

[08:05] proofing basket i'll get to the other

[08:07] proofing option in a second

[08:08] now i'm gonna flour the dough then the

[08:10] work surface and then i'm going to flip

[08:11] the

[08:12] dough out we're going to cut right to

[08:13] the pov cam so you can see exactly

[08:16] what the b boy sees okay we've got our

[08:17] dough ball on the table ready to go i'm

[08:19] going to grab the bottom with some well

[08:20] floured fingers and then i'm going to

[08:22] pull that

[08:22] and stretch it all the way out i'm going

[08:24] to fold that up to close to the top of

[08:26] this dough blob

[08:27] press it down lightly and i'm going to

[08:29] brush off excessive flour from here

[08:31] now i'm going to grab the sides and

[08:33] stretch those out about 8 to 10 inches

[08:35] on each side then i'm going to fold the

[08:36] left over to the right side and then the

[08:38] right goes over to the left side

[08:40] tap that down brush off excessive flower

[08:42] oh i both bumped the camera oops

[08:44] now grab the top and stretch it out and

[08:46] fold that back towards the bottom

[08:48] make sure it's stuck really well from

[08:49] here to make sure that there's maximum

[08:51] internal strength we're going to fold in

[08:52] the corner so in goes the top left

[08:55] and then cross over from the bottom left

[08:57] and then the top right

[08:58] i'm going to tuck in a few more times

[08:59] wherever the corners are left sticking

[09:01] out and

[09:01] there we go we've got a nice tight bull

[09:03] shaped loaf that's definitely going to

[09:05] be ready to party in the oven later on

[09:07] now we're going to scoop this loaf seam

[09:09] side down into my palm

[09:10] then i'm going to grab the basket and

[09:12] plop that thing in there

[09:14] seam side facing up you guys from there

[09:16] if you want some additional peace of

[09:17] mind you can fold back the corners of

[09:19] the loaf a little bit to get

[09:20] that last little bit of strength and

[09:22] tension sealed in now to move into stage

[09:23] five the proofing stage we're gonna

[09:25] cover this with a tea towel and let it

[09:26] rise on the counter for about 90 minutes

[09:29] and if you're thinking

[09:30] hey brah what if i don't have a proofing

[09:31] basket that's no sweat you can

[09:33] definitely use the stainless steel bowl

[09:34] we just fermented our bread dough in

[09:36] just make sure you have some coarse

[09:38] non-absorbent not very sticky cloth

[09:40] in there i'm using some flax linen

[09:42] that's usually an insect barrier in my

[09:44] garden

[09:45] any improvised proofing situation will

[09:46] definitely need to be floured very well

[09:48] to prevent stickage and once you got

[09:50] that shaped up we're gonna pop that in

[09:52] there

[09:52] loaf seam side up and let it proof just

[09:55] like we did in the basket okay it's been

[09:57] about 90 minutes but before we look at

[09:58] our proof loaves let's look at the two

[10:00] ways we can actually bake this bread at

[10:02] home

[10:02] first is a dutch oven like i mentioned

[10:04] before and the combination of the lid

[10:06] and the cast iron give us that perfect

[10:08] hot steamy air around the loaf and it

[10:10] allows it to rise and spring the way it

[10:12] should i'm gonna load this thing into my

[10:13] oven at 500 degrees or 260 degrees

[10:15] celsius and preheat it for 30 to 40

[10:18] minutes

[10:18] option two is a cheaper more rugged diy

[10:21] way to party i've got my ratty 20

[10:23] pizza stone here i've got a cast iron

[10:25] pan that i filled with about three

[10:26] dollars worth of landscaping lava rocks

[10:29] and then i've got a little baking dish

[10:30] with some wet towels

[10:32] rolled up in it the rocks and the towels

[10:33] go under the stone and when we bake i

[10:35] fill both of those things with boiling

[10:36] water and we get tons of quick steam

[10:38] from the rocks and some long slow steam

[10:40] from the wet towels thanks to the fresh

[10:42] loaf bread form by the way for the

[10:43] inspiration for this method

[10:44] you guys rock okay let's take a look at

[10:47] this loaf it's been 90 minutes since we

[10:49] shaped it or roughly four and a half

[10:50] hours since we started this process

[10:52] and now we've got a nice puffy boy

[10:54] that's properly proofed

[10:55] up a good way to know whether your loaf

[10:57] is proofed is to actually poke it the

[10:59] loaf should receive the poke and barely

[11:01] hold on to it and then

[11:02] pop right back out and if your loaf

[11:04] isn't there quite yet don't sweat it

[11:05] just

