Sourdough French Bread
Start with a sourdough culture that is the consistency of pancake batter.
Basic sourdough care: To feed your culture, add flour and water then let it set out at room temperature for an hour. If you don’t want to use it soon, keep it in the refrigerator. If you want to use it, put a portion in the refrigerator and use the rest for your recipe.
Print
Sourdough French Bread
Description
This is an excellent and easy French Bread made with sourdough culture. Grow your sourdough culture by adding flour and water to it every 8-12 hours. If you aren’t going to use it for a day or more, then feed it and put it in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
- sourdough culture
- flour
- water
- salt
- egg for egg wash
Instructions
Late afternoon or evening, grow your culture for the bread you are making the next day. The warmer your kitchen, the faster the sourdough acts. A cool kitchen will result in a slower acting sourdough. Mix the following and let set out in your kitchen.
- 1 cup sponge culture (consistency of pancake batter)
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cups warm water
The next morning:
- Punch down the dough.
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons of salt in 1 cup of warm water.
- Mix the dough with 3 more cups of flour and the salt water mixture.
- Knead dough until smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary.
- Shape loaves and let rise all day, the time it takes will depend on how warm your kitchen is.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Use a very sharp knife or razor blade and cut slits in tops of loaves to allow gas to escape while it bakes.
- Mix an egg with 2 Tablespoons of water and brush over the tops of the loaves. Alternatively, use water and no egg to wash over loaves.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove from pans and let cool on racks.
Notes
Serve with olive oil in little bowls with oregano and sea salt sprinkled in to dip bread. Or, for baguettes, let cool, slice lengthwise, butter and sprinkle granulated garlic over and toast in oven.
