Before we go any further, I need to come clean on something here: I’m not a professional at sourdough. I’m not even really good at it. This was my first attempt at sourdough, and I’m really happy with how it turned out, so I wrote it down. I expect that there’ll be plenty of editing and changing as I play and learn with it. But, sitting here eating a slice of bread with butter, I can tell you that this recipe as it is written here, works, and works well.
Back in November a friend gave me a master class on Sourdough as it’s something she makes a lot. I took away a dried starter with me, and then life happened. In the last week of February, I finally activated the starter, and have been feeding it for a week. Yesterday I felt we were good to go.
If you want to buy a ready to go starter, you can get them from eBay and Etsy, among others.
This makes a huge loaf. In future I’ll make it as two breads in a regular loaf tin. You can also use this proving basket for up to 1kg of bread, which would suit this recipe perfectly.
So, to the recipe…
- 750g strong white bread flour
- 400g lukewarm water
- 40g olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 200g sourdough starter
- Add all the ingredients to the Thermomix bowl
- Mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds to combine everything
- Then knead for 3 minutes on the dough setting (wheat sheaf)
- Meanwhile, oil or butter your loaf tin.
- Note: This makes a HUGE loaf, so if you’re using a standard loaf tin, you’ll need to separate the dough into two.
- Remove from Thermomix and place on a tray. Halve the dough now if you’re going to.
- You need to ‘fold’ it into a ball. Essentially treat it like a sheet you’re tucking in to a mattress – take one side and fold it under, then the other, and fold it under, then the final two, till it’s a ‘ball’.
- Place in the bread tin, then cut deep slits along the top – this is to prevent the sides of the bread splitting apparently.
- Now here things get tricky. There are as many instructions for making sourdough bread as there are recipes, so here’s what I did.
- Leave the dough to rest for six hours, in a warm, but not hot place.
- Heat the oven to 200C and cook for 30 – 40 minutes. Test to see if it’s ready by knocking on the crust. If it sounds hollow it’s ready.
- Leave the bread to cool slightly before cutting.
I hope it works for you. Please let me know, and if you have any hints and tips, leave them below! I think I could use them!
Thanks for these lovely simple, yet thorough instructions — yay for sourdough and Thermomix!
Thanks Helene! Hope it works out okay for you 🙂