Let There Be Bread - The Two Week Lives In The Frig Sourdough

Rue, Chive, and Lavender Sourdough Bread

Let There Be Bread - The Two Week Lives In The Frig Sourdough

Ah yes, the bread topic again.

We cycle in and out of wheat eating here. Our bread culture genetics are hard to resist. Our peace was made with supporting ecologically conscious farmers and sourcing the VERY BEST WHEAT we can get when the ancestors come call for bread making to commence. 
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This older article linked below from Mother Earth News is amazing for making sourdough with a few steps removed so it’s super easy to have fresh bread any day of the week - even if you decided at 4pm for a 5pm or so dinner can happen.

This recipe requires NO CONSTANT TENDING of the mother sourdough. 

I know. I know. It seems like a hack that cannot be, but trust me, it works. 

Once your dough is slowly made, it ferments as a dough (versus a mother inoculant) for 2-5 hours on my counter without touching it. Then we use the folding technique (versus kneading) daily which takes literally 2 minutes or less, and it lives in your refrigerator gently covered for up to 2 weeks. It continues to ferment and change flavor over time as a dough ready each day for you to pinch off a grapefruit sized piece and make into flat bread, pizza, rolls, cinnamon buns, or a simple loaf of fresh warm bread to compliment any meal.

We make 1-2 loaves a week during times we are eating wheat and I mix organic bread flour with fresh ground organic Kamut wheat we grind from whole Kamut wheat berries (mixed at a 70:30 ratio for the two flours).

While I’ve been making bread since I was a little girl whose eyes where table top height or perched on a chair watching, practicing, and learning from my Sicilian Great Grand-Nonna Costa and mother kneading away, these super hydration bread techniques are new for me so I’m still getting my legs under me with it but LOVE the bread made from a home oven.
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Here's the original article that has inspired me for years to give credit where credit definitely due. I have not swayed from it at all as I usually do with many recipes because it is just a solid recipe that is successful every time. ​I'm so grateful!
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REFERENCE LINK: ​Artisanal Bread in 5 Minutes A Day - Mother Earth News Article

I will repeat the steps I follow here so all is in one place to help you gather the confidence that you CAN do this even if your are brand new or a seasoned home bread maker wanting to learn a different technique.
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RECIPE: The 2 Week Live In The Frig Sourdough - Official Recipe Steps Used In My Kitchen

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INGREDIENTS:
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• 3 cups lukewarm water - skin test. it should be tolerated by your skin and not burn it.
• 1-1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
• 6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, ORGANIC bread flour*

*NOTE: we sometimes mix 70% organic bread flour with 30% organic fresh ground or purchased ground Kamut flour. The Kamut flour gives a gentle nutty flavor, reduces the the final gluten amount, and boosts the protein content. But it absolutely requires this high hydration and fermented process to get the rise and the crumb we love.

Yes, you can double this recipe if you're having a large group coming through. I've not gone more than that with this recipe but do experiment. 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mixing and Storing the Dough - Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight — use container with gasket or lift a corner). Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up with your measuring cup, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; don’t pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon (I oil mine lightly), a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Don’t knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.

4. Cover loosely. Do NOT use screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top), approximately 2-5 hours, depending on temperature. Longer rising times, up to 5 hours are my preference for developing flavor and will not harm the result.

5. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. I do recommend refrigerating the dough at least 1-2 hours before shaping a loaf. We get to relax here on all the directions. You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.

6. At this point your dough lives in your frig as it continues to ferment and you keep it loosely covered so if is expands a lot it will not explode in there. I place a piece of painters tape on it with the date I started it so I can pay attention to the 2 week time stamp of using it up. 

7. Every day or two you use cold watered or olive oiled hands and with two fingers lift and fold the dough over on itself several times from several directions by spinning your bowl. Then put it back to rest in the frig with it's loose lid.  

Rosemary Loaves

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On A Bread Baking Day

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1. Place a pinched off ball of dough (the size of a grapefruit is about 1lb of dough) onto a floured surface. Let it rest with a floured dish towel over it for about 40 minutes to come up in temp a little but no so much that it's too sticky. Depending on the dough’s age, you may see little rise during this period. It's fine. More rising will occur during baking.

2. Prepare your cookie sheet or pizza pan with a light dusting of cornmeal while your dough rests. You can also see the "Dutch Oven Baking Technique" described below if you have one. 
 
4. There are 2 ways to work your dough just before baking: (1) With lightly floured hands approach your dough with cupped hands around the base so your hands are in contact with your barely floured countertop and pull the loaf diagonal to you focusing your hands at the bottom of the loaf so it slides and rolls the dough into a round loaf shape.

(2) Another way is to flatten dough out to a rectangle with floured finger tips pulling the sides and pressing into the top gently. Then fold in thirds then roll up at one end and pull across the counter to form the shape you want. Work very little and use just enough flour to prevent sticking but allows it to still grab the counter.

5. Let rest 20m while you preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. 

6. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1/4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. This helps the bread expand during baking by releasing the surface tension before the baking heat causes a rapid rise.

7. Some suggest placing an empty broiler tray for holding 1 cup of boiled water on another shelf underneath in the oven. Some use mister spray bottles of water and spray the loaf and oven as it goes in. Or again, take a look at the dutch oven method below. You decide. They all work well. This develops the crispy crusty we all love. 

8. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. I was taught to give a decent hard tap with your finger which reveals a hollow sound, "the bread sings its doneness" said my granny. That's a skill developed through feel and hearing that really works too. Thankfully with wet doughs like this, there’s little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust.

9. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely - but this is very hard for my family so we wait 20m and dive in with fresh good butter waiting. Cool on a wire rack completely for best flavor, texture and the ability to slice well. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.

Refrigerate your remaining fermenting dough in your lightly lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next two weeks, giving it a few gentle finger folds every day or two when not used.

​You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the two-week period. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions if your 2 weeks mark is coming and you will not use it up in time. Freeze in an airtight containers and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.

It's an easy process once learned. My best advise is work with a cooler dough. That is where I have made mistakes by letting it get too warm and hence so very sticky. Pop back in the frig for 20 minutes is all that is needed.

Good luck and I'm here if you have questions. Much LOVE & BREAD, Jen

I used the Dutch Oven Cook Method here as you can see in the back ground. Cast iron fry pans are favorite too for me. Use what you have. This our Rue, Chive & Lavender Loaf

Dutch Oven Cook Method

​I LOVE the Dutch Oven Cook Method for great crust in a home oven which is not described in these links above. It is optional and a simple cookie sheet or pizza pan will always do. This delivers a consistently great crust so I share.

• Heat oven to 450 degrees F, with Dutch oven in it.
• Have your dough's final resting place be on a piece of parchment paper that becomes the hammock for moving it. 
• Remove the Dutch oven once oven reaches temperature and close oven to keep heat in. BE CAREFUL! This pan is so very hot. Remove lid and gently drop the loaf using the parchment paper like a hammock into the Dutch oven using the paper to lift it in.
• If you want a focaccia-like bread then skip the slash step above and press the loaf out to the edges with your olive-oil dipped fingers to flatten a bit.
• Splash a little water in there on and around the load with your fingers like you're blessing your loaf with holy floral water (yes, bless it) and put the lid on. Place back in oven and bake 20m at 450 degrees F. Some people slide a few ice cubes under the parchment. You decided.
• Remove lid, lower oven temp to 400 degrees F and bake another 20-25m or until it sounds hollow when tapped with your fingertips.
• Cool at least 15m to warm to the touch before cutting.

Fresh Rue, Chives, & Lavender folded into our loaf just prior to baking.

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Adding Aromatics & Flavor Changes

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​Adding aromatics is easy. I change the aromatics up with each loaf based on wat we want and have available.

What is an aromatic? These are plants that smell and release oils when we work with them or touch them. Your spice cabinet is filled with aromatics. But there are more. If you stock a spice cabinet well for traditional Indian and Mexican cooking then you are all set with aromatics!  

I suggest 2 TB of minced fresh herbs/aromatics sprinkled on the flattened out dough, or 1 TB dried and rubbed between your hands to break them open and release oils. Seeds can be hand ground in a mortar and pestle briefly before sprinkling over your dough. 

So once you flatten out your ball of dough a bit and add aromatics (optional) to enhance and direct the flavor, you fold over by thirds and roll it up from the short end and tuck in the bottom with floured hands to make a boule (round shape).

This sits on parchment paper on your counter for about 30m to rise (aka "proof") a bit more while you get your oven HOT with a Dutch oven pot inside (see below). Next flour the top of your loaf lightly and slash it gently with a good sharp knife which helps to release steam as it cooks which allows for the bread to spring up as it cooks.

Sometimes I use no aromatics because plain yummy bread just works!
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Note: Rue is used in savory baking and slow cooked meat stews in North African cuisine and is delicious! It’s strong so small amounts are all that’s needed. Rue is a regular part of the kitchen spice cabinet there. The first time I made Rue Bread we all ate the entire load right out the oven as it was truly different, absolutely delicious, and so soothing to smell and eat. Fresh Rue is also added to potato pancakes for spring and fall gut clearing in many European traditions. I was taught to add 1-2 TB fresh minced Rue per patch and you eat a few potato pancakes a day for 2 weeks to get rid of non-beneficial gut free-loaders. They're delicious too served latke-style with plain yogurt or sour cream, and apple sauce.

Other Aromatic Bread Combos We LOVE:
- Rosemary is always a favorite around here! 1 TB dried or 2TB fresh.
- Thyme, Lemon zest and fresh cracked pepper
- Chopped marinated Olives and fresh Cilantro are also amazing together.
- Fresh minced or whole Basil leaves with slices of Brie tucking into the top just before the bake staggered us. 
- Dried Cranberries, Sunflower seeds, and lots of cracked black pepper (1-2 TB worth!) is amazing too. This makes the best toast with the warm, peppery, spice note. Black pepper is quite an antibiotic too so I make this one with simple chicken soups for when we're sick around here.

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GLUTEN FREE LINK: Homemade Rice Sourdough - Gluten Free Bread made in the Blender Recipe 

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.Homemade Rice Sourdough - Gluten Free Bread made in the Blender Recipe - For Gluten Free experimenting, this blender method rice sourdough recipe is also amazing. The chemistry of learning how to make GF bread has really evolved among us humans in the last few years. What used to taste like "yum... aged tree bark on forest floor" per my husband, is now quite hard to discern from wheat breads. Laughing - he does not candy his opinions and it's quite funny at times. 

I’ve been playing with many recipes and this one worked for me the best. For working aromatics in, I add them during the pour into the baking pan and swirl them through with a chopstick gently. Then let it rise and bake.
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It is a very wet dough and so a proper loaf pan is important to invest in for that shape that is great for sliced bread.

AND YET ANOTHER GF BREAD ARTICLE LINK: Simple Gluten Free Bread by Christine Stoner (creator and author of this sourdough process outlined here.)

Send questions! Let’s break bread together and support the farmers that bring us old strains of wheat that are kinder to the land plus our bodies.

Much love💚Jen