We birthed a sourdough starter named Maria in March as a Covid-19, stay-at-home activity. We’re using the following basic recipe/technique:
- Starter is 1 part filtered water to 2 parts flour, fed every day.
- To make two small loaves at a time we feed Maria, wait a couple hours or more, drop about 100 grams of starter into about 100 grams of filtered water in big bowl, stir it, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it sit for an hour or so.
- Then we add about 700 grams of flour and about 200 gramsish more of filtered water to the same bowl, finger it all together, cover it, and let it sit for another 30 minutes.
- Then we sprinkle in about 10 grams of salt and pull fold it a couple times and adjust either water or flour so that it’s moist but not a sopping mess.
- Then we cover it and let it sit for 30 minute increments. Every 30 minutes or so we do a pull fold around the sides and let it sit for another 30 minutes… basically do this 6ish times for about 3 hours of initial proofing time. At the end of this time, if it looks pretty strong, we just split it, roll the two portions into basic round balls, and do a final 3 hourish proof in a well-floured and parchment-papered proofing or regular bowl small enough to give it some support on the sides, or if it’s still a little weak, we give it a quick knead before rounding them up and proofing them.
- Once proofed we transfer them to parchment-papered and floured heavy pots or upside down pyrex dishes, slice the tops of the proofed loaves with a sharp knife, and bake in oven (preheated to 500) covered for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, we uncover them and bake for another 20 or 25 minutes until they look nice and browned and raised around the top sliced areas. Pop em out and let em cool on a rack.
Some of our efforts so far:
