Sourdough – Bread (75% Hydrated)

Hello everyone, it’s Dave. It is my intention to provide sourdough bread recipes that are actually recipes. Each recipe will provide you a convenient link to the Sourdough Index which has links to several educational and process related posts that don’t belong with the recipes.

For information about the things I used to make these, the Sourdough Equipment post is where you can go for all the details.

Each recipe will be named in a way that gives you a good sense of how it is made, because the process is essentially identical even with several variables all being changed. I made a table in my sourdough notebook that represents around 50 variations, but I’ve only made about 4 of them so far as I narrowed in on what I like. I have made about 30 loaves of sourdough bread so far as I attempt to fine tune both the process and my instructions to be as easy as possible.

I will also provide a little table of statistics for each bread recipe so it’s easy to tell what is going on for each one. Since describing how to make bread with words is difficult, below the recipe you will find a detailed version of the process that includes lots of pictures.

Statistics for this recipe

Loaves	2 x Small
Flour Mix	100% Bread
Hydration	75%
Cookware	2 x 2.5 quart Dutch Ovens

Sourdough Bread (75%) Recipe

Ingredients:

600g bread flour
450g water
200g sourdough starter (100% hydration, well fed.)
20g salt

Directions:

Remove your sourdough starter from the refrigerator and feed it.
Let it sit on the counter until it at least doubles in size, or until it nearly fills the jar. This should take 3 to 6 hours depending on the temperature in your kitchen.
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Stir until everything is evenly mixed together. The dough will look shaggy.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Let the combined dough rest for 1 hour. (Vocabulary: Autolyse)
Lift and fold the dough over on itself by digging under the dough with a plastic bowl scraper. The dough will stick to the scraper which lets you get a grip on it to pull it up and out and then drape it back over on top the rest of the dough. Do this for around 1 minute from all different directions. Replace the plastic wrap.
Let the dough sit for 30 minutes and then fold it again as described in Step 6. Replace the plastic wrap.
Let the dough sit for another 30 minutes and then fold it again as described in Step 6. Replace the plastic wrap. At this point your dough should no longer look shaggy at all.
Let your dough sit undisturbed for 20 to 24 hours. (Vocabulary: Ferment) By the end of this time the dough should be at least doubled in size. If it is not, you should give it more time.
Prepare the place where you will divide the dough and create the loaves. Lay out a silicone mat and lightly cover it in flour. (Or clean your counter and flour it.) Flour your banneton baskets to help prevent the loaves from sticking.
Pour the dough out of the rising bowl onto your floured surface. Do this gently because you want to keep as much of the air, that you just spent almost a whole day getting, as possible.
Using a plastic bowl scraper, divide the dough in half. Cut the dough a little at a time with the scraper and gently separate the sides of the cut so they don’t stick back together. Repeat until you have two separate pieces of dough.
Gently stretch one piece of dough by picking up the edges and pulling outward. You are going for a roughly rectangular piece of dough, it does not need to be thin, so don’t overstretch it.
Fold the end closest to you up a couple of inches and press it down on top of the dough. It should stick to the sticky top of the dough revealing some of the floured underside.
Work your way up the dough alternating on the left and right folding the dough across and sticking it to the top in a similar way as what you did in Step 14.
Once you get to the end farthest from you, fold it down toward you. You should now have covered all of the sticky side with the floured side from the bottom.
Roll up the dough into a cylinder shape, position the seam on the bottom, and then tuck the spiral ends of the cylinder under the dough toward the bottom where the seam side is. This should produce a smooth top and a rough bottom.
Place the loaf into a banneton basket with the smooth side down into the basket. (It will end up being the top once you dump the dough out of the basket.)
Repeat Steps 13 through 18 with the other piece of dough.
Place each banneton into a large zip top bag and blow into them before sealing them to help keep the bag from sticking to the loaf. This will keep dust off the loaves and will trap moisture in with the loaves.
Let the loaves sit for 4 to 6 hours. (Vocabulary: Proof.)
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with the 2 x 2.5 quart Dutch Ovens in the oven.
Cut two pieces of parchment paper that are roughly the width of your Dutch Ovens.
Carefully dump out each banneton basket onto one of the pieces of parchment paper. This is where the smooth side you put down in the basket becomes the top again.
Score the tops of the loaves using a lame. If you don’t have one, a knife or kitchen scissors will work. The pattern you make on top is up to you. I do a cross because it is a nice mix of easy and pretty. Common with sourdough bread is a single cut. If you are an artist, making cuts that look like wheat is a nice thing to try.
Once the oven is preheated, carefully remove one Dutch Oven, remove the lid, and place one loaf into it with the parchment paper. Put the lid back on and return the Dutch Oven to the oven. Repeat this process with the other Dutch Oven and loaf.
Bake covered for 40 minutes.
Remove the lids from both Dutch Ovens and bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.
Remove the Dutch Ovens from the oven and then remove the loaves from them to a wire rack to cool. Discard the parchment paper.