Instructions

* I tried for months to create my own starter with no success. You can find some tutorials online, and please let me know if you're able to create and maintain your own starter from scratch - I'd love to hear your secrets. The best way to acquire a starter is to buy one or get one from a friend. If you're a current patient of mine and you're looking to try your hand at sourdough bread making just shoot me an email before our next visit and I'll  happily bring you your own tangy little friend to get you started. 

Begin by activating your starter. I keep a small (1 tbs-ish) amount of starter in the fridge at all times and simply bring it out onto the counter for a feeding when I want to bake. I find this method still produces great bread without wasting a bunch of starter each time you feed. Mix 10g of inactive starter from your fridge with 150g rye flour and 150g warm water (use only wooden or plastic utensils for mixing), cover and set aside on the counter over night marking the starting line with an elastic band so you can check your starter's progress. Once it's doubled in size it should be good to go.

Take 160g of active starter from the counter and mix into a large bowl with 150g warm water and 15g runny honey. Mix until well incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together the flours and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and either use a stand mixer or hand mix the dough for 5 - 10 minutes. Dough should be very sticky and dense at this point. Cover the dough and let sit for 1 - 2 hours on the counter (more time may be needed in the winter). After letting your sourdough set remove from the bowl and place on a floured surface and kneed the dough until the outside is well coated with flour. Gently flatten the dough then fold up the sides to meet in the middle. Place the folded side down in a proofing basket (see lesson #4) and let rise over night.

On waking place a medium-sized dutch oven into your oven and preheat 480 degrees. Remove hot dutch oven and place your dough into the dutch oven fold-side-down. Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 10 mins. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving for breakfast and store the rest in an air-tight container to prevent your beloved bread from drying out after all of your hard work.