Bert's Sourdough (not keto)

Make a starter. I recommend Farmhouse on Boone's YouTube video. She has a ton of great recipes for using up your starter. 

Using whole wheat or rye flour, and leaving out in a warm place longer will make a more sour bread. Using all unbleached all purpose for feeding, and all white bread flour, and leaving out 12 to 16 hours instead of 24 will make it less sour. 

If you don't want to maintain a sourdough starter or you don't enjoy the multi day process I recommend buying sourdough already made. The labor and strategy is part of the art. This recipe is the result of Bert's bread making journey. 

Supplies:

10 qt cast iron dutch oven with a lid

1 cotton kitchen towel

large glass bowl

large plastic bag (we use a produce bag from the grocery store)

parchment paper

proofing basket with cotton liner (or medium to large bowl lined with cotton kitchen towel)

kitchen scale

Feeding the starter: 

50g unbleached all purpose flour 

100g whole wheat or rye flour 

150g water, room temperature 

Making the bread:

375 g water

10 g sea salt

150 g starter

75 g whole wheat flour

425 g bread flour

1-2 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour (for bread basket)

1/2 to 1 tsp corn meal

DAY 1: 6am, Remove starter from fridge. Feed the starter...add 75g room temperature water, and 100g flour (50g whole wheat or rye & 50g all purpose flour). Cover with a cotton kitchen towel. Let sit on the counter for 24 hours. 

DAY 2: 6am, Remove 100g starter. Throw it away or make biscuits. Feed the starter...add 75g room temperature water, and 100g whole wheat or rye flour. Cover with a cotton kitchen towel. Let sit on the counter until 4pm. 

4pm, Create the bread ball: Pour water into a large glass bowl. Add salt. Heat in microwave until warm. Stir well. Stir the flour into the water. Cover with a cotton kitchen towel. Let sit on the counter for 1 hour. 

5pm, Add 150g starter and mix well with your hand. Cover and let sit 1 hour on the counter.

6pm, Fold dough 8 times. Cover and let sit 1 hour on the counter. 

7pm, Fold dough 8 times. Cover and let sit 1 hour on the counter. 

8pm, Fold dough 8 times. Cover and let sit 1 hour on the counter. 

9pm, Fold dough 8 times. Place in floured proofing basket. Place the whole basket in a large plastic bag and let sit 1 hour on the counter.

10pm, Place plastic encased proofing basket in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. 

DAY 3: Late afternoon/evening, Place a 10 qt dutch oven with lid in the oven. Set oven to 435 degrees F. Leave in oven for an 10 extra minutes after the oven reaches set temperature. 

Lay out parchment paper on the counter, cut larger than the bread ball. Lightly dust top of bread with corn meal. Turn bread, corn meal side down, onto parchment paper. Slice the top to let steam escape. 

Remove hot dutch oven. Carefully set the parchment w/ dough down into the pan. Place lid on and return to oven. Bake 25 minutes. Remove lid. Cook an additional 20 minutes to brown top. Remove bread from the pan using the parchment to lift out. Place on a cooling rack. Do not slice until cool.