Rustic Farmer’s Bread with Sourdough

Preparation of the pre-dough

1. Mix all ingredients of the pre-dough together in a medium-sized plastic bowl. I prefer to use my homemade sourdough as a topping. The bowl should be big enough that the dough can expand 2 to 3 times. Close the bowl and let it mature at room temperature for 20-24 hours. The dough should have grown to at least twice its size.

Preparation of the main dough

1. On the baking day, I completely dissolve the yeast in warm water. The amount of water used for this must come from the total amount of water of 180 ml. So not in addition to the 180 ml. Put all the ingredients of the main dough in a bowl, add the yeast dissolved in water and the rest of the water. Put all of the pre-dough into the bowl. Now knead the whole thing with the food processor for 5 minutes on the slowest speed. Make sure that the dough comes off the bowl. If not, carefully add a little more type 1050 wheat flour. After 5 minutes, set the food processor to medium speed and knead for another 10 minutes. This is important so that a homogeneous, elastic dough is created. Then cover the dough in the bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes so that it can relax. After the resting phase, turn the dough out onto a flour-dusted worktop and make it round. That means, always take the dough with your hands from the outside, fold it in the middle and knead. Do the whole thing all around until the dough has built up a noticeable tension. The side below will later become the top of the loaf of bread. Flour in a round proofing basket (alternatively a bowl) with a diameter of approx. 22 cm, place the shaped dough with the side facing down and place in the oven heated to 34 ° C for 1 to 1.5 hours to rise. Should you not be able to set your oven so low, then it is sufficient if you briefly switch it on at the lowest temperature until it has reached this estimated heat. Then switch it off and just turn on the light in the oven to keep it around this temperature. After this proving time, the dough should be at least twice its size.

Baking

1. Slide a baking sheet lined with baking paper onto the second lowest rail and heat the oven to 250 ° C with top and bottom heat. Now turn the dough out onto the hot sheet (do not cut into it!) After 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 200 ° C. Personally, I like to avoid the bread getting too dark. That’s why I cover the bread loosely from above with aluminum foil after these 10 minutes. After 30 minutes at 200 ° C, I remove the aluminum foil and place it under the bread on the bottom of the oven. In this way I avoid the floor becoming disproportionately dark. Bake the bread for another 10 minutes at 200 ° C. The bread should now be evenly browned all around and smell delicious. Enjoy the meal! 😉