How to do your own sour dough bread

I posted about how much healthier sour dough bread is, here is how I made it at home. Even rudimentary ovens can make this.

Step 1 - Making the 'Starter Dough'

The thing about sour dough bread is patience. Before you make your first loaf, you have to make your starter dough. This bread is not yeast based as I mentioned.

Take about 200 grams of flour with 200 ml of water and a spoon full of that yoghurt you have been making at home (any yoghurt with no artificial additives will do). Mix until it is not sticky, you might have to add or reduce...I use my eye more than measuring cups and spoons while cooking. Cover with something (I use cling film so that I can see what is going on) and leave in a warm place.

After 24 hours, add some flour, some water and mix...leave again.....you're actually "feeding" the bacteria. If you want sour dough bread, you have to treat this dough like a pet, with millions of bacteria in it. Do this again after 24 hours. Technically speaking, when it starts bubbling, it is ready to use as a starter dough. Mine started on day 3, others may take longer. At this stage, if you are not ready to start using the dough, remove about half, 'feed' it with flour and water and put it in the fridge after which you will need to 'feed' it every week by doing the same. Here's my dough when it was 'ready' to use.  See the bubbles?

Step 2: Making the bread dough

What you need

Whole meal flour
Salt
Water
Starter dough

You can also use white flour. Why? The same research I quoted in my earlier blog showed that sour dough bread made with white flour was healthier than that made with whole wheat (as opposed to whole meal) flour because of the bacteria action on the starch. If you have a question about this, hit me, this blog post is long and I don't want to get into details.

Take about 350 mls of flour, half a tea spoon of salt, about 200 grams of your starter dough and water to mix (slowly until you get a consistency that is not sticky)... Knead all of these together, and put in a container that has been lightly greased cover and let the culture you have been cultivating do its job.  About halfway, through, you can take out, knead again...you won't see a lot of rise as in a yeasted dough bread.

The step above takes about 10 minutes BUT the waiting is what makes sour dough bread so difficult to make. Normal yeast bread takes about 3 hours to rise. This bread needs like 8 - 12 hours depending on how warm it is. It is safer to do this last thing at night and plan to bake in the morning.


Step 3...Baking....

Shape the bread into a round shape and remember to make some cuts at the top to prevent cracking. Alternatively, use a bread baking dish like I did. I do this just to make cutting pieces for toasting easier

Bake in the oven for at least 40 minutes at gas mark 8 or 230 degrees (C). 

And...

The bread tastes a bit tangy because of the lactic acid produced by the bacteria. Children accustomed to other breads might not like it. There are some recipes that add sugar but I prefer not to. I love the taste as it is. Even a charcoal oven can make this bread. All you need is patience.