<strong>Caring for the Starter</strong>

Sourdough starters or cultures as they are also known, can make bread for hundreds of years if cared for in the right way. Your starter contains living micro-organisms, mainly yeast which gives bread its rise and lacto-bacillus bacteria which give sourdough its distinctive sour taste. Just like us, they need the right combination of food, water and temperature to survive and grow.

Keep your jar of starter in the fridge, remove once a week and feed as follows;

2 tablespoons plain flour, unbleached
1-2 tablespoons warm water (body temperature)

Mix the above in with your starter in the jar, the consistency should be that of a thick pancake batter. Add more flour if the jar smells very acidic or has taken on a slightly grey colour. This will bring the pH closer to neutral and reset the balance in the starter. Once you have feed the starter, leave out of the fridge overnight, loosely covered, to allow the yeast to reactivate and consume the flour before resealing and placing back in the fridge. If you are not using your starter regularly, discard 2-3 tablespoons from the jar that would be used for dough before feeding.

<strong>Making Bread</strong>

Sourdough requires a number of stages of preparation. The first step is to prepare a leaven, which means reactivating the yeast from its dormant state in the fridge. This should be done the night before you begin the dough. In the first phase of making a dough; the leaven, water and flour must go through an autolyse step. During this time water hydrates the flour, activating enzymes which begin to breakdown starches and proteins. It is important not to add salt at this stage as it will retard the process.

<strong>Step 1: The Leaven</strong>
2 tablespoons sourdough starter
60g plain flour
60g warm water

Using your jar of sourdough starter, you first need to make the ‘leaven’ which is used as the active yeast component of your bread dough.  Simply mix all 3 ingredients together in a small bowl, cover loosely with glad wrap and leave out in a warm place overnight to become active. The following morning your leaven will be bubbly and slightly sour smelling. The yeast is most active at room temperature so allowing it to acclimatise overnight in its optimum growing conditions will ensure it is strong enough to provide a good rise in the dough.

<strong> </strong><strong>S</strong><strong>tep 2: The Dough</strong>

550g water, tepid (body temperature)
1 tablespoon salt
1 quantity of prepared leaven
700g plain strong bakers flour, unbleached (see tip)
<ol>
 	<li>Combine 50g of the water with the salt in a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Set aside.</li>
 	<li>Combine remaining water with the leaven and mix until dissolved, there will still be a few lumps.</li>
 	<li>Add flour and mix using a spatula until a rough, shaggy dough is formed. Cover loosely with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour to autolyse.</li>
 	<li>Add salt water to the dough and mix in thoroughly with a spatula or wooden spoon. At this stage the dough will be quite wet and sticky. Cover and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes.</li>
 	<li>Start to fold the dough even 30 minutes by gently stretching the dough from the underneath over the top, doing this from each side to equal 4 folds. Do not knead the dough as you would a traditional bread.</li>
 	<li>Repeat the folding and resting steps a further 3 times. After the final 30 minutes resting, turn dough onto a clean bench top covered in flour.</li>
 	<li>Shape dough into one large round or cut in half for 2 smaller loaves. At this stage dough can be left to rise for a further hour before baking, or placed into bowls lined with flour covered tea towels and left to further develop overnight in the fridge (see tip).</li>
</ol>
<strong> Step 3: Baking Bread</strong>
<ol>
 	<li>Preheat oven and dutch oven with lid to 260C. Alternatively use a heavy cast iron pot with a lid.</li>
 	<li>If dough has been left overnight in the fridge, remove just prior to baking.</li>
 	<li>Place dough onto a large piece of baking paper. Use a sharp knife to score the dough, allowing steam to escape.</li>
 	<li>Carefully remove hot dutch oven or cast iron pot from oven, remove lid and using the side of the baking paper to lift the dough, place inside and replace lid. Return to oven and cook for 20 minutes.</li>
 	<li>After 20 minutes, reduce temperature to 230C without opening the oven door or removing the lid. Cook for a further 10 minutes.</li>
 	<li>After 10 minutes, remove lid and cook for a further 18-25 minutes, depending on the size of the loaf. It should be a dark even brown colour.</li>
 	<li>Remove from oven, place bread onto a cake rack to cool completely before slicing</li>
</ol>
<strong>Tips and Tricks</strong>
<ol>
 	<li>Using tepid (body temperature) water when feeding or preparing your leaven and dough will ensure the yeast becomes active more quickly than using cold water. Some recipes insist that filtered water must be used, however I have never used filtered water and Stefano the starter is most definitely alive and active!</li>
 	<li>If your starter is thin and very acidic smelling, add only flour at feeding or flour and a small amount of water to return the pH to a more neutral state. Leave out of fridge to grow for a minimum of 12 hours.</li>
 	<li>Mixing bowls lined with really well floured tea towels are the easiest proofing baskets to use if leaving dough overnight in the fridge. Using a clean plastic bag with the ends tied together to seal it whilst proving in the fridge is more effective than glad wrap.</li>
 	<li>If you split the dough into two, you can place half in a freezer bag and freeze to bake at a later time. Simply remove from the freezer several hours before baking to allow to thaw, reshape with some flour and bake as per the instructions from step 4.</li>
 	<li>Sourdough will last for a week if kept well covered in a dark cool place. Never store bread in the fridge as this accelerates the staling process.</li>
 	<li>Frozen dough also makes a great sourdough pizza base. Thaw, roll out into a base and use as per normal for making amazing home-made pizzas</li>
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