Dark Side of the Fridge

So. . . the yeasty babies are put away now after this week’s marathon. We decided to convert my original Italian bread recipe to sourdough. . . I finally posted the original recipe here. And, for the record, this bread makes the absolute best French toast in the world. The entire world. <— That’s a 5-YUM rating!

We actually did this twice – using a couple of different “techniques” – and, as it turns out (big shocker here!) the more detailed, lengthy version actually makes one of the most tasty sourdough breads I’ve had a really long time. Right from our little kitchen, too.

And here it is, for all the world to see. OK, for all two people who read this. I know you’re out there.

Step one – be prepared for a 2-plus day project. We “woke up” the starter Wednesday night and were enjoying warm yummy sourdough bread Friday with dinner. Relax, though. Your patience will be rewarded.

Wake up the starter: Dump out all but 1/4 cup, and to it, add ½ cup each bottled water and unbleached flour, cover loosely and let sit on the counter (or, in our case, on top of the fridge) overnight. As we know by now, only too well, the starter will get active and bubbly – then and only then it’s ready to proceed.

Now we’re ready to rock and roll.

Morning 1

Stir together in large bowl (I use my stainless bread mixing bowl):

1/4 cup proofed starter + 2 cups each bottled water and unbleached flour

Cover with plastic, place in a quiet place (like in the “off” oven) and walk away. Just walk away for 5-6 hours. The “sponge” (that’s an official baking term for magic flour and water) will just do its thing. Go watch a movie and take a nap.

Afternoon 1

You should see that your sponge has grown and appears happy. Now, here’s where the “technique” part comes in. Stir in 3½ to 4 cups of flour. (You could use some whole wheat or rye flour here – no more than half, though because you don’t want the bread to be too heavy. I opted not to, because I was experimenting, but I probably will next time.) Just stir until the flour is moistened – you’re not doing anything here except hydrating the flour. Stir until it forms what they call a “shaggy mass.” You’ll know it when you see it.

Cover and walk away. Again. Really. But don’t go too far — you’re only going to let it rest this time for 20-30 minutes. Run out to the liquor store for some nice wine, because it’ll be perfect with this bread when it’s done tomorrow.

Now, you’re going to want to turn your dough onto a lightly floured board. Sprinkle the blob with 1 Tablespoon each of salt and sugar. This is very important. Do not forget the salt and sugar! Not that that’s ever happened to me. Oh, no.

Knead the dough 5-10 minutes, incorporating the salt and sugar and up to another half cup or so of flour, if necessary. Although the dough will start out very wet (that’s the reason it’s called a “shaggy mass”), resist the urge to bury it in flour. You’ll be surprised by how quickly it comes together into a bouncy, smooth dough.

Now it’s time to put the dough away for the night. I took a gallon zip-top bag and sprayed the inside well with cooking spray, and just tossed the dough ball in the bag, then into the refrigerator.

That’s right, the refrigerator. This is where the “sour” flavor will come from – it’s called retarding the dough – the flavors develop slowly over many hours – you can leave it for up to 48 hours, if you’re so inclined. I didn’t. I’m not getting any younger here, you know.

Morning 2

Your dough has been resting peacefully in the fridge over night, and it’s cold. But note how smooth the dough is. Plop the dough ball into a greased bowl – again, pull out that big mixing bowl – cover and let it come back up to room temperature. Now we’re on the home stretch. I left mine until it had started to rise a bit – remember, we haven’t actually let it rise yet! – which took about 4 hours.

Afternoon 2

So. . . here we are. A nice, soft ball of springy dough, ready to be shaped. Because there are just the two of us, I opted to shape it into 4 small loaves – that way, we can freeze the loaves individually, then pull one out at a time to thaw — and we don’t have half a loaf sitting around getting stale.

Remember to slash the loaves before rising. We also decided to try an “experiment within an experiment”: we made a garlic-parmesan spread for two of the four loaves, to enjoy with that night’s dinner. And it was . (Garlic-Parmesan spread – 1 Tbsp. roasted garlic paste, 1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper, 1 tsp. parmesan cheese, 1 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. dried parsley – combine and spread on 1 loaf bread dough (or 2 mini-loaves!) before shaping – roll up in the same method you’d use for cinnamon bread.)

Since it’s been like a million years since I’ve made Italian bread, my loaves were a little ugly. You’ll bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes – start with a cold oven. And although they were, in fact, ugly, there were still incredibly edible.

And the loaves with the garlic spread – very nice.

You can kind of see that the texture is a little different – it’s a lighter crumb. I’m pretty sure that’s from the way we mixed the dough – adding the flour, letting it hydrate and rest, then adding the salt & sugar and kneading. I’m not sure how that’s going to translate to my French toast, but we’ll find out, I’m sure. I was amazed, though, at just how “sour” the sourdough was this time. This is what we’ve been looking for. . .