Authors: Cheese Board Collective Staff
The Cheese Board (23 page)
Day 5
Remove ¼ cup of the starter and discard the rest. Return the reserved starter to the container. Add ½ cup lukewarm water, scrape down the sides of the container, and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. Then add ⅔ cup of the bread flour. Mix until the starter is smooth and thick. Cover the container with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 48 hours.
Day 7
Replenish the starter by repeating the instructions for Day 5. Cover the container and allow it to ferment for 48 hours.
Day 9
Replenish the starter again, repeating the instructions for Day 5. Cover the container and allow it to ferment for 24 hours. By Day 9, your starter should have risen 1½ times its original size and fallen back within a 24-hour period.
Day 10
Replenish the starter again, repeating the instructions for Day 5. Cover the container and allow it to ferment for 24 hours.
Day 11
You now have a sourdough starter. You have the following options:
If you plan to bake in the next day or two:
You will need to increase the amount of starter so there is enough for the sourdough recipes. Remove ¼ cup of the starter and
discard the rest. Return the reserved starter to the container. Add 1 cup lukewarm water, scrape down the sides of the container, and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. Add 1⅓ cups bread flour and mix until the starter is smooth. Cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours, or until bubbly. The starter is now ready to use for baking. Plan to use this starter within the next 12 hours. (Be sure to reserve ¼ cup of the starter to reestablish your starter supply. To do so, follow the recipe for Day 5. Refrigerate the starter directly after feeding it and follow the instructions below about
maintaining your starter and
reinvigorating it prior to baking.)
You will need to increase the amount of starter so there is enough for the sourdough recipes. Remove ¼ cup of the starter and
discard the rest. Return the reserved starter to the container. Add 1 cup lukewarm water, scrape down the sides of the container, and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. Add 1⅓ cups bread flour and mix until the starter is smooth. Cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours, or until bubbly. The starter is now ready to use for baking. Plan to use this starter within the next 12 hours. (Be sure to reserve ¼ cup of the starter to reestablish your starter supply. To do so, follow the recipe for Day 5. Refrigerate the starter directly after feeding it and follow the instructions below about
maintaining your starter and
reinvigorating it prior to baking.)
If you do not plan to make bread in the next day or two:
Replenish the starter again, repeating the instructions for Day 5. Refrigerate the starter directly after feeding it and follow the instructions below about maintaining your starter and reinvigorating it prior to baking.
Replenish the starter again, repeating the instructions for Day 5. Refrigerate the starter directly after feeding it and follow the instructions below about maintaining your starter and reinvigorating it prior to baking.
If you plan to bake regularly:
Keep your starter at room temperature, feeding it every 24 hours using the amounts for the first Day 11 option above. The starter should rise easily and become bubbly. Allow a minimum of 12 hours of fermentation before making bread and a maximum of 24 hours.
Keep your starter at room temperature, feeding it every 24 hours using the amounts for the first Day 11 option above. The starter should rise easily and become bubbly. Allow a minimum of 12 hours of fermentation before making bread and a maximum of 24 hours.
MAINTAINING YOUR STARTER
With monthly feedings, sourdough starter will last indefinitely in the refrigerator. To feed it, remove it from the refrigerator, discard all but ¼ cup, and stir in ½ cup lukewarm water and ⅔ cup bread flour. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 48 hours. Repeat the process, but return the starter directly to the refrigerator after the second feeding.
REINVIGORATING YOUR STARTER FOR BAKING
To prepare your starter for baking, remove it from the refrigerator, discard all but ¼ cup, and stir in ½ cup lukewarm water and ⅔ cup bread flour. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. (The starter should look bubbly and rise and fall back during this time.) Discard all but ¼ cup of starter and stir in 1 cup lukewarm water and 1⅓ cups bread flour. Let stand for an additional 12 hours, or up to 24 hours, before making bread.
Note: You will know that your starter is vigorous if it has grown in size, has bubbles in its interior, and has a sour odor. Your starter may need more or less time to become reinvigorated; generally, the more frequently a starter is used, the less time is needed to bring it up to full potency for dough making.
Starter that has been refrigerated and forgotten for a long time separates into a dark liquid and a firmer mass. Discard the liquid and use the firmer portion for reinvigorating the starter—it will often be fine after a few feedings.
If your starter has developed any kind of mold on the surface or it smells bad (as opposed to just sour), throw it away and start over.
Sometimes customers just don’t notice that we make bread here. It’s so strange—they see the ovens, they’re right there, and they see the bread coming out. Once I was waiting on a guy at the bread counter, a well-dressed guy in his thirties. He grabbed a hot baguette and he was so amazed that it was hot. I said, “Well, it just came out of the oven.” And he said, “Came out of the
oven
… ?” At first I thought he was pulling my leg because it seemed like he was amazed by the fact that a bread that comes out of the oven is hot. Then I realized he wasn’t pulling my leg. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from being sarcastic! It was the way he said it “Oh … oven … hot!” and I thought, “Yeah … freezer … cold!”
oven
… ?” At first I thought he was pulling my leg because it seemed like he was amazed by the fact that a bread that comes out of the oven is hot. Then I realized he wasn’t pulling my leg. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from being sarcastic! It was the way he said it “Oh … oven … hot!” and I thought, “Yeah … freezer … cold!”
