Use Sourdough Starter to Bake Your Favorite Bread Recipe
By: Patricia Davis
Tags: Cooking, Food, Sourdough, Baking, Ninja Writers Byob

Original flour weight minus flour weight used in poolish mixture equals adapted flour weight..

852–132=720 grams (5 cups) of flour (adaptation).

Original water weight minus water weight used in poolish mixture equals adapted water weight. The original recipe uses 2 cups plus 1/3 cup of water (to dissolve the active dry yeast) for a total of 515 grams of water.

515–132=383 grams (1 3/4 cups) of water (adaptation).

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I have used this same method to adapt a white bread recipe, a pizza crust recipe, and a dinner roll recipe. They all have been successful, some more than others. There are some differences you need to expect.

Tips for success.

It helps to remember that wild yeast is more delicate than the robust active dry yeast that you get in the store. It will be easy to defeat the leavening effect by overworking the dough, so here is what I suggest.

Handle the dough as little as possible.

When mixing the dough, don’t add too much flour. If the dough is no longer too sticky to work with, stop adding flour. Only lightly flour your countertop when kneading the dough to keep from adding too much additional flour. You can add a bit more, if it starts sticking.

When shaping the loaves after the initial bulk proof, gently tip the dough onto your lightly floured surface and use a pizza cutter or bench scraper to divide it into the sizes you will need. Try not to deflate it.

Try not to punch out all the air as you shape it. Instead, gently stretch the dough into a rectangle the length you need for your pan and roll it into a loaf. Again, don’t press out all the air pockets. You want it to continue to rise without having to start from scratch.

Adjust your expectations.

When I first started using wild yeast, I thought I was doing something wrong. The bread did not rise in the pan as fully as it did when I used store bought yeast. Wild yeast, because it is feeding off of the flour in the dough, will rise well, but may rise 20–25% less than active dry yeast.

Don’t worry. The crumb will be the same, and the bread will taste more delicious because of the fermentation process.

You need to plan ahead.

When you use active dry yeast, you can usually make a loaf of bread in about four hours. Wild yeast takes longer to rise, so you will need to adjust your timing for your bread to be ready when you need it.

I always feed my starter in the morning. I keep checking it throughout the day, until I can see that it has at least doubled in volume. Then I make my poolish mixture. If I feed my starter at 8:00 am, I usually can make my poolish mixture by 2:00 pm, depending on how active my starter is.

I will then put the ingredients together around 10:00 pm and leave it to bulk rise overnight. You can leave it out on your counter for eight to 12 hours, or in your refrigerator for up to 24. The longer it proofs, the more that fermentation process will create flavor. With the honey-oatmeal bread, I find that overnight is sufficient.

The next morning, I will gently shape the loaves and let them rise. It can take anywhere from two to four hours for this final rise before I can bake it. Once it bakes, you need to allow it to cool completely before you slice into it. Slicing it too soon will crush the crumb and make it gummy.

Try it. You’ll be glad you did.

Making bread the old fashioned way, with wild yeast, may seem complicated and sure to fail, but this recipe is perfectly adapted. It may not rise as much as I’m used to, but the difference is slight. The flavor difference is incredible. The loaf has a slight tanginess that just brings out the oat flavor of the grains.

In addition, you may find this is more easily digested by those with sensitive stomachs. Wild yeast fermentation studies by the NIH support that theory. They also show that diabetics have fewer sugar spikes when they eat bread baked with wild yeast.

Here is my grandmothers recipe and my adaptation.

When you try this, don’t get discouraged. Keep trying until you get the results you want. That’s what I did, and now, I may never buy active dry yeast again. Just remember to be gentle with the dough (except when you do the initial kneading), plan ahead, and expect great flavors.

Bon Appetit!