This is my way of making excellent sourdough bread in less than 24 hours.
If you still don't have a sourdough starter, you can find a recipe for it here.
How to bake good sourdough bread at home?
When you drop water on a hot surface it goes crazy. It jumps, moves bubbles and evaporates. The same principle applies when baking bread but this time the water is trapped in the tight gluten structure. This is why the hot surface is so important when baking bread. To get a good result people use Dutch ovens, they heat up to high temperature and have a closed environment that allows steam to be trapped inside thus making the amazing crust and good rise.
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Ingredients for Starter Activation:
150g (5.3oz) of sourdough starter
75g (1.76oz) very strong flour
75g (1.76oz) water (room temperature)
Ingredients for Dough:
500g (1.1pounds) of very strong flour (higher amount of protein than better)
300ml (0.32quarts) of water (room temperature, preferably without chlorine)
13g (0.46oz) rock salt (sea salt contains iodine that kills microbes)
This bread is 69.2% hydration.
Here is a link for the hydration calculator that you can find helpful.
Day 1:
1. Activate the starter by mixing 150g of starter from the fridge with 75g of water and 75g of strong flour in the bowl. Leave it on the counter for 5 hours (In this time the starter will become very active and ready for the next step)
2. Mix the activated starter with remaining dough ingredients until combined for around 5 minutes (use a tabletop mixer with a hook attachment. The dough will be sticky, leave it covered in the bowl for 30 minutes.
2. After that time use Stretch and Fold technic. Repeat 3-4 times each time with 30 minutes intervals. You can see how to do this in my video (At the end of this step the dough will have a uniform shape)
4. Place the dough on the worktop dusted with flour. Stretch the dough to a rectangular shape then roll it tightly.
5. Place your dough upside down in a proofing basket dusted with flour and place it covered in the fridge overnight (If you have no basket you can use a bowl with cling film).
Day 2:
1. Preheat the oven with the Dutch oven inside to 275C (527F) for around 25 minutes.
You can also use an improvised Dutch oven made of 2 stainless tins (They only take 15 minutes to heat up)
2. Once your oven is heated, remove the dough from the basket and place it onto a sheet of baking parchment seam-side down, dust with flour and score the surface with a sharp knife or baker lame.
3. Transfer your bread inside the heated Dutch oven and place it back in the oven for 20 minutes.
3. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking at a lowered temperature of 225C (482F) for another 20 minutes.
5. Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a cooling rack (Cooked bread will have an internal temperature of 96C (204.8F) or above.
