San Francisco Sourdough
A highlight of any trip to San Francisco is the classic white sourdough bread. I found a great recipe that lets you get pretty close to the real thing at home. Apparently there's a specific strain of bacteria in the air in San Francisco whose presence during fermentation produces specific sourdough qualities. Maybe those prunes were Californian, because I reckon I've got the right stuff in my leaven!
The dough is very simple:
500g all-purpose flour
200g leaven
300g water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant magic yeast
Mix it all together until it forms a dough. Oil the counter with about 1tsp olive oil and tip the dough on the counter, scraping out all the bits. Clean the bowl. Knead for around 1 minute then cover the dough with the upturned bowl and leave it for 15 minutes. Oil the dough with another tsp or so of olive oil and knead it again for about a minute. If it feels too sticky, knead with a little flour as well. Form it into a ball and place it into the bowl. Stick the bowl in an inflated plastic bag and leave overnight at a cool room temperature (about 8 hours at 15c-18c).The dough should double in size.
Take the dough out of the bag and scrape it out from the bowl to a floured surface. Without too much working, knock it back and form it into a ball with a taut skin. Do this by pushing in at the base of the dough so that the top stretches round, turning the dough ball a little after each push. I'll have to think of a better way to describe that.
For best results cook it on a baking stone, but a regular oven tray will probably work if your oven isn't as crap as mine. Leave it to rest for around 30-45 minutes. Just before putting it in the oven, slash the top with a very sharp knife. Traditional SF sourdough has a square pattern formed by slashing four or five times north-south then doing the same east-west.
Stick it in the oven at around 450F for 35-45 minutes.
I tried this twice, The dough worked great both times, but the baking left a little to be desired. The first loaf didn't cook through properly and although it looked good, didn't have a great texture. I also omitted the salt, which wasn't great, although I did put some on the top which made for an interesting contrast.
The second time I cooked it on the baking stone. It cooked all round, although I left the oven on a bit too high which is why it looked a little burnt. It was actually just the very skin of the crust that was burnt and I think that flavour added to the bread. My wife certainly thought it was fantastic. Unfortunately I also forgot to score the top of this one so it had a prolapse. It made a smashing cheese sandwich.
After using the leaven, don't forget to feed it again to build it up ready for the next batch.
1. The formed loaf waiting on a makeshift peel before being slid onto the hot baking stone.
2. The first attempt - no salt and not enough heat from beneath = not fully cooked
3. The second attempt - overcompensated slightly but it tasted fantastic
4. Cheese. Branston. Lettuce. Say no more.
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