The King Arthur Baking School takes us into the world of Sourdough baking gently. The next recipe is for Sourdough sandwich bread, but while it does incorporate sourdough starter, it is mainly leavened with baker’s yeast. This gives us some advantages of both worlds: the bread has better flavor and keeping qualities because of the sourdough, but it rises more quickly and isn’t as sour as true sourdough bread.
I prepped my starter the night before baking. I used to feed my starter exclusively with whole-wheat flour, but I recently learned (through following the directions in the Baking School book) that starters are able to rise much higher when using an all-purpose flour than when using whole wheat. Who knew?
With my starter risen I gathered my mise en place.
I mixed all the ingredients into a shaggy dough. My kitchen was cold, so the butter didn’t incorporate well. I probably should have let the butter soften for longer before mixing my dough, but that’s how we learn.
After mixing I kneaded the dough by hand for 5 minutes, adding flour only once the butter started to melt out of the dough and stick to the counter.
I set the dough aside to rise for 2 1/2 hours rather than the 2 hours directed in the book (it is winter, and my kitchen is cold).
I divided the dough into two and shaped each half into a loaf, then put the loaves into loaf pans to rise. The book instructs to allow the dough to rise for 2 more hours, but I was coming up against a hard stop and needed to speed the last rise up. I put the loaf pans into the oven with the proofing setting on (80 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 hour, then increased the tempterature to 95 degrees for half an hour for a total rise time of 1 1/2 hours.
I could have probably let the dough rise for another 20-30 minutes, but I was out of time, so I preheated the oven and baked the bread.
The finished bread smells like sourdough, but tastes sweet, almost like a dinner roll. It has a tight crumb and chewy texture. It would stand up to a sandwich without crumbling, which is better than I can say for most homemade sandwich breads. The bread toasts well and would be good in BLTs. This may be my new go-to sandwich bread.
We made excellent French Toast using this bread. The hint of sourness sets off the sweet sugar and syrup beautifully.
Until the next time: may your yeast always rise and your flour never run out.
A Baker's Education 