Sourdough French Bread

I made my first loaf of bread when I was a freshman in high school for a project on Taoism, somehow I connected the whole process of bread making to Taoist philosophy (don't ask me how, I really don't remember). And then the class got to eat my assignment. I think I got an A.

Making bread is something that many people no longer think about as it is so easy to purchase. But the standard loaf of sandwich bread barely qualifies as bread (see the continuous bread making tract on this Encyclopedia Britannica article). The process of fermentation that in traditional bread can take a couple hours is sped up to as little as 30 seconds with machinery and chemical additives. The soft spongy bread that you get from the local super market has none of the texture or flavor developed over millennia of bread baking experiments. However, that taste you get from a classic bakery loaf can be reproduced in the kitchen, though getting the right crunchiness on the crust can be difficult because it is difficult to reproduce the conditions of the a good bakeries moisture controlled oven.

My family has a tradition of making bread. My Grandfather loved to make bread, including sourdough bread, and it seemed there would always be some fresh on hand when we visited. My mother made a lot of bread until she had three kids, by the time I was growing up homemade bread was an occasional treat. My father apparently used to make bread. Though I have never tasted it I have heard famed stories of the beer bread he made in college. So bread making may be something that I am just predisposed to by nature, and nurture. It is absolutely something I love to do.

I almost never buy bread. I do have a loaf of sandwich bread in my freezer downstairs right now that I had a 'free' coupon for. It is nice occasionally to have a loaf of pre-sliced, toaster sized, slices. Normally, the only time I buy bread is if I am making sandwiches for a day of hiking. Its not that homemade bread doesn't make good sandwiches--it does, and I often make sandwiches with it at home-- but that as I do not have a slicer or a great bread knife my slices of homemade bread end often end up a bit lopsided and shed crumbs (though unsliced homemade bread seems to keep better, I have never had a moldy loaf). In certain circumstances, there are advantages to spongy, soft, mass produced bread. However, for all other occasions I prefer to make my own -- and I do not have a bread maker.

This may be more practical for me because we do not actually eat much bread. When I have a baking day (sometimes I make up to four kinds of bread in a day-- which could be 12 loaves), I wrap all but one loaf up in freezer paper, and do not bake again for months. The majority of what I make gets taken to get-togethers where my fresh baked (just out of the freezer) bread is always a hit. But it is always wonderful to have a chunk of flavorful crusty bread with a fresh made soup or stew, and because of my bread making habit (...addiction?) I almost always have a loaf or two on hand.

To me bread has always been a mystery. Like beer and wine it is a process of fermentation. While I understand the science behind how the process works, I wonder at what magic people thought had occurred when they observed their first leavened dough and tasted the results. The bread of the ancients was a result of time (and good bread still is). At some point someone left a dough ball out too long and natural yeast collected in the dough, consuming the sugars from the wheat and any sugar additives and producing CO2. During the kneading or making of the dough the gluten proteins in the wheat become 'developed' (or aligned), giving the bread dough its elasticity, and this in effect trapped the CO2 air bubbles in the gluten structure causing the bread to rise. Bread can still be made this way (in fact I have some four/water mixture (sponge) sitting out collecting natural yeasts right now) but it is most common now to use commercially available yeast, or a sourdough starter.

Of the breads I make this Sourdough French Bread is one of my most frequent repeats and like many of my favorite bread recipes (or recipes in general) come from the Fiddlehead Cookbook. This cookbook is available for limited page views on Googlebooks and it seems you never know what pages you will be able to access and which you will not. It can also of course be purchased online or ordered from your local bookstore. This cookbook is an amazing collection of recipes from what once was the best restaurant in Juneau, Alaska. The restaurant is no more, but the cookbook lives on and contains everything from comfort foods to chocolate mousse and is new agey, down-to-earth, and gourmet all at the same time. If Googlebooks will open it for you the recipe for sourdough french bread starts on page 150.

There are two ways to make this recipe, you can use a little extra yeast and mix up a bread sponge(flour, and water to give your yeast a head start) the night before, or, you can just rely on your sourdough starter. Usually I forgo the sponge step, though it does make a good bread. It seems that the longer your yeast is allowed to ferment the tastier your bread is. If you want to do the sponge method then get out your sourdough starter the night before baking day. Take out 1/4 cup starter and place in a good sized mixing bowl. Add 1 cup unbleached flour and 1 cup warm water (not hot, hot water will kill yeast) and let sit overnight. Feed your starter pot and put it back in the fridge. The next day your sponge should be bubbly and about twice the size it was the night before.

