I have spent much of the last month in a bit of a floury haze. No, I am not sick. I am trying to master sourdough bread.

I love to make bread and have done so for decades, but supposedly I am sensitive to baker’s yeast. I have had a few attempts to make sourdough but usually have run out of time and patience (and yes it needs both).

However, this time I am tending a sourdough starter carefully and it is working!

The main rule seems to be: use organic flour and filtered water. As those are the only two ingredients, apart from salt, this is quite easy.

STARTER: 1 cup organic rye flour, 1 1/2 cups filtered water. Mix together to make a pancake consistency batter. Cover lightly and leave it to do its thing in a warm place. It’s wintry here, so I have kept mine in the oven, boosting it occasionally with about 50C – any more and I risk killing the yeasts, which incidentally come from within the flour itself.

After a couple of days it will have risen and be bubbly. It may deflate again too and this is OK. Stir in 1/2 cup rye flour and about 3/4 cup of filtered water  to ‘feed’ it, then leave again, feeding daily this same way for about a week. At this point it should be looking spongy and ready for action.

SOURDOUGH RYE AND SPELT BREAD

400g starter (approximately)
400g water
2 teaspoons salt
organic spelt, rye or other organic flour, enough to make a dough

Place the starter, some flour and the salt in the bowl of a mixer or a mixing bowl. Add the water and begin mixing together, adding flour until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and has formed a soft ball. It may be a little sticky to handle. Cover and leave to rise for six to eight hours or overnight. Once the dough has risen, form into loaves or balls and place on well-greased baking trays or in pans which have been lined with baking paper or dusted well with semolina.

Allow to rise again, covered (I use a plastic showercap) until doubled which may be another two hours. It’s slow, but you can get lots of other things done while it is doing this.

Place in a preheated hot oven (up to 260C) and bake for 5-10 minutes. Reduce heat to 200C and bake until the loaves are golden and sound hollow when tapped on the top or base crust. Cool on a rack and ENJOY!

NOTE: No fat, no sugar, just these ingredients, yet the flavour is amazing, the crumb moist and not too dense (that’s if you’re patient and let it rise enough!)

There are so many options. Read books, go on the internet and play around with recipes. Some say to put a pan of water in the oven while the bread bakes, others cover the dough with an earthenware bowl.
GOOD LUCK!

Oh, and keep the starter going, and don’t give up. I made a couple of flat ‘patties’ that tasted great but were definitely ‘height-challenged’, but you will get better at it.

Here's a good book to help you as well: Wild Sourdough.