Recently our son who lives in the UK came for a visit and brought with him a gift for me: Jane Eastoe, “National Trust Book of Bread.” Naturally, I dove right in to find the sourdough recipes. But there was only one for sourdough bread near the end of the book.
by Jane Eastoe
Funny though, Eastoe did have this to say early on in the book, which gave me hope for other hidden sourdough gems in her recipes:
“The good news is that some people who are gluten ‘sensitive’ may find that they can digest sourdough bread without any unpleasant side effects. The wild yeast and bacteria… help to break down the proteins and carbohydrates in the flour. For the rest of us—sourdough is simply the most delicious bread. To develop your own sourdough culture you will have to give the yeast the right conditions—warmth, water, food, and time—to allow the wild Candida milleri to develop. The food comes in the form of rye flour, or a wheat and rye mix, which is combined with water to allow the yeast to develop. The use of rye flour is significant because its natural sugars are broken down more easily than those in wheat.
“You’ll usually only use around a quarter of your starter at a time. Top it up when you remove some, so that you always have a starter to use. Once it is established, it will continue to develop and the flavor can become quite strong. Most people keep their starters in a fridge and just bring them up to room temperature before use. They can be frozen but lose some of their potency in the process. However, it is faster than starting the whole process from scratch.
“A sourdough starter cannot be used interchangeably with any recipe, as with fresh yeast or dried yeast. A starter can be made with various flours, which impact on the behavior of the dough. Until you gain experience working with starters, it is best to follow a recipe for sourdough bread.”
JANE EASTOE, NATIONAL TRUST BOOK OF BREAD
While my experience does not agree with all of what Eastoe has written, this is her recipe for making a starter in 8 days and then baking your first loaf following these instructions:
Sourdough Bread
“Allow eight days before you plan to make your bread to create your starter. Once it is underway you can keep it going indefinitely and pop it to sleep in the fridge for a week before getting it going again when required. The sponge will require 12 hours—it’s good to do this before you go to bed on a Friday or Saturday night, then you have the next day to repeatedly deflate and shape the dough over three hours before proving the dough for 2–4 hours. Baking is the easy bit!” she concluded
Eastoe’s Sourdough Starter Recipe:
DAY ONE
- 75g (2½oz or a heaping ½cup) wholemeal [wholewheat] or rye flour
- 125ml (4½ fl oz or ½cup+ 1tsp) tepid water
“Get a plastic bowl with a firm lid,” Eastoe writes. Then, “put the flour and water into the bowl and mix it together well to introduce plenty of air. I use a hand whisk for this. Then pop it into a warm place, such as an airing cupboard, for 24 hours.” [Collins Dictionary explains: “In British houses, an airing cupboard is a warm cupboard where you put clothes and other things that have been washed and partly dried, to make sure they are completely dry.” This kind of closet in the UK is usually above the water heater or a steam heat radiator and is kept warm between 80–85°F/26–29°C. Personally, I find on top of your fridge near the back will be warm enough
Eastoe continues, “make sure the container has plenty of room for more feedings because you are going to keep adding to it. Keep an eye on it—it should start to bubble within 24 hours, but it could take a little longer. It will also start to acquire a ferociously yeasty smell—one that clears my children out of the kitchen in seconds. When this happens it is ready for its first feed.
Eastoe’s FIRST FEED
- 75g (2½oz or a heaping ½cup) wholemeal or rye flour
- 125ml (4½ fl oz or ½cup+ 1tsp) tepid water
“Add the ingredients, stir and cover and put on one side for 24 hours. The starter can now live in the kitchen—if you keep it in the airing cupboard the chances are you won’t remember to feed it daily.
SUGGESTED MAINTENANCE FEEDS
- 75g (2½oz or a heaping ½cup) wholemeal or rye flour
- 125ml (4½ fl oz or ½cup+ 1tsp) tepid water
“Discard about half of your mix,” but Eastoe warns, “I don’t recommend using the sink as it tends to clog it up. Then add the maintenance feed, give it a good whisk, and put it to one side. Repeat this process daily for at least six days, by then your starter should be ready to use. It will smell pretty strong and the mix may separate, but don’t worry about this. Whisk it up, chuck half away, add the new ingredients, give it another whisk and cover, leave for 24 hours, and so on…
“At the end of this process, you will have a lively starter. You will not use all your starter in one go; the aim is to keep it going so that you always have a starter whenever you need it. Put it into the fridge if you don’t need to use it for a while, and it will, essentially, lie dormant until you need it next. It doesn’t need feeding in the fridge. I don’t like to leave it in the fridge for longer than a week to ten days at the most, but some people maintain it can stay there unused for ages. This hasn’t worked for me, but you may have better luck. If you want to use the starter when it has been in the fridge take it out, whisk it up and give it its maintenance feed, then leave it for 24 hours to come back to life. If you leave your starter at room temperature without discarding and feeding it, it will go moldy and you will have to throw it away.”
