San Francisco Sourdough Bread
This San Francisco Sourdough Bread is sourdough perfection, with a crisp crust and an airy, hole-y, truly sour crumb.
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup fed sourdough starter*
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer), combine the starter, 1 1/2 cups water, and 3 cups flour. Beat rapidly for one minute (I use the paddle attachment with the mixer on high speed).
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap. Let rise for 4 hours at room temperature, and then place in the refrigerator overnight (12 hours).
- Remove the bowl from the fridge and add the remaining 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt. Knead (I use my dough hook on medium-low speed) until you have a smooth ball of dough, at least 10 minutes. Add a bit more water if the dough doesn't seem to be coming together smoothly, but be patient, giving the dough time as it is kneaded to allow all of the ingredients to come together. If using a dough hook, you may need to help the machine along by flipping the dough to get all of the ingredients incorporated and/or keeping it centered on the dough hook.
- Shape the dough into a smooth ball and transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with oiled plastic wrap once again, and let rise until the dough has relaxed and seems soft and supple. It may rise a lot or not much at all. King Arthur says that this can take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours. Since my dough doesn't tend to rise much, I always let is sit the full 5 hours.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Gently split the dough in half and shape each half into an oval, placing the loaves spaced out on the baking sheet to rise once again. Recover with oiled plastic wrap during this second rising. According to King Arthur, a good time frame for this rising is 2 to 4 hours. The loaves are supposed to get puffy, but may spread out noticeably more than they rise. Again, I always give this step the full amount of time (4 hours) because of the way my dough reacts. Sometimes I'll let my oven warm up for about a minute, turn it off, and let my dough rise in there for the last 1/2 hour or so, if I'm getting impatient and my dough doesn't seem to be rising enough at room temperature. If you do this, be sure to take the loaves out of the oven before preheating it for baking.
- Once the loaves are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425 F. Right before you put the loaves in the oven, make 2-3 deep slashes in the tops with a serrated bread knife, using a back-and-forth motion. Spray the loaves with lukewarm water and place in the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes, until they turn golden-brown and sound hollow when tapped at the base. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
- Store in an airtight bag in the fridge and reheat slices in the toaster, microwave, or oven, depending on your preference.
Notes
This recipe calls for fed sourdough starter, which means you need to remove a cup of starter, use it in another recipe, feed your starter, let it sit for at least 5 hours, and then use a cup of the fed starter for the bread. Sound confusing? See this post for more information.
This bread takes a while to make. I've found that it works well to feed my starter the morning before I'm ready to start the bread, start the dough for the bread in the early evening, let it rise overnight, and then finish and bake it the next night. With the longest possible time table, it won't be ready until late the second night, so think ahead if you plan on making it for a special dinner.