How to make your own sourdough bread at home like a pro

Ever since the start of the Circuit Breaker period in Singapore, sourdough baking has been on the rise, quite literally.

From Rebecca Lim's homemade sourdough bread business to restaurants serving different reiterations of sourdough bread, the options are plenty. But the real question is — what has gotten quarantine sourdough so popular?

For help interpreting this sourdough fixation, we turned to Tiong Bahru Bakery's head chef Paul Albert. Located next to Tiong Bahru Bakery Foothills, the TBB Sourdough Workshop led by Chef Paul explores everything you need to know about making the perfect sourdough bread.

Now for someone who's an amateur at baking, I understood why the home bakers and home cooks are going crazy over baking these loaves, or so I assume. It requires only four simple ingredients, which are namely, flour, water salt and a starter.

The latter, of course, is the most important ingredient of all. It's made out of water and flour, which essentially develops wild yeasts and (good) bacteria over time.

More importantly, you can also easily replicate this recipe at home if you have the right tools and ingredients — regardless of your expertise. So if you're looking to pick up a new skill or try baking sourdough bread at home, read on.

What you need

Ingredients:

• 400g of artisanal French flour
• 280g of water
• 80g of active sourdough water
• 9g of salt

Items needed:

• A bowl
• Clean and dried hands

#1 Autolyse/bulk fermentation

To start, simply mix in the sourdough starter, water, salt and flour in a bowl using the 'Rubaud' method.

For the unacquainted, the Rubaud method involves using your hand as a scoop and pressing it to get a very nice extensible dough. After doing so, shape it into a ball, put a towel on top of the bowl, and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes.

#2 First fold

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. After doing so, wet your hands with some water as this keeps the dough from sticking.

Then, use your wet hands to fold one end of the dough upwards (halfway), then fold the other end halfway down. Next, rotate the dough 90° and fold the bottom upwards to about three-quarters and fold the top all the way down.

Put the dough back into the bowl and let it rest for another 30 to 45 minutes.

#3 Second fold + final rise

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface again. Similar to the second step, here, you'll also need to wet your hands again with water and fold the dough as you did in the first fold.

Place it back into the bowl again and let it rest for 60 to 90 minutes.

#4 Direct shape

Before baking your bread, prepare your bread basket by sifting some rice flour on it. After doing so, remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface so you can shape your bread before placing it into the basket.

Then, place the sourdough in the bread basket and let it rise for 30 minutes at room temperature.

#5 Cold retard

The size of your dough should rise after 30 minutes, and it should also bounce back when you press it slowly.

After this, you can then place the bread basket in your fridge (wrapped with a towel), and leave it to set overnight for a minimum of 15 hours.

However, if you're planning to bake it on the same day that you prepared the ingredients, you can just let the dough rise for six to eight hours at room temperature.

#6 Baking

Pre-heat the oven with your dutch oven inside at 240 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, and remove the dough from the fridge.

After the time is up, remove the Dutch oven and sift some polenta onto the base and place your dough in it. Here, you can also score your dough with your blade before you place the lid back on your Dutch oven and put it in the oven.

It's recommended to bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 240 degrees Celsius, and to remove the lid of the Dutch oven and bake it for another 20 to 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius until it turns golden brown.

When you knock on the bottom of your loaf, it should sound hollow. Then, let it cool down for at least 45 to 60 minutes before consumption.

This article was first published in Her World Online.