Easy Morphed Sourdough
This formula is easy to follow and bakes up terrific bread. I used a morphing technique that really brings out the taste in the bread. Morphing sourdough is when you use two different starters to improve the quality of the bread. When I want to morph, I usually will use a white starter and a whole grain starter, either a rye or whole wheat starter. Today I used white and wheat together.
Make sure you have a vigorous white and wheat starter @ 100% hydration. You will need 5 oz of each one. Start around 2:00 pm in the afternoon.
Morphed Sourdough Bread
To a mixing bowl or dough trough add:
- 5 oz/141g – whole wheat sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
- 5 oz/141g – white sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
- 21 oz/595g – water
- .5 oz/14g – oil
- 24 oz/680g – bread flour
Incorporate all the above ingredients together and then allow the sticky thick dough to autolyse (rest) for 20 minutes. After autolyse add the following ingredients to the sticky dough:
- .8 oz/22g salt
- 11 oz/311g bread flour
You need to get your hands into the dough and work it until all of the flour/salt is mixed in well. Allow the dough to ferment for six hours at room temperature, folding it four times during the fermentation.
After the dough is done fermenting. Divide the dough, shape it and place the dough into bannetons or baskets. Cover the bannetons with plastic bags and refrigerate overnight.
Next morning take out your dough, staggering your loaves by 30 minutes each so that all loaves are not ready to bake at the same time. I placed each loaf into the microwave which was heated and kept warm by microwaving a coffee cup of water and leaving the cup in the microwave. The microwave becomes a mini- proofing cabinet that way. Don’t ever microwave your dough, just put it into the microwave with a cup of hot water, banneton and all, taking off the plastic bag.
Allow your dough to proof until it is ready. You can take out the dough and reheat the cup of water as necessary to keep the microwave warm. It took two hours for my dough to proof and I still underproofed both loaves. The loaves popped like crazy when I baked and both loaves had torn crusts. When you warm the dough this way, you sometimes have to wait a little longer when you think they are done proofing because the outside of the dough is warmed but the inside can still be cold and that is when you can get a major unexpected oven spring.
Make sure to preheat your oven, baking stone and roasting lid to a really hot 450F temperature (you can place the roasting lid into the oven about 5 minutes before baking).
When your first loaf is ready to bake, slash the dough and place onto a hot preheated baking stone in your oven which has been preheated to 450 degrees for about an hour. Quickly spray the dough once all over and place your roasting lid over the dough.
Bake this way for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take off the roasting lid and place it on top of your oven. Bake the loaf uncovered for 12 – 15 more minutes or until it looks crispy crunchy browned and sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the loaf. This bread smells heavenly, stays fresh longer and you will get raves about the flavor.