So many months without baking a single sourdough bread! The problem is we don’t eat a lot of bread. One bake lasts us for a long time, as after enjoying a couple of slices, the rest goes straight to the freezer. But I am still quite passionate about bread baking, and have a list of recipes I intend to try. They just sit and wait, poor things. Like this one, from Discovering Sourdough Part II, by Teresa Greenway. In theory, you need a specific sourdough strain from Austria, but I used my good American sourdough, born 9 years ago in Oklahoma, and headed to his teenage years in Kansas. I am sure Teresa will forgive me. But, did you know you can actually buy many sourdough starters from all over the world? Pretty amazing. Take a look at this site. Of course, over a long period of time a sourdough might change and incorporate yeast and bacteria from the new environment, but it’s fun to start from a pure culture born in some exotic, distant place. In the site, they actually dispute the claim that cultures change, but until I see solid scientific evidence it’s all a bit in the air (pun intended).
SALZBURG SOURDOUGH
(printed with permission from Teresa Greenway)
(I modified slightly to make a single loaf and use my preferred method of baking)
1 cup Austrian sourdough starter at 166% hydration (9 oz)
3/4 cups water (6 oz)
3 oz evaporated milk
0.6 oz rye flour
14 oz bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
Mix all ingredients, except salt, just until incorporated and then allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes (autolysis).
After autolysis, add salt and mix dough on low-speed for about 2 minutes. Then let the dough bulk ferment (first rise) for 6 hours or until doubled. Fold it once each hour during the six-hour bulk fermentation. After bulk fermentation, place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead enough to gather into a ball. Shape it into the general shape you wish and then allow the dough to rest for 5 – 10 minutes (bench rest). After benching shape loaves into their final shapes and put them into the proofing baskets, pans, or couche. Cover the dough with plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, allow the dough to final proof for 2 – 3 hours (whenever the dough looks about 1 ½ times its size and is spongy) then turn dough out on peel and slash, cover with roasting lid moistened with water, and bake in a 425F degree oven for 30 minutes. Alternatively, use your favorite method to generate initial steam. After 30 minutes, remove roasting lid, turn down the oven to 400F degrees and continue baking for about 10-15 more minutes, turning halfway for even browning. Bread is done when the internal temperature reaches 200-205F.
Take out loaf and cool on a rack.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: Inspired by my friend Elaine, I decided to be a bit more daring and creative with the slashing. Elaine always comes up with amazing patterns on her bread. So I took a deep breath and went at it with a razor blade. I love the way the bread turned out, and intend to keep practicing, as the slashes on top were not exactly the way I wanted.
My sourdough ended up quite assertive this time – it was hibernating in the fridge for a very long time, so I refreshed it and fed it daily for a full week before making the bread. Not sure if that affected the level of acidity, but it was really good. Teresa’s recipes all call for 166% hydration, which is easily translated into equal volumes of flour and water. It is easy because you won’t even need a scale to keep the starter going, simply pick your desired volume, and mix half and half. I refreshed it using 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. It ends up close enough to 166% hydration. For the final starter, I just made a bit more than needed for the bread, so I could keep it for the next baking adventure.
And once again, we have great bread stored in our freezer, although some members of our home hoped that one or two slices would fall to the floor instead… Or at least a few crumbs…
Teresa, thanks for giving me permission to publish this great recipe!
ONE YEAR AGO: If I had One Hour
TWO YEARS AGO: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cake
THREE YEARS AGO: Sourdough Rye Bread with Flaxseeds and Oats
FOUR YEARS AGO: Apricot-Raspberry Sorbet: A farewell to Summer
FIVE YEARS AGO: Marcela’s Salpicon
SIX YEARS AGO: Pork Kebabs
SEVEN YEARS AGO: Fondant au Chocolat
EIGHT YEARS AGO: Got Spinach? Have a salad!