[11:06] give it some more time we really want to

[11:07] make sure that this thing is fully

[11:08] proofed

[11:09] before we bake it now to bake this thing

[11:11] we're going to grab a little round of

[11:12] parchment paper that we cut i'm gonna

[11:13] throw down some semolina flour or

[11:15] cornmeal to prevent the dough from

[11:16] sticking to it and i'm gonna flip this

[11:18] loaf onto that paper

[11:19] seam side down next we need to create a

[11:21] weak spot on top of this loaf so it

[11:22] reaches its full potential in the oven

[11:24] usually a lamb or a razor blade is used

[11:27] but i'm assuming most beginner bakers

[11:28] out there don't have one of those so to

[11:30] keep this diy i'm gonna use scissors i'm

[11:32] gonna give the top of this loaf five to

[11:33] six

[11:34] rustic chops nothing too organized or

[11:36] special then i'm gonna scoot it to the

[11:37] side

[11:38] and grab my hot dutch oven i'm gonna

[11:39] lift this parchment and lower the whole

[11:41] loaf

[11:42] in put the lid on the dutch oven and i'm

[11:44] going to throw it back in the oven and

[11:45] turn the oven down to 485 degrees

[11:48] and bake the whole thing for 18 minutes

[11:50] to do this the frugal diy way i'm gonna

[11:52] flip my loaf out into a pizza peel or

[11:54] onto the back of a sheet tray with some

[11:55] semolina flour i'm going to give that

[11:57] loaf a scissoring then i'm going to

[11:58] slide it into the oven on the pizza

[11:59] stone i'm going to cover the glass of my

[12:01] oven door with a towel so that i don't

[12:02] break it and then i'm going to pour

[12:04] boiling water into the preheated lava

[12:06] rocks and then onto the wet towels

[12:08] and from there it's just like the dutch

[12:10] oven we're going to be baking this at

[12:11] 485 degrees fahrenheit

[12:12] 251 celsius for 18 minutes during that

[12:15] 18 minutes the loaves in the oven are

[12:17] going to spring upwards the cuts we made

[12:19] are going to provide a weak spot for all

[12:20] that upward energy to go

[12:22] without a proper score on top they're

[12:23] going to explode out the side and we

[12:25] would have a really ugly under risen

[12:27] loaf

[12:27] after 18 minutes of baking i'm gonna

[12:29] pull out my dutch oven take the lid off

[12:31] and let's take a look the loaf is fully

[12:34] risen it's totally ripped through the

[12:35] cuts that we made

[12:36] and it looks organic and it's kind of

[12:38] tough we're gonna load it back into the

[12:40] oven and finish baking and i'm gonna

[12:41] turn the oven down to 465 fahrenheit

[12:44] 250 celsius and i'm going to keep baking

[12:46] for 25 more minutes and

[12:47] same deal by the way for the pizza stone

[12:49] slash lava rocks loaf after 18 minutes

[12:51] we're gonna take

[12:52] out the steaming agents we're gonna turn

[12:53] the oven down to 465 and bake for about

[12:55] 25 more minutes

[12:57] now finally after that 25 minutes we've

[12:59] got a fully

[13:00] risen simple easy beautiful loaf of

[13:03] sourdough bread we're gonna pop it out

[13:05] of the dutch oven

[13:06] or off the pizza stone and let that

[13:07] thing cool for 30 to 40 minutes

[13:09] let's take a closer look at the crust

[13:11] it's dark it's blistered

[13:13] and it's very well set the inside of

[13:15] this thing is creamy and chewy

[13:16] and it has just a hint of acidity we did

[13:18] the whole thing with wild

[13:20] yeast that we captured and that's pretty

[13:22] amazing but look this loaf is not going

[13:24] to win any awards for the most open

[13:26] chrome or the deepest most nuanced

[13:28] sourdough flavor

[13:29] but it is delicious and it's a great

[13:31] place to start once you have success at

[13:32] this level there are just

[13:34] so many ways that you can refine and

[13:35] build on this process to make a bread

[13:37] that

[13:37] is so good and special that you

[13:39] literally can't go buy anything close to

[13:42] it

[13:42] in most parts of the world if you have

[13:44] any questions about this process please

[13:45] hit me up in the comments i try to

[13:47] answer as many

[13:48] questions as possible that are asked

[13:50] politely and hey before i get out of

[13:52] here anybody who's bought me a coffee

[13:53] over on kofi recently

[13:55] thank you very much and if you guys like

[13:57] this video please consider giving it a

[13:59] like

[13:59] maybe watch a couple more of my videos

[14:01] over there as always guys thank you so

[14:02] much for your time and attention

[14:04] thank you for sticking around and we'll

[14:05] see you next time