Experiments in Sourdough #3
I recently tried out Cook’s Illustrated’s Almost No-Knead Bread and it was fantastic. The shape reminded me of sourdough loaves I’ve made in the past and, since I’ve got sourdough starter going in my fridge, I wondered if I’d be able to find a sourdough version of this bread.
Internet searching turned up lots of sourdough variations of the original No-Knead Bread, but nothing that modified the Almost No-Knead Bread that turned out so wonderfully. I read some explanations and (recipes for the sourdough breads and thought, “I can do this!”
Here’s the recipe I came up with:
Almost No-Knead Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
12.5 ounces all purpose flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
9 ounces sourdough starter
4.5 ounces water
3 ounces beer
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Instructions
1. Whisk flour and salt in large bowl. Add starter, water, beer and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 hours. Refrigerate for 8-10 hours.
2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500*F. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor sharp blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, 1⁄2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425*F and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210*F, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
This is half of my resulting loaf. Why only half? Because we quickly devoured the first half. The sourdough flavor is fantastic. It’s very strong and just perfect. This bread turned out much sourer than previous attempts at sourdough bread.
However, the texture was not perfect. The loaf spread out too much and it was a bit dense. I googled some bread troubleshooting information and I’m pretty sure the texture issues are a result of too little flour. Attempt #2 will include more flour, I think I’ll try 15 ounces and see what happens.