Making the Sponge
“This mix will make you one nice loaf,” she promises. “if you want to make more, just double or triple the quantities accordingly.
- 250g (9oz) wholemeal or strong white bread flour
[while it is best to use a scale for her recipe you can use 2cups+1Tbls+1tsp whole wheat flour OR 1¾cup+1Tbls+1½tsp white bread flour] - 300ml (1¼cups) warm water
- 75ml (2½ fl oz) [⅓cup] sourdough starter
Eastoe explains to, “mix these ingredients together and give them a good whisk. Cover with plastic and leave somewhere warm for 8–12 hours.”
Making the Bread
“As stated before,” she reminds, “this mix will make you one nice loaf; adjust amounts accordingly to make more.
- 12g (2½ tsp) salt
- 300g (10½oz [2¼ heaping cups]) strong white bread flour or wholemeal flour
- 300ml (1¼cups) water
“Mix these ingredients with the refreshed sourdough starter (sponge) in a bowl. Then place on an unfloured board and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and silky. A wholewheat flour dough may take a little longer to feel silky than a strong white flour mix. Shape the dough into a nice round, then flour the bowl and pop the dough back into it, cover with a plastic bag and allow it to rest for an hour.
“Repeat this process twice more, resting for an hour each time! The dough will not rise very much, but you will feel it getting less sticky and smoother.
“Now for proving the dough and this is where a proving basket comes into its own. Flour the basket very heavily—give it a good shake around and get the flour into all the nooks and crannies.
“Shape the dough into a lovely smooth round, flour it liberally, and put it headfirst into the proving basket. If you don’t use loads of flour the dough may stick when you try to remove it and the loaf will become a little misshapen.
Cover it with a plastic bag or a shower cap, and make sure the plastic won’t touch the dough—it will stick if it does and spoil the shape of the bread.
If you don’t have a proving basket, pop the shaped dough onto a floured board, support it with a floured tea towel or linen cloth and then place it inside a big plastic bag and leave it for 4–5 hours. If you need to, you can use glasses or cups to keep the plastic away from the dough—feel free. If the dough rises quickly, you can give it less proving time but sourdough generally likes a long time to prove. Either way, leave the dough to prove for 4–5 hours.
“Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature,” Eastoe suggests. We recommend 500°F/260°C
“Put your baking sheet or baking stone into the oven to heat up for a few minutes before the loaf goes into the oven.” We recommend preheating your stone or Dutch Oven for nearly an hour.
I you are using a Dutch oven with a lid or a combo cooker, you can skip this next step. Otherwise, “boil a kettle and get a roasting tray ready—you want the loaf to cook in a steamy oven as this will help to give you a nice crisp crust. The tray of water goes on the shelf below the loaf. Take the tray or baking stone out of the oven—be sure to use gloves for this!
“If you used a proving basket, turn the dough out onto the baking sheet [silicone mat or parchment paper] gently—you don’t want it to lose any air. If it falls out with a thump it will deflate a little. Your dough should have a lovely floury pattern and be a perfect round. Don’t despair if it doesn’t turn out perfectly, it’ll still have an interesting pattern. On your next attempt use more flour on the basket and dough. Put the sheet into the oven, followed by a roasting tray full of boiling water onto the shelf below.
“If you don’t have a proving basket, gently transfer your dough to the baking sheet. You can spray the top lightly with water, or if you don’t have a spray just splash some drops on with your fingertips. Slash the top of the dough with a knife to make a nice pattern and quickly pop the baking sheet into the oven, followed rapidly by the roasting tray full of boiling water.
“Cook the bread at the maximum temperature for 10 minutes, then turn it down to 200°C (400°F), gas mark 6. Cook for another 20–30 minutes, by which time it should have reached an internal temperature of 98°C (208°F) and be perfectly cooked. If you know your oven is a little fierce, or the loaf appears to be burning, lower the temperature accordingly.
“Cool the loaf on a wire tray.
“Don’t be in a hurry to eat it,” Eastoe counsels, “sourdough has a brilliant shelf life. Indeed, I prefer the flavor when it is at least 24 hours old.”
So there you have it. British Sourdough Bread for your own British Bake-off. Tell us about how yours came out in the comment section below or snap a picture and post it on Facebook at Yoursourdoughstartcom.
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