Sourdough Bread with All-Purpose Flour

Flour Selection
One essential modification in this recipe versus my simple weekday sourdough (which
uses all high protein bread flour), is to slightly reduce the hydration, especially if there
are no whole grains in the recipe. Because all-purpose tends to mix up to a softer, more
slack dough, I find lowering the hydration brings strength and makes for a loaf with
more rise and a crunchier crust.

This recipe is adaptable: use a mix of bread flour and all-purpose or substitute in
some whole wheat or rye flour

Flour note:​ If your “all-purpose” flour is lower in protein than the flour I used, King
Arthur Flour Unbleached All-Purpose at 11.7% protein, you might want to keep an eye
on the hydration as you’re adding water in the mix and add less if the dough feels overly
wet. Also, you might want to do more strengthening of the dough up front, either
through folds in the fold or a more intensive strengthening technique such as ​slap and
fold​..

Sourdough Bread Formulas ​½ recipe

Total Dough Weight 900 g ​450 g

Pre-fermented Flour 10.00%

Hydration 76.00% ​variable

Yield 1 x 900g loaf ​450

 Total Formula ​½ recipe

Weight Ingredient Baker’s % Temperature

460g All-purpose white flour, ~ 11.7% protein (King Arthur 100.00%

230g Unbleached All-Purpose Flour)

340g Water 74.00%

238 170g Original hydration 74%
161g inceraesd to 72% cause felt very stiff 70%
145g Recommended amount of water to hold back to start 63%

9g Salt (sea salt) 1.90%

4.5g

92g Sourdough starter (100% hydration-​feed 25g each​) 20.00% 26

46g Usually mature after 6-7 hrs, 8 hrs starts falling but
still usable
Starter growth when used: ​2X 2.5X 3X 3.5X 2.25
Total # of hours 7

Sourdough Bread Method

1. Autolyse– TIME: 3:05
Dough Temp 206 Gluten Window
When your sourdough starter is mature ​. Mix starter and water with a whisk until
incorporated. Add flour. Using wet hands, mix until you don’t see any more dried bits of
flour and until it comes together into a shaggy mass. No kneading required and does
not need to be a cohesive ball at this point. Sprinkle salt on top but do not incorporate.
Cover with a towel for 30 minutes.

2. Mix- ​ TIME: Total time spent kneading: 7

Dough Temp Gluten Window
This dough doesn’t require intensive kneading (like ​slap and fold​) but do give it a series
of folds (pickup one side and fold it over, rotate the bowl and repeat) in the bowl for 2-5
minutes. Let dough rest covered for 5 minutes and then pull gluten window.​ I find it
needs more intensive kneading based on the all purpose flour I have and I do approx 4-6
min minutes of slap and fold- until the dough isn’t shaggy and is a smooth ball. Let
dough rest covered for 5 minutes and then pull gluten window. ​Cover the bowl with
reusable plastic and keep somewhere warm for bulk fermentation.
Slap and fold:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/slap-and-fold/#:~:text=Slap%20and%20fold%
3A%20step%20by,dough%20down%20onto%20the%20counter

3. Bulk Fermentation- START TIME: 4 calculated END TIME: 9

Ambient Air Temperature 24.8 24
At 75°F (24°C) with a final dough temperature of 78°F (25.5°C) taken at the start of bulk
fermentation, bulk fermentation should take 3.5 hours. ​May take 15-30 min more or
less depending on final dough temperature (eg, FDT of 24C bulk fermentation may take
3.45-4 hrs).

Using wet hands, give the dough 4-5 sets of coil folds
(​www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JQm2n4aVZc​) ​indicated below to strengthen dough. I
coil fold more vigorously for the first two sets to build strength but then fold gently for
the rest of the sets to prevent degassing too much. Wet hands as needed to prevent
tearing the dough

After each coil fold set, assess how the dough is developing:
a) is the dough sluggish, slack and extensible? Then more folds will be needed to
sufficiently strengthen it and might need to extend bulk fermentation.
b) Was the dough hard to stretch out and fold, was it holding it’s shape? If so, you
can omit future sets of folding and let the dough rest for the remainder of bulk
fermentation.

