Bread Tutorial - Wild Yeast Basic Directions/Master Recipe

I've been wanting to blog about my bread technique for some time. I was so super psyched to find and be able to implement this method on a regular basis. After years of failure and thinking I would never get it right, I came across a website that gave me the instructions I was looking for. It gives me consistent results, requires no mixer or machine and is basically knead-free.

The journey into my bread obsession started with pizza dough and now several years later I am making 99% of all of our bread. I do buy the occasional loaf or tortillas or buns for a party or something, but most of our bread is homemade. This method isn't so much a recipe as a skill, and once you get the hang of the technique and have regular success, you can modify or experiment.

You do need a good sourdough or "wild yeast" starter though. I really wanted to bake bread without active dry like they did in the olden days. I tried to make a wild-yeast starter several times with very dense and yucky results and figured that if this is what bread used to taste like, no thank you. I finally broke down and bought a starter and then found the instructions here to make "sourdough" bread that wasn't sour. My routine is based on those instructions, so if you want to jump in, you may want to start there first. My starter arrived in spring of 2008 and I have been using it ever since. I feel it's probably the best three dollar investment I ever made.

All of the bread whether loaves or focaccia or pizza dough all goes through the same two day journey and it starts with the starter.

STEP ONE DAY ONE: is building up the starter. In the morning, take your starter which was either in the fridge or taken from last night's builder and refresh it by taking out about half of it and putting that into the "trash jar" which will get used later. Then add about 3 tablespoons more or less of flour and about 2 tablespoons of water (I have learned over the years that exact measurements are not essential ) Mix that up and set aside until about mid-day.

The jar on the left is the builder from last night, ignore it. We are focusing on the right jar.

STEP TWO DAY ONE: At mid-day repeat step one by throwing about half out (trash jar keep for later) and refreshing with 3 TB flour, 2 TB water. Let that hang out all day and then sometime before bed it is time for the last step of day one.

STEP THREE DAY ONE: Don't take anything out at this point, but add 2/3 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of water. Stir, cover (loosely) and leave on the counter overnight.

In the morning, your starter should have at least doubled in volume or perhaps exploded...it's all good.

STEP ONE DAY TWO:              THIS IS IMPORTANT

Take approximately 2 TB of starter from your overnight jar place into clean container and refresh (see STEP ONE DAY ONE) and put it aside to start a new batch or leave on the counter for a couple of hours and then label and refrigerate. If I am not baking bread with mine, I refresh every three days. This keeps it active and from getting sour. If you want sour bread, this isn't the method for you:)

This is crucial and one of the reasons I keep more than one starter going. If you neglect this step then realize it too late, like once the bread is done, you have no more starter.

I keep three starters going just in case I do something stupid or one dies unexpectedly. I never waste any of the "trash" either. The discarded parts get mixed into the next batch.

STEP TWO DAY TWO: Take your overnight jar along with any "trash" (discarded starter from refreshing) that you have and add 2 cups of water and some oil if you wish (I use two capfuls of sunflower oil) to the starter jars and start letting it soften whilst getting your dry ingredients ready.

I have experimented with varying amounts of flour, but this makes two decent sized round loaves, two big focaccia breads, or three or so pizza crusts, so suits our needs well. You should be able to scale up or down depending on your needs. Remember, that bread freezes well and baking too much now will  come in handy on a busy day.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

I have never tried this with all whole wheat flour. I find the half and half mix is the best of both worlds, healthy, but yet "white" enough for a kid's palette. Also, whole wheat flour costs about a dollar more per bag as white, so this also keeps the cost down. Maybe someday we'll have our own fresh wheat to grind.
 

Sift it all together and add the wet ingredients and mix to thoroughly incorporate. Cover it, set a timer for 20 minutes and leave it alone.  *Update #1: If you have longer than 20 minutes, say an hour or so, that is fine. It seems to make the yeasties more active:)

STEP THREE DAY TWO: After the first rest knead the dough to make sure all the flour is really worked in and there are no lumps. I usually only knead for literally a minute or two and don't even take it out of the bowl. If it is too wet to handle add a little more flour so it's workable.  Cover again and set timer for 30 minutes. *Update #2: Again, a longer rest here, if possible, seems to be making my bread rise higher.

STEP FOUR DAY TWO: After this rest, fold the dough under and form into a ball. You don't want to manhandle it or bust down any yeasties that have started to do their magic, so a gentle touch is needed. Cover again and set timer for 30 minutes.

STEP FIVE DAY TWO: Once more, fold the dough into a ball just like before...gentle now! Cover again and leave it for a couple hours or more depending on the temperature and let it double. It won't be mushrooming out of the bowl like many recipes, it will just barely double and maybe not even quite. It's okay really.

STEP SIX DAY TWO: Once it has sufficiently risen to about double, turn it out of the bowl onto a well-floured surface.

Divide into two parts and turn each part under into a ball like you did before in steps FOUR and FIVE.

I put the two balls onto a cornmeal coated pizza peel, but you could probably use a baking sheet as well. I cook right on the oven tiles, so this may need to be taken into consideration for those without tiles. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, cover your dough with a towel and place in warm area, I put mine right on top of the stove, until they rise to about double. This usually takes about a half and hour to 45 minutes.

 Once they are risen, slash both loaves a couple of times with a sharp bread knife.

STEP SEVEN DAY TWO:  TURN THE OVEN DOWN to 400 degrees and bake the bread. If the peel has been coated right, they should just slide off.  It should take anywhere from 35-45 minutes depending on your oven. Mine turns out just right at 39 minutes, so you'll have to experiment. *Update #3: My oven has gone crazy and now it has been taking 45 minutes.

Avert your gaze from the dirty oven!

Once the bread is done, I take it out, rub the crust with some butter to soften it and cover it with a towel for at least 15 minutes before cutting.

 
This is the hardest part and when little heads start popping in asking for their afternoon snack. We usually polish off one loaf as a snack in the afternoon, and if I time it right, the Mr. can come home and have a hot fresh piece of bread after work. The rest is eaten at dinner perhaps and some is saved for making sandwiches for hubby's lunch. If there is anything left that I don't plan to use the next day, I go ahead and freeze it.

Well, there it is fully documented and hopefully not too confusing. It is my hope that some poor lady obsessed with bread, but needing a tutorial like I was years ago will wander through cyberspace looking for a way to make sourdough bread that is not sour and will find these directions. I can't tell you how happy I was to find them myself!  This is the recipe I use for all my bread right now and I do have a couple of variations which I hope to post sometime in the future.

Find more great bread-making links here:)