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Behold Bob, the Baker of Sourdough Bread
- Bob Benenson
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
An Excellent Baking Class Has Spawned a New Kitchen Hobby
I've baked more than a few loaves of bread over time, but most of them have been of the no-knead variety popularized by New York City baker Jim Lahey. I did, however, have a case of FOBS (Fear of Baking Sourdough). The whole business of keeping a starter alive and the multiple steps of preparing the dough for baking seemed daunting.
But thanks to an excellent class that I took on May 31 — which clearly explained and demystified the process — I've been knocking out sourdough loaves that I'm really proud of.
I have my wife Barb to thank for my new hobby. She was watching a talk show on WGN-TV that features a lot of food and drink demos. This introduced her to Kristin Hoffman, aka Baker Bettie, who teaches a range of baking classes at her Bettie's Chicago school in Chicago's River North neighborhood (853 N. Larrabee).
I'd been in a work siege between Local Food Forum (and the start of the outdoor farmers market season) and my contract job with Naturally Chicago (which had its biggest annual event on May 27). So that May 31 class seemed like just the right diversion.
The setting for the class was pretty adorable, designed to mimic a 1950s diner (complete with music-appropriate jukeboxes and an old-time bottled Coca-Cola vending machine).
We eager learners sat on stools around the replica diner counter during the four-hour class as Baker Bettie carefully walked us through each of the steps to create a perfect loaf of sourdough bread. My FOBS syndrome was quickly dispelled, as the individual steps are quite easy.
The only real trick is timing. Each step is an action that requires a specified amount of time to complete, as illustrated below by my home baking efforts: 1) Feeding the Starter
You can find recipes for creating a starter online, but a better bet is to get some from a friend or baker who already has one. To get going, you only need a tiny bit of starter, to which you "feed" a mixture of flour and warm water. Baker Bettie recommends letting the starter sit out for four hours or more to increase in bulk (according to her recipe, you'll need 100 grams of starter).
2) Creating the Dough
The next step is creating the dough by mixing the 100 grams of starter with 350 grams of warm (but not hot) water and 500 grams of bread flour. The dough rises for six to seven hours, with one crucial action. Every half hour for the first two hours, you must stretch and fold the dough on all four sides (this helps develop the bread's gluten structure).
3) Shaping, Resting and Chilling
After this initial rise, move the dough to a floured counter or cutting board and do a four-sided "envelope fold." You can then put the dough in a bowl or a wicker basket called a banneton, which produces that lovely spiral pattern you've probably seen on artisan loaves. The dough then goes through a 1-hour second rise.
When that is done, cover with a towel and place the basket/bowl in the fridge. It will be ready to bake between eight and 16 hours, but you could go as long as 24 hours.
4) Bake Your Bread
To bake, the best results come from a dutch oven (preferably cast iron) with a lid. Preheat the dutch oven with lid on at 450 degrees for at least 20 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge, slide it onto a floured surface and score it (cutting only part way through) with a razor blade device, known as a lame, or with a serrated knife. When that's done, place the dough on parchment paper or better yet a device called a silicone sling, which makes it easy and safe to get the dough into and out of the super-heated pot.
Remove the pot from the oven; carefully remove the lid, pulling toward you (because steam will escape); place the dough in the pot; put the lid back on; and bake for 30 minutes. You then remove the lid and bake for another five or 10 minutes to give the loaf that beautiful brown crust.
That's the basic procedure, but I highly recommend the class, which gave me a whole lot of confidence (and an instruction binder that will become your bread bible, as well as a metal bowl and scrapers; the banneton, sling and other equipment can also be purchased on-site). There are also 3-day baking intensives for teens ages 13 to 17.
And if sourdough isn't your staff of life, Bettie's Chicago has a wide range of bread-, pastry- and pasta-making classes. Their New York Style bagels class is next on my list.