It’s Sourdough September! This is the time of the year when sourdough bakers all over the world bake and post all things sourdough. In the next month, I am going to try to do several posts on different things I do with my sourdough starter. In this first one, I am going to talk about how you coat the outside of a shaped loaf in rolled oats. This makes incredible sandwich bread. Sorry guys this is a long post. I’m trying to help people learn how to understand sourdough bread baking at home.
I have several posts on how to make a long-retarded sourdough loaf of bread. Here is my most recent version. I keep refining the directions, and yes, they are long, but I wanted to explain as much as I can about how I do my loaves of bread. It does take some time and effort. However, as I explain, most of the actual time is in various resting and retarding periods and not in actual physical work. In fact, I like as much sour flavor as I can manage in my loaves of bread, so I try and retard the shaped loaves in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. And then you can heat the oven with the Dutch ovens for an hour @500°, pop the loaves in to bake, and you can have fresh warm bread for lunch or dinner.
The loaves I made here are a little over 72% hydration. That means that I used for 2 boules 1000 grams of flour (800 grams of bread flour, 200 grams of all-purpose) 700 grams of water. I mixed that the same time I fed my starter, cover, and let both sit until the starter is full-on bubbly has doubled or more and is definitely ready to make some bread. (in fact, it should look like it has fallen in on itself a bit and the poor yeasts are beginning to starve!) Depending on the weather and the temperature this could be anytime from 6 to 8 hours. This method works great if you want to do the dough starting in the morning This is a very long autolyze (the term for hydrating flour and water for bread), but it is a trick I learned from my friend Erin Slonaker. Erin is a fantastic bread artist her Instagram stories are incredible (@brooklynsourdough) if you haven’t checked her out and followed her, you are missing out on something special and incredibly inspiring. Her artistry in scoring loaves in something I am in awe of.
When you are ready to make the dough I use just 150 grams of sourdough, I want the dough to rise for a very long time to develop even more flavor, and 1 tablespoon of salt (roughly 17 grams (yes I just spoon it, not by weight as it is quick…lol) I mix in the starter first, and then add the salt, really mixing well. I then let it rest covered for 30 minutes or so, sometimes even 45 minutes. Then do a fold, which is lifting the dough stretching it over itself and pushing down, turning 1 quarter and repeating around the bowl until the dough has tightened into a ball of dough with some structure to it.
I let rest for 30-45 minutes again and repeat. I do that for a total of 3 times. I then let the dough rise, covered until it has more than doubled and big bubbles are forming. This usually takes a total of 5 -6 hours (depending on the temperature of your kitchen, humidity, and weather. Sourdough is not an exact science like most things you bake that you want exact times and measurements sourdough baking is very adjustable and variable.
Now we are getting to the shaping and finally coating in the oats. I have to rising baskets or bowls ready lined with tea towels. If I am going to coat the outside in oats, I generously sprinkle the towel with some rolled oats. I scrape the dough onto a floured working surface and divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. I roughly shape them and let them rest for 10 minutes or so. I then shape each loaf by using a dough scraper and pulling towards me until the dough is a bit taught and then rotate it a bit and do it again continuing until the dough is smooth and taught in a tight ball. To coat the shaped boule, I then roll the shaped boule in oats and place each coated boule in the rising basked that has been sprinkled with even more oats. I then cover the boules in plastic wrap and let retard in the fridge for 2 to 3 days before baking.
And then its time to bake
Ok, that is how I make my oat crusted sourdough. If you have any questions or want help learning how to bake some tasty sourdough loaves of bread, please feel free to email me at what2munch@gmail.com or leave a comment below, and I would be more than happy to help you with any part of sourdough baking or any other questions you might have. I know the whole process can be intimidating, it shouldn’t be, and I want to help.
These beauties I baked up here I gave to my incredible next-door neighbor for being so awesome and walking my dog Pickles when I am at the theater every night.
My formula
1000 grams of flour:
800 bread flour
200 all-purpose flour
700 grams of water
150 grams of very active sourdough
1 tablespoon sea salt (about 17 grams)
