Stand Mixer Sourdough Bread
After a million tries, I found the recipe. All credit goes to Grant Yoder for this wonderful recipe that works every single time. I bake this boule every two weeks. 🍞🥖
Ingredients
- 100g sourdough starter
- 450g flour (a mix of T65 wheat, rye, spelt, whatever)
- 275g water
- 10g salt
Instructions
Part I: Starter
I prefer to have a zero-discard, no-waste situation with my sourdough and I only keep about a tbsp of starter in the jar.
To get started, take the jar out of the fridge, add 50g of water and 50g of flour (about 2 tbsp of rye and the rest T65). Leave on the counter until doubled in size – between 2h and 8h depending on the time of the year.
Part II: Rise
Once the starter has doubled, add 275g of water to the stand mixer bowl then add 100g of the sourdough starter, leaving about 1 tbsp or so left in the jar, which is then promptly returned to the fridge. Next, add 10g of salt and 450g of flour. Set the stand mixer to the lowest speed just until everything is mixed, then increase the speed to 2.5 or 3 and mix for about 5 minutes. Once done, cover with a kitchen towel so and let the dough rise until doubled in size. This takes anywhere between 3h and 8h, depending on time of year. If too much rye or whole-wheat flour was used, then the dough might need 3 or 4 sets of slap-and-fold, 15 min apart.
Once the dough looks big and round and happy, we are good to go. Turn it out onto a lightly floured countertop, gently fold the four corners of the dough up and over the center, then flip it over shape into a ball, trying not to deflate the dough too much.
Put the ball onto a sheet of parchment paper inside a medium-sized cocotte (Dutch oven). Cover with the lid and let rest for 2 or 3 hours. It’s also ok to put the cocotte in the fridge for a day or two, until ready to bake. It keeps proofing, just more slowly.
When ready to bake, slash the top of the dough with a serrated bread knife, cover the cocotte with the lid, and move it into the center rack of the (still cold) oven.
Part III: Bake
Turn the oven on to 230ºC (the original recipe says 260, which is way too hot and unnecessary) and bake for 50 minutes, with the lid on. Then remove the lid and bake for another 5 minutes, until it gets a bit more tanned (golden).
To check if it’s fully cooked with a food thermometer, the internal temperature should be between 93º and 96º for a loaf with a softer crust, and between 96º and 99º for a crispier crust. The final step is to transfer onto a wire rack and let it cool down for at least one hour before slicing and devouring!