Weekly Sourdough Recipe

We eat lots of bread over here, as I'm sure many of you do. We exclusivley eat sourdough bread at our house, and many years ago I started baking bread for our family on a regular basis. I used to just make one beautiful round boule at a time. But with 4 hungry guys in my house, and myself- that just doesn't cut it anymore. I don't want to be making and baking bread everyday. So, once a week I make multiple loaves of bread for our family. Most of one usually gets gobbled up that day, the other three are refrigerated or frozen until we need them. I also bake bread for people in our community, on and off, and have a small customer base here. That is actually why I honed in my bulk bread recipe and process. And now I want to share that here with you today.

This recipe is for four 700g pan loaves. I usually do an overnight bulk ferment, but you could do it during the day and then refrigerate the dough and bake the next day. It will be more sour that way, which some people really love. Also note: I don't measure my ingredients on a scale, I just use measuring cups. If you use a scale, sorry! Maybe try this and weigh the ingredients to find out? I have not weighed the ingredients, only the dough when I am making loaves for customers.

** I learned the two pan method from Maria at Bringing Bread Back.

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RECIPE FOR 4 SOURDOUGH PAN LOAVES

SUPPLIES

Large mixing bowl

Stand mixer or wooden spoon and lots of arm strength

4 or 8 loaf pans (you'll use one loaf pan as a lid for each bread loaf when baking) (These are the ones I use)

Parchment paper or parchment sheets (These are the ones I use)

Two protective oven mitts or heat safe gloves

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup bubbly active starter

4 cups room temperature water (unchlorinated)

1.5 TBSP sea salt

2 TBSP ev olive oil (optional- just makes it a little softer)

12 cups good quality all-purpose or bread flour, or a mix of both (I always use all-purpose)

INSTRUCTIONS

DAY/NIGHT BEFORE BAKING

1. The day before you want to bake bread, feed your starter in the morning, so by nighttime it will be high and bubbly.

2. That night (the day before you want to bake), you're going to make your dough. Whisk your water and starter together with a fork in a large mixing bowl.

3. Next add your first 4 cups of flour, stir well until nice and creamy. I use a wooden spoon, but you could use a stand mixer - (I'm sure it is much easier -ha)

4. Add your next 4 cups of flour, as well as your 1.5 tbsp sea salt. Mix together well again.

5. Then add in your last 4 cups of flour 1-2 cups at a time, and mix as you go. This is when it gets harder to mix.

6. Eventually, you'll have to use your hands and finish up mixing, so all the flour is incorporated into a messy ball of dough. At this point, you can knead the dough for a couple minutes, which will only make it rise better, but you don't have to. If you're using a stand mixer, keep it going until the dough is well mixed.

7. Once that process is done, cover your bowl and wait 30 minutes for the dough to rest. Go take your shower, brush your teeth or read to your kiddos. :)

8. After 30 minutes, get your hands a little wet then pick up the large ball of dough, and either in your hands or on an oiled surface, shape the dough into a smooth ball. This only takes me about 30 seconds. The ball is very heavy, but it's a great arm workout!

9. Place the dough back into the large bowl, cover with a damp towel & plate and let rest overnight in a warm-ish location.
   

MORNING OF BAKING

1. The next morning your dough should have at least doubled in size.

2. Oil a large cutting board and pour your dough onto that. Fold your dough over onto itself a couple times, so it looks like a fat burrito.

3. Cut your dough into 4 equal-ish pieces. If you're weighing, each smaller ball of dough should weigh about 700g.

4. Shape the dough into balls and let them rest about 10 minutes on the cutting board.

5. While they're resting get your loaf pans ready. Place 4 pieces of parchment paper, I love these sheets, into 4 loaf pans (I use these).

6. Gently shape each ball of dough into a loaf/log. Tuck and fold the ends in, so the loaf looks somewhat uniform and smooth. Place the loaf into the loaf pan.
   

   

   Shaped dough ready to sit & rise for 1-2 hours.

7. Put your 4 loaves in a warm location and cover with a damp towel. Let rise for about 2 hours, or until noticably puffed up. If it is super warm, this could be shorter, you don't want them getting so fluffy that they are exploding over the sides!

8. When the loaves look nice and puffy, a little above the top of the loaf pan, preheat your oven to 470F/240C.

9. When the oven is ready, slash/score your loaves however you want to.

10. Place the extra 4 loaf pans on top of the 4 loaf pans containing the dough, to create a lid on each one. This will help your bread rise even more and get a beautiful golden crust. The steam gets trapped inside the loaf pans and does all this brilliant work.

11. Carefully place the 4 loaves, with lids, into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

12. After 25 minutes, wearing your heat safe gloves, remove the lids from each loaf pan.

13. Lower the heat to 425F/225C and bake for about 15-20 minutes more, or until the loaves are a beautiful golden brown on top.

14. Remove from the oven, then remove the bread loaves from the pans and cool on a wire rack. (If you leave them in the loaf pans, the bottoms will become soggy).

15. Wait at least 30 minutes before cutting into them if you can, I know it's hard!

16. Enjoy with butter, jam, cheese or whatever else you think of!

** I learned the two pan method from Maria at Bringing Bread Back.