Set Time Dough Temp Gluten window

Fold set 1 15 minutes after the start of

bulk fermentation tight, difficult to coil fold
4:17 24.8
Fold set 2 15 minutes after fold set 1
4:35 25 tight
Fold set 3 30 minutes after fold set 2
5:19 25 some thin spots but still tight
Fold set 4 30 minutes after fold set 3
5:50 25.2
Fold set 5 (as 30 minutes after fold set 4
needed)

After the last set of stretch and folds, let the dough rest, covered, until the next step.
4. Preshape – TIME
After total bulk fermentation time has passed, the dough should have risen in your bulk
fermentation container, smoothed out, and show bubbles on the sides and surface. The
edges where the dough meets the bowl should be slightly domed. When you gently shake
the bowl, it should jiggle. The dough should hold its edges, folds, and creases.

Fill a bowl with some water and place it on your work surface — I use water to keep the
dough from sticking on my hands and my bench knife. Scrape out your dough from the
bulk container onto your dry counter. Wet your hand and top of the ​bench knife​ and
gently preshape the dough into a loose round.

Let the dough rest, uncovered, for 20 minutes until its relaxed outward.

5. Shape – TIME
I went an extra step with this dough and coated it with a mixture of black and white
sesame seeds for flavor. You can omit toppings altogether or use sesame as I did, rolled
oats, flaked barley, pumpkin seeds, or anything you think would taste wonderfully
toasted in the oven. Lay a towel next to your work surface and spread the topping out in
a thin layer. After you shape the dough, roll the smooth side on the towel to pick up
these toppings (as shown in the video below).

Flour the work surface, your hands, and the top of the rested dough. Using your bench
knife flip the round over onto the floured work surface. Next, take the left edge and fold
it over midway to the right. Take the right side and fold it over the left. Take the top edge
and fold it down to the middle. Pick up the bottom edge (closest to you) and fold it up
over to the top of the dough but keep going until it touches the work surface, flipping
everything over so the seams are now on the bottom.

Next, using both hands drag the dough down toward your body using your pinky fingers
to pinch the dough between your fingers and the work surface. Rotate the dough and
continue dragging to create tension on the top and outside of the dough. It’s not
necessary to excessively tighten this dough (unless it feels fragile and slack to you), and
as you can see in the video below, my dough was strong and did not require a firm hand
to fully shape.

6. Proof –TIME:
Cover the proofing basket entirely and let it sit out on the counter for 2 – 4 hours,
temperature depending. My dough was ready after 2.5 hours at about 75°F (23°C).
Overnight option:​ At this point, you can also place the covered proofing basket directly
into your refrigerator and continue the process the next morning, afternoon, or even the
next evening.

Use the “poke test” (as seen below) to determine when the dough ready. While I don’t
think this test is appropriate for all doughs, it’s a good test for this dough because it’s
made from all white flour, it’s moderate hydration, and it was proofed at room
temperature. Notice how my pokes slowly spring back and don’t always fill in the
indentation. Additional signs it’s ready are the fact that it is well-risen in the proofing
basket and quite gassy.

6. Bake – TIME
Preheat your oven with the rack at the bottom third to 450°F (232°C). Place your Dutch
oven inside, open, with the lid and bottom side-by-side. Review my ​guide to baking in a
Dutch oven​ for in-depth details.

Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit over the proofing basket and place a pizza peel (or
large cutting board) on top. Using both hands, flip the entire stack over and remove the
basket.

Score the dough and load it into the Dutch oven; then, bake for 20 minutes covered.
After this time, remove the lid and finish baking for 30-35 minutes or until done. The
internal temp should be around 205-210°F (96-99°C).

Remove the loaf to a cooling rack for 1-2 hours before slicing.