Review - Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread

 If I am looking for a recipe the last thing I want to do is scroll for a kilometre through a million pictures (and more importantly, a million ads) before I get to the actual recipe. So I'm just not going to do that. Here's a review of a recipe I use on the regular.

Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread from An Oregon Cottage

 

 

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 1/4 cups warm water

3/4 cups active starter

1 tbsp honey

1 1/2 tsp salt (I sometimes swap this for garlic salt)

 

Instructions:

 

You can check out the original instructions at this link, my notes and tweaks are below.

 

Note 1 - This recipe was given to me with my very own sourdough starter as a gift from a friend at the beginning of quarantine. I made it as directed with no complaints, but since spending some time learning and reading about sourdough I find this loaf better if you fold the dough in half... the dough is going to be very stretchy, sticky and soft, so grab the edge furthest from you and with a gentle hand stretch it up and fold it in half towards yourself. Give the bowl a quarter turn and do it again and then again and again, until you've folded and quarter turned a total of four times. I do this about every 30 minutes or so during that 3 hour window and truth be told, I'm not above letting that dough hang out on the counter for a bit longer than three hours to get another round or two of folds in.

Note 2 - I don't bother taking it out of the bowl for that final fold, I don't know if it makes a difference or not, I'm just trying to be gentle with the dough. And while you can make and eat this loaf on the same day, I feel it is better to do the first rise and fold activities the day before you want to have it. After that first three hours, I set the bowl in the fridge and let it chill out there overnight. What I have learned by reading and trial and error is that the dough is better if left to develop that sourdough tang over night. That being said, it is still delicious if you power through this process all in one day.

Note 3 - Personally, I watched some youtube videos on how to shape a "traditional" loaf using a bench scraper, a technique I am still working on. This dough should have developed lots of bubbles, especially if you let it hang out overnight in the fridge, so you want to be as careful and gentle with the dough as you can. 

Note 4 - After slashing the x in the top, we like to add a few good shakes of everything bagel seasoning to the dough. It's not necessary, but it is a nice addition if you have it.

This has very quickly become a go to recipe for me. I love it's simplicity, but also that it allows for hands on attention if you would like to employ it here. It is a great beginner's recipe that gave me confidence as a new sourdough starter owner!