Bewitching Kitchen 
Your loaf is gorgeous. Interesting about the 166 percent! Measured by volume and not weight? I’m also not used to using milk in sourdough. Totally intrigued!
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it makes it easier to maintain because you don’ t need a scale – however, I am so used to a less hydrated sourdough, I will keep mine at 100% for the most part and changing it to 166% when the need comes.
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That’s exactly what I do when I bake loaves with different percentages. I’ve heard that a more liquid starter increases the sour flavor. I can’t wait to try your gorgeous slashing method.
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Loving the slashing!!!!!
I’ve never used milk in sourdough either, what effect do you think it had on the flavour and texture?
I’ve also never got to grips with the whole hydration percentages thing!! “Must try harder”!!!
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first time with milk for me too…. I was a milk-sourdough=virgin
I think the crumb got a bit more creamy… for lack of a better word. Had very good mouth feel, a bit more closed crumb – which I forgot to take a picture of… (sigh)
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I could see the crumb from the photo of Phil slicing the loaf, a closed crumb works better for me for making Ben’s toast and lunch. I might have to try it….dare I move away from my usual method????
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Daring. Often your middle name… 😉
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Ha ha! Who…me….???
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Please spell Salzburg correctly; it hurts to read it how it’s listed in the recipe! Thank you!
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well, I was puzzled by it too – it was the way it was spelled in the book, so I decided to keep it that way, no knowing how to handle it… However, I am a bit of a control-freak when it comes to spelling and absolutely hate to hurt the ears of a native speaker of any language, if I can avoid it…. I am changing it…. (deep breath)
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You are a star! Thank you for the correction.
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Just yesterday I was getting the goods ready for a loaf of peasant bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and discovered that I had no rye flour and after checking 3 stores I finally ordered from Amazon…so my banneton loaves are put off until the flour arrives. After all was said and done it was too late in the day so I might bake a loaf of C&Z’s goat cheese and herb babka today. Fall and winter seem to work best for me for baking bread since it gets so hot around her and seemingly never-ending this year.
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I am happy that our stores carry rye flour all the time – I love it, always add a bit to my sourdough breads…
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It has vanished from our stores and one store’s customer service was stunned to find it removed from the shelves…I guess rye flour will go on my next Anson Mills list from now on, the Abruzzi rye flour is wonderful.
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What a beautiful loaf! I’ve watched several of Teresa’s videos and love her casualness. I found your baking instructions a bit easier to follow. Since I’m such a novice I’m soaking as much information as I can! My starter is almost completely rye. I need to start building some of it using strong white for a change. I found my white was really getting weak so went with rye out of fear!
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rye is the best sourdough feeder, but you can convert it easily – two passages with regular flour and you’ll be fine. The small amount of rye in the starter will only make it stronger and not affect the taste at all
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I absolutely love sourdough bread, but I am a complete failure at bread making. You lost me at hydration, lol. But your loaf is gorgeous!
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Fancy way to describe the amount of water in a starter – related to the amount of flour BY WEIGHT. For instance 100g flour + 100g water = 100% hydration. and so forth and so on.
the 100% hydration is common in starters, in bread you cannot take it that far. Bread could not be formed at that level of hydration, although some bakers push the envelope quite a bit, essentially almost pouring their bread out to bake (think ciabatta) – a lot of skill is needed to handle doughs with high amount of water
usually a sourdough bread hangs around 70% hydration, that is 70 g of water per 100g total flour
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Aha, now that explanation makes complete sense to me! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain it. Bread-making is certainly not only an art, but a science!
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Gorgeous pattern on the loaf!!
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I loved it too! I tried a new slashing the following weekend… stay tuned!
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Lovely looking loaf. I am also intrigued by the use of evaporated milk. I have used ordinary milk in yeast bread before but never in sourdough. Will have to try this one. (And there is that dog again!!)
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yeap, the dog, always the dog…. I’ve got a few shots already waiting for my next In My Kitchen…. January 2018, that’s the goal
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