Makes 4 loaves of bread
I’ve been making this bread weekly for five years using various flours and adjusting the leaven and hydration to my mood and the weather. A country sour with a medium crumb and thick crust, it’s perfect to take into the field for lunch or toast for breakfast in a frying pan with butter. Creating more than one loaf at a time is the best way to learn; share and stock up the freezer.
Bakers think of each ingredient in relation to the weight of the flour in a formula. Flour is always at 100 percent. So, for example, the flour in this formula is 1684 grams and the water is 1263 grams, so the water is said to be 75 percent of the weight of the flour. This makes bread formulas easy to adjust and scale with some simple math and a little practice.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE LEAVEN
100% bread flour 187g
100% water 187g
25% culture 47g
Total weight: 421g
FOR THE DOUGH
100% bread flour 1684g
75% water 1263g
25% leaven 421g
2% salt 34g
Total weight: 3402g
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Digital scale
Medium-size mixing bowl
2 large mixing bowls
Wooden spoon
Bench knife
Dusting flour
4 hand towels
Well-oiled 9-inch loaf pan
3 flour-dusted, cloth-lined baskets
FOLDS WITH AN ACTIVE DOUGH DESIRED TO SHAPE IN 4 HOURS:
• Dough mixed at 9 A.M.
• 30-minute autolyse
• Salt added at 9:30 A.M.
• First fold at 10 A.M.
• Second fold at 11 A.M.
• Third fold at noon
• Divide and preshape at 1 P.M.
• 10- to 30-minute bench rest
• Final shape at 1:30 P.M.
About 24 to 36 hours before baking (depending on whether you plan to rest the proofed loaves overnight), make the leaven. Pour 47 grams of your active culture into a medium bowl along with 187 grams bread flour and 187 grams water. Cover. Let ferment overnight.
The next day, choose a place to mix where you can lean over your workspace with ease. Using a digital scale, weigh the flour into a large bowl with deep sides. Aerate it with your fingers by tossing it together for a moment. Set aside. Weigh the water into a separate large bowl. Add the leaven to the water and stir to combine. The leaven will first float on the surface, become stringy as you stir, and eventually fully dissolve. Pour the slurry into the flour. Keep your fingers together in a curved paddle shape and fold the dough over itself by working your hand directly under the dough, lifting and stretching it up, and then quickly turning your wrist to bring the elongated swath of dough over itself and connected to the opposite side. It’s a swoop underneath, a quick pull up, and an ambitious flip of the wrist. Repeat this motion, rotating the bowl, until the dough has fully pulled away from the sides and formed into a loose ball. Use a bench knife to scrape down the sides of the bowl and underneath the dough. The dough will be shaggy and tacky at first, but with a short rest and the addition of salt, it will become smooth and malleable. Toss the salt evenly across the surface of the bread. Cover.
Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes without working in the salt. Salt has a tightening effect on the gluten and also inhibits fermentation. During this grace time, known as an autolyse, the dough fully hydrates and the gluten gathers strength while enzymatic activity comes alive.
After the autolyse begin to pinch in the salt. Hold your hands like crab claws. Starting closest to your body, gather the dough between your “pinchers” and work away from you to the opposite side of the bowl, firmly squeezing and releasing the dough like a rope between your hands. The salt will dissolve, and you will immediately feel the bread take on a sense of tension. Once there is no trace of salt, cover and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
The bread is now entering bulk fermentation. This can last 4 to 5 hours, in which time the dough is given a series of folds. During bulk fermentation, the dough will rise in volume and begin to feel lofty, exhibiting bubbles here and there on the surface and loosening in structure.
A fold consists of lifting and stretching the dough up and across itself to the opposite side of the container, in a series for four turns, making a ball of dough in the middle of the vessel. Folding regulates temperature and builds strength. Use your whole hand, not just your fingertips, to lift, stretch, and flip the dough. This builds elasticity, providing volume in the final loaf. Fold 30 minutes after incorporating the salt and then every hour on the hour. You may divide your dough within 45 minutes of the final fold if it is relaxed enough. Test the strength of your dough by pulling a little away with the tip of your finger. Does it make a bubblegum-like window or shred apart? If the dough isn’t coming together and remains loose, increase the number of folds. It is possible to fold the dough without building strength: this happens from a weak and unsure touch. Be forceful, deliberate, and use some elbow grease!
When it’s time to divide the dough, turn it out onto a clean surface dusted lightly with flour. Using both hands, gently lift and stretch the right edge of the dough to the middle. Gently lift and stretch the left side toward the middle. Repeat the same motions from the top edge down toward the center and from the bottom edge up toward the center. The dough will go from a wiggly mass to a taut rectangle with a “skin” now stretched on the surface. Lightly dust with flour.
Eyeball the rectangle into four equal-sized portions. At this point, imagine the bench knife is fused into your dominant hand. Use the bench knife to cut, lift, and place your dough where it needs to be, keeping your free hand away as much as possible. Overhandling at this stage can degas the delicate dough. If your hands get stuck in the bread, stop. Wash them. Scrape and clean up your work area. Start again. Divide with a swift cutting and separating rather than a sawing motion. Use the scale to check each loaf at 30 ounces.
The goal of a preshape is to set up the dough structurally for its final form. Through a series of stretches, tucks, and rolls, the inside of the bread is defined under a gluten cloak. The dough should be able to move freely on the table. Take care to use the least amount of flour in your work area to achieve this. Gently pat a piece of dough into a rectangle. Lift the bottom edge up and press it into the loaf two-thirds of the way up. You will now be looking at a bulge of dough with a lip at the top. Take the sides, stretch them gently and bring them to cross over the center of the dough. The dough will now look like an open envelope. With gusto, take the bottom edge and flip it up to meet the top lip, sealing the dough into a cylinder. Repeat with the other three loaves. Let them rest, covered with cloth, for 10 to 30 minutes.
Using a bench knife, flip over a preform and gently pat it into a rectangle. Again take the bottom edge and fold it two-thirds of the way up the loaf. Gently stretch the sides and bring them to cross over the center of the dough. More overlap here will provide a nice core of tension so the bread maintains its shape during the final proof. Flip the bottom edge up to meet the top lip and tuck the dough into itself, beginning with a fair amount of tension and easing up as you finish. This last step is a micro movement with your wrists. Use caution and work quickly, never tearing the dough and keeping your fingers on the outside of the loaf.
You will now have a taut cylinder with a long seam running underneath and a smooth top. Pinch the ends. Lift the loaf with your bench knife and place it seam-side down into an oiled pan. Repeat the same shaping for the remaining three loaves, but transfer them seam-side up into flour dusted, cloth-lined baskets.
Proofing is the final stage of fermentation. The dough will rise and relax from the tension introduced while shaping. Initial proofing can last anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, depending on how fast the dough was moving in bulk fermentation and the ambient temperatures of the room. To test if the bread is fully proofed, poke the center of the loaf. If it springs back immediately, give it more time. If it holds the imprint of your finger with just a little spring, it’s ready. Once proofed, you may either place your loaves, covered, in the fridge overnight or prepare your oven for baking (see Baking Loaves from a Basket, here, or Stenciled Loaves in a Pan, here).
Retarding your bread in refrigeration will slow down fermentation, adding complexity to the flavor profile. I do not go past 19 hours in cold storage, with room-temperature proofing between 1 and 3 hours. Even if you do not plan on retarding overnight, at least 20 minutes in refrigeration encourages the loaf to contract, making handling and scoring easier.