—OLIVIA
Master Sourdough
From this master recipe you can make baguettes, City Breads, focaccia, English muffins, Zampanos, and bialys. All of the latter recipes were developed over the years from the sourdough we had on hand in abundance for making baguettes. (We used to joke that if we could have figured out a way to make sticky buns from this recipe we would have.) What gives each bread its own identity is the way it is handled after the dough has completed its first long rising period. Adding different ingredients later and baking the breads at different temperatures yields completely different breads.
Before you begin, be sure to read through the master recipe, the “Methods” discussion in the Basics section, as well as the recipe for the bread you are planning to make. Both volume and weight measurements are given in the sourdough recipes. Use the weight measures if you are a beginning baker, as a greater degree of accuracy will help you succeed. As you become more experienced, you will know what to look for in a dough.
Preparation time through the first rise: 5 hours (unless rising overnight); active time: 45 minutes
4 cups (20 ounces) bread flour
1¼ cups cool water
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups (8 ounces)
Sourdough Starter
Sourdough Starter
Put the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl.
If using a stand mixer,
add the water to the bowl and mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until the ingredients are thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add the salt and sourdough starter. Switch to the dough hook, increase the mixer speed to medium, and knead for 12 minutes, or until the dough is slightly tacky and soft. (After a couple of minutes, the dough should gather around the hook; you can add extra flour by the tablespoonful if the dough does not pull away from the sides of the bowl.) Transfer to a lightly floured surface and
knead by hand
for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth, shiny, and passes the windowpane test.
add the water to the bowl and mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until the ingredients are thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add the salt and sourdough starter. Switch to the dough hook, increase the mixer speed to medium, and knead for 12 minutes, or until the dough is slightly tacky and soft. (After a couple of minutes, the dough should gather around the hook; you can add extra flour by the tablespoonful if the dough does not pull away from the sides of the bowl.) Transfer to a lightly floured surface and
knead by hand
for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth, shiny, and passes the windowpane test.
If making by hand,
add the water to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add the salt and sourdough starter and mix until all the ingredients are combined. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and
knead
for 15 minutes, adding flour by the tablespoonful as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. The kneading is complete when the dough is smooth, shiny, and passes the windowpane test.
add the water to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add the salt and sourdough starter and mix until all the ingredients are combined. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and
knead
for 15 minutes, adding flour by the tablespoonful as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. The kneading is complete when the dough is smooth, shiny, and passes the windowpane test.
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large oiled bowl. Turn the dough over to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for at least 4 hours, or until doubled in size, at which point the dough is ready to be used in the recipes that follow. Alternatively, either put the dough in a cool place (60°F) and let it rise overnight, or refrigerate the dough overnight and let it stand at room temperature for 2 hours the next day before proceeding with the recipe.
People are more invested in the product if they get to play with it. When I came here as the new guy, I asked, “Where did these recipes come from, how did they get to this point?” Most people said, “The recipes just kind of evolved as we went along.”
—PAUL
I think it takes somebody with strong initiative to take an idea, test it out, and present it to the group. I think even as a new member, if I really had a product that I wanted to try out, I could bring it to the group and give it a go.
—DAN
Sourdough Baguettes
At the Cheese Board, we make hundreds of pounds of sourdough baguettes a day, and it doesn’t take long for a new “baguette roller” to learn the rolling style. Technique is everything: it is crucial to create adequate surface tension when shaping the dough in order to make a rounded baguette with slashes that open generously. You can achieve this result by rolling the dough in such a way as to simultaneously create tension on the outside of the loaf while maintaining an inner airiness, as shown in the illustrations below. Just remember that even if your first tries are not beautiful, they will still taste delicious and tempt you into trying again and again until you’ve made a perfect baguette.
MAKES 4 BAGUETTES
Preparation time including rising and baking: 9 hours (unless rising overnight); active time: 1 hour
1 recipe
Master Sourdough
Master Sourdough
Optional Topping
½ cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Gently pat the dough with your open palms into a 7 by 11-inch rectangle (with the shorter side facing you). Cover with a floured kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Lightly dust 2 baking sheets with flour. Cut the dough horizontally into 4 equal portions. Lightly flour your hands and the work surface just enough to keep the dough from sticking.
Working from one end of the length, cup your hands and use your thumbs and lower palms to roll the baguette gently but firmly, rocking back and forth and making sure that the bottom of the dough stays on the bottom (
fig. B
).
fig. B
).
Do not smash or flatten the dough; your aim is to keep the baguette as rounded as possible while increasing the tension on the surface. When one end is rolled out into a tight, cylindrical length, repeat this technique with the other end until you have a 14-inch length (
fig. C
).
fig. C
).
Now you should have 2 nicely shaped ends, a slightly bulging center, and ideally no visible seam. Beginning at the center, roll the baguette outward to one end and then to the other end, creating an even baguette that is about 16 inches long. Gently pick up the baguette and place it, seam side down, butted up against the inside edge of one of the prepared pans (the edge of the pan gives the rising baguette support;
fig. D
). Repeat these steps with the remaining dough.
fig. D
). Repeat these steps with the remaining dough.
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