Denser Sourdough Bread

↻ 2025-06-26

Denser Sourdough Bread

Ingredients

• 227g sourdough starter
• 340g lukewarm water
• 362g + 241g all-purpose flour
• 14.32g salt
• 3.19g (granular) citric acid
• Additional ingredients for modifications below, if desired.

Procedure

• Combine 227g starter, 340g water, and 362g flour in a bowl. Beat vigorously for 60 seconds.
• Cover, allow bowl to rest at 72F for four hours. Refrigerate overnight, at least more than twelve hours, and up to 20 hours.
• Add the remaining 241g flour, citric acid, and the salt. Knead well to form a smooth dough. If using a stand mixer and a dough hook, knead on a low speed for about five minutes.
• Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl at 72F. Turn the dough out on a surface every 90 minutes or so and knock back the gas gently, returning it to the bowl. Rise for a total of about five hours.
• When shaping the loaf, achieve an appropriate surface tension using a roll method to ensure consistent results.
• Place the loaf on parchment paper in a shallow bowl about twice its diameter. Put the loaf, in the shallow bowl on parchment, in a garbage bag (preferably clear) or bin liner. Inflate the garbage bag or bin liner gently and tie it off - you’re not looking to make a taut balloon here, you just want enough air in the bag to keep it away from the dough.
• Allow the loaf to rise for between 2 and four hours. Preheat the oven and cloche to 450F when appropriate.
• Dust a loaf with flour, slash with a scissor, and transfer to cloche using peel.
• Bake 20min with the cloche closed.
• Bake 20min with the cloche lid removed.
• Check bread for temperature > 204 F using an instant thermometer inserted 0.5“ into the center-bottom of the loaf. Bake a little longer if temperature not yet reached.
• Cool bread on rack.

Modifications

• You can add 2T dry rosemary, or more fresh, to make a rosemary sourdough. Add before kneading.
• You can mix in 2T roasted garlic paste to make a garlic sourdough. Add before kneading.
• You can mix in a head (or two) of roasted garlic cloves after the rising and just before proofing. Simply fold the garlic into the loaf while shaping. This is the most highly recommended modification - the roasted-garlic-clove sourdough is wonderful.
• You can bake in a cold pot from a cold oven too: let the bread proof in a closed iron or clay pot, lid on. When ready, dust with flour, slash top, and place, lid on, in a cold oven. Set oven to 450F and begin time on loaf when oven reaches an indicated 450F. The last ten minutes of your bake time should be lid-off.

home | about | github | mastodon