I have gotten back into the habit of baking bread once a week. The recipe I use is similar to the famous Poulaine sourdough, except I don't have a wood burning fire to cook it in, or legions of French kitchen assistance. What I do have, is a whole wheat sourdough starter that lives in my fridge for most of the week. I feed it on Saturday night just before bed, adding flour and water to make it active again and leave it out, overnight, in the counter.
By the morning, the starter has nearly doubled in size. To start the bread, you mix flour with water and allow it to sit for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to develop. Then you add in the salt and the starter (putting a small amount aside for the next time) and knead it in a mixer. I think the mixer actually does a better job than mixing by hand, and it's much easier.
After that, you set the bread to rise. After one hour, you encourage the dough by flipping in over and kneading it briefly. It can rise after that for another 2-4 hours. Once it has nearly doubled, or at least made some kind of an effort to rise, you shape it into a ball and stick it in a brotform, which is a reed basket.
Now, for the past few weeks I have had a terrible time getting the dough out of the brotfom when it was ready to bake, so this week I very cleverly lined the basked with plastic wrap that I had oiled and floured. It didn't have the beautiful design on the crust, but at least it came out in one piece.
The bread rises in the brotform for another two hours or so, and then, finally, it's ready to bake. The thing I like about whole wheat sourdough is that it lasts for several days in the breadbox and actually improves in flavor for the first few days.
It might seem as though this recipe it takes all day, but it really requires very minimal effort. You just have to be remember to move it from stage to stage. The end result is (usually) delicious and a way to show my love for my family.
