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Home made European Sourdough Bread

Sourdough Starter​

Feeding Schedule​

  • Feed 1 x per Week
  • Store in refrigerator.

To feed place 30g of starter into a jar (preferably glass) then add 90g of tepid filtered water and gently stir in starter. Then add 90g of Rye flour and gently lift in flour until all white has disappeared. Gently push starter down and smooth out the top so the service if mostly flat. Then place a rubber band as a marker at the level of the top of the starter. Any excess starter left over can be discarded or used in alternate recipes.

Feeding Recipe:​

Ratio is: 1:2:2 (Starter:Rye Flour:Water)

  • 30g Starter (from previous feed)
  • 90g Rye Flour
  • 90g Filtered Fresh Water (Tepid)

Starting from scratch​

Worse case scenario I can remake my own starter using the following ratios:

1:1 Ratio of Rye Flour to Filtered Water. e.g. 90g Rye Flour to 90g Filtered Water

This may take 2-3 feeds with 24 hours between each feeds or longer. As a guide if I can see nice bubble formation and the starer rising by about 20% to 30% and forms a nice dome over 4-6 hours we are trending towards being ready for usage.

When you mess up​

I have messed up where I have left the starter sitout to long after feeding. This resulted in a thick dry white crust and the starter stating to smell more like acetone although not quite. To rescue the starter I gently recovered what looked like the best parts and commenced following the 1:2:2 feeding protocol with around 4-6 hours between feeds. (Watching for bubble formation and rise)

As a quick tip I also had to interrupt the feeding schedule due to work commitments and was able to pause the feed by placing the started in the fridge and then commencing the feeding schedule later.

This successfully rescued the starter. (Note: I ran several batches in parallel for safety, always backup your work. 😄)

German Sourdough Bread​

1 Day before: Activating the Starter​

One day before the bake wake up the starter by taking it our of the fridge and following the feeding schedule.

Cover the starter loosly by resting a lid on top of the jar and let it rise until it doubles in size. Use a rubber band as a marker of the level immediatly after the feed as an indicator for how far the starter has risen.

This process will take between 3-6 hours. DON"T BOTHER WITH THE "FLOAT TEST" this is proper Rye Dough and will always sink.

Its ready when I can see nice sized bubbles, the starter has roughly doubled in size and the top is a nice dome shape due to gas formation.

When the starter is ready take 2 spoons of starter (at an absolute minimum 40g) to carry over to the next generation of starter (for the next feed) and place back in the fridge.

Mixing the Dough​

Ingredients​

  • 150g Activated Starter
  • 375g Filtered Water (Tepid)
  • 150g Rye Flour
  • 450g White Bread Flour (Bakers Flour)
  • 15g Salt
  • 1 Table Spoon Caraway Seeds

I use my Kitchen Aid but the process is pretty much the same to when I was using my Danish Whisk.

1. Start with water + starter​

  • Pour water into the bowl first.
  • Add active sourdough starter to it.
  • Set KitchenAid to speed 1 (the slowest setting) and let it mix just a few seconds to disperse the starter — it should look cloudy and even.

2. Add flours gradually​

While it’s still running on speed 1, slowly add rye flour, then half of the bread (wheat) flour. Don’t dump it all at once — sprinkle it in over 20–30 seconds.

This helps prevent flour bombs and gives the hook time to pull everything together smoothly.

3. Add Salt and Currayway Seeds​

Once there’s no visible dry flour and the dough is shaggy, add the salt and curraway seeds.

(Never add salt at the start — salt slows fermentation and can kill off yeast if it hits the starter directly.)

4. Scrape down​

Stop the mixer once or twice to scrape down the bowl and hook. Rye dough sticks like glue, so get that mixed in early before it turns to cement.

5. Add remaining flour​

Mix another 2–3 minutes on speed 1, then switch to speed 2 for kneading

5. Knead​

  • Let it go on speed 2 for 5–6 minutes, max. You’re not looking for a shiny elastic dough like pure wheat — mixed rye stays tacky. Stop as soon as the dough looks consistent and starts pulling off the sides cleanly.

Last time I did this around 3 minutes was sufficient.

6. Place in my round metal bowl.​

Very gently form a loaf and place the dough in the bowl to rest, cover with a dry tea towel.

Stretching Process​

Typically I lightly wet my hands to stop the dough sticking and also use my plastic scraper.

I stretch and fold the dough very much like I would do when making a ciabbatta. That is I gently stretch out the dough length ways and gently fold it back together one side over the other like a leaflet.

I then gently tuck in the sides to reform the loaf.

Bake Schedule​

  • Wake the Starter
  • Wait 3-5 hours (Let it rise to at least double. Don't forget to keep some starter for next generation of starter)
  • Mix the Dough
  • Rest the Dough in my metal bowl
  • Wait 1 hour
  • 1st Stretch and Fold. (I sometimes do two folds the first time.)
  • Wait 30 minutes
  • 2nd Stretch and Fold (Just one fold)
  • Wait 30 minutes
  • 3d Stretch and Fold (Just one fold)
  • Wait 30 minues
  • 4th Stretch and Fold (Just one fold)
  • Gently shape the dough and tuck under the dough such that the top is stretched nice and tight.
  • Flour the benneton basked and place the dough inside. (I think I put the dough in with bottom down.)
  • Cover with linen towel.
  • Wait at least 3 hours.

Optional but better: I had good result getting to the benneton stage around 10:30pm and placing the basked covered into the fridge overnight. The next morning I removed the benneton 1 hour before I wanted to bake and let the benneton sit in the turned off oven at around 25C - 30C to get back to room temperature.

  • Slice marks into dough with Lame. One big slice and a couple for aesthetics.
  • Place cast iron pan into oven and pre-heat for at least 15 minutes at 250C.
  • Bring water to a boil in a jug.
  • Gently flour the bottom of the hot iron pan.
  • Pour water into the bottom of a tray in the oven to create steam and immediatly place the loaf on the pan. Use a generous amount.
  • Wait 15 minutes.
  • Open a little gap in door to let all the steam escape, we now want it to be dry.
  • Turn down oven to 200C.
  • Wait 45 to 50 minutes. (Monitor bread and do the tap test at the bottom the load should sound hollow)
  • Take bread out of oven and sit on metal rack.
  • Wait at least 4 to 6 hours before cutting open.

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