Sourdough – Sourdough bread

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 400 g flour (wholemeal flour)
• 200 ml water
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 35 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 days 10 hours; Total time approx. 2 days 10 hours 35 minutes

Making sourdough: In a cup, combine 2 teaspoons of flour, preferably dark or whole wheat flour, with the appropriate amount of water to form a thick slurry. Let the cup stand for a day. The dough will begin to ferment without any additional ingredients. The next morning, some bubbles will have formed. Take a teaspoon from the center of this dough and place it in a new cup. Dilute with water and dissolve. Add another two teaspoons of flour and mix to a thick slurry. Add the appropriate amount of water. Let the cup stand for another day. Many more bubbles will form, and the dough will slowly become sourdough. Repeat this process one or two more times until you have a truly active sourdough. It may become watery on the surface, but that’s not a bad sign. Depending on the flour and water, the process can take different amounts of time. Baking with sourdough: Place the sourdough in a bowl, dilute with water, and dissolve. Add flour and water, stirring until you have a thick dough, until you have 1/3 of the planned weight of bread. We call this the third dough (pre-dough). It is left to stand overnight. The next morning, add the remaining 2/3 of the corresponding amount of flour and water. Don’t add too much salt, otherwise the sourdough will not rise well. Stir (knead) the dough until it is no longer runny, but also not dry. It should be quite chewy. Place the dough in a lightly buttered rectangular cake tin. Then let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size. This can take 2 to 3 hours. If it takes longer, the sourdough is either not active enough or there is too much salt in the dough. Then wait until it has risen, even if it takes six hours. Bake at 200°C for about 40 minutes, depending on the size of the loaf. The bread will shrink during baking and is easy to remove from the tin. It tastes crispiest when eaten fresh after it has cooled. However, it will keep well for a week without any loss of quality.