If you want to skip making the sponge just take your sourdough starter out of the fridge, give it a stir, and let sit over night (or if your making bread in the afternoon take it out in the morning and let it sit through the day). You can stir in a little (1/4 cup) flour to the starter to help wake up the yeast. If you forget to take it out to warm up beforehand, no worries, it will just take your bread a little longer to rise.

When ready to start bread making take 1 3/4 cups of starter out of your starter pot and place in a bowl (feed pot and put away) or use your pre-made bread sponge.

If you would like to add extra commercial yeast (you do not have to do this but can rely on the sourdough starter alone, however, the yeast will help insure you have a successful loaf of bread) mix 1 teaspoon dry yeast with 1/4 cup warm water and 1 teaspoon honey (or other sugar). Let this sit for 5 minutes, it should be bubbly and smell 'yeasty'.

To the yeast and water mixture, add:
your bread starter (either from the sponge, or from 1 3/4 cups of straight sourdough starter)
1 teaspoon salt (for flavor but salt also makes the gluten in the bread stronger)
2 cups white flour (if you want to be healthy use whole wheat white-which is finely ground wholewheat flour made from albino wheat grains)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Stir all of these ingredients together, they should come together to form a ball of dough. If the dough is still too sticky, knead in more flour. Once you have a nice ball of dough that has enough flour in in that you can handle it without your hand sinking into the mess then sprinkle flour on a spot on a clean counter, take the dough out, and knead the dough for 10 minutes.

To knead press the dough flat with the palm of your hands, fold it over on itself, and repeat--changing the direction you fold it every so often. 10 minutes will feel like a long time... usually my triceps are sore and I feel like I've gotten quite the work out, especially when its a baking day and I am making three or four different kinds of bread. I tell myself that all of the work that goes into kneading the bread means that I can eat more of it without feeling guilty.

(There are no-knead recipes out there, which come out delicious, and I have experimented but so far I haven't quite gotten it to work yet with this recipe.)

If you happen to have a large Kitchen Aid or other large mixer this process will speed up (note a small hand mixer will not work for bread making), put the dough hook on and mix all the ingredients (on low). While mixing add flour, small amounts at a time until the dough sticks to the dough hook and pulls away from the sides, keep mixing (on low to med low) for another 5 minutes.

Once the bread is kneaded into a nice firm dough ball, and the dough springs back lightly when touched then set it in a well oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let sit to rise. A warm draft free place is best-- when I was a kid we used to go set the bread in the furnace room-- in my kitchen the bowl usually stays on top of the oven. You let the bread rise until it is double in bulk, depending on what method you used this can take varying amount of times. If you used a sponge and added extra yeast it will take about an hour (unless your house is really cold) if you used your starter only it will take about 2 hours. Once it is double in bulk, punch it down. You can let it rise again if you like. This will improve the texture and flavor of your bread and will take half the time as the first rise. If you are making a straight sourdough bread without extra yeast I would recommend just using a longer first rise and skipping the second rise. When I do a double rise without extra yeast sometimes I end up with a flat loaf.

Once your bread has risen once (or twice) to double its size and been punched down break it into loafs. The recipe above says it makes one loaf, but it is a big loaf. Usually I divide it in half and shape it by hand in to whatever I desire. You can roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a rectangle (or pat it out) and then make a tight dough roll to get a more uniform loaf. Set your loaf (or loaves) onto cookie sheet or baking stone that is sprinkled with cornmeal, cover, and let rise again until doubled. This will take about 30 minutes this time, sometimes longer if are using all sourdough. When doubled whisk together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water, cut diagonal hashes in the top of the loaves of bread to allow to rise more in the oven, and then brush the egg wash over the top of the bread (skip this if cooking vegan and just brush with some oil). This will help to brown the loaves and make them shiny, if you would like, sprinkle the loaves with poppy seeds or sesame seeds after the egg wash.

Your oven should be at 400 degrees, add a dish with some water in it to the oven to increase the moisture content of the air (while this is not as effective as the steam in a real bakery oven it will help). If you would like, spritz loaves with some white vinegar using a spray bottle, I have not done this before (though I plan to try) but I have heard it helps with the crust. Place the tray with the loaves on a rack in the middle of the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. Your loaf is done when it is browned on top and sounds hollow when tapped. Take out and let cool. Eat. Enjoy.

On a side note, this bread makes fantastic French Bread (Eggy Bread) for breakfast.

Bread making may seem awfully complicated, but there is actually very little active time involved in the process. It is usually something I do when I know I am going to be around the house for a day. Other than the kneading all that is required is to set a timer to remind myself to go check on various rising stages, or to get it out of the oven. I find the process soothing, and I find kneading bread a great way to deal with stress.