Sourdough recipes - making a simple white sourdough loaf.

This year marks the Year of Flour - at least in my kitchen. The first task that I wished to accomplish was to begin making my own bread rather than buying the spongy, number ridden cardboard that I've been eating all my life.

Making a simple Bread Plait that I found on the BBC 'Get Cooking' website was a great moment, but I felt that I wanted to take a step back to ancient times and learn how to make Sourdough. Sourdough goes back to Egyptian times 5000BC. It is awesome and the kids rave about it when they go to Astral Restaurant and it does look absolutely amazing.

Days One - Four

The first step for a plain white sourdough is very simple - buy White Spelt Flour and pure water. By pure, I mean that it must not have chloride or flouride. I found a flour wholesaler and I found a cask of pure water at the supermarket.

To begin the process , all you do is put a cup of flour and a cup of water in a non-metallic bowl and wait a few days for it to ferment. Once it has fermented just add a cup of flour and water each day until it is bubbly on top. This is your 'wild yeast'. You need around 500g for your first loaf. Try to use the following measurements for a while, but after a few goes discard the measurements and go by feel. For example, I made a little loaf last night without measuring.

Day Five approx...

Recipe: 500g of Wild Yeast

650g of Flour

350g of pure water

3 tsp pf salt

Mix in a non-metallic bowl and wait around 15 mins for the four to absorb the water.

By this stage you'll have a bowl of goo. It is virtually impossible to knead it so you gather it up and throw it down over and over until it is kneaded (about 5 mins). Your arms should be killing.

The mixture must sit another 20 mins until you add more flour and knead normally for 5 mins. The amount of flour you add varies, but the rule is to add until the mixture is not gooey and kneads easily using the normal kneading technique. (If you don't know this then go to the BBC 'Get Cooking' website and see a demonstration of kneading on their website).

Place the mixture into a baking tin - a square loaf tin is perfect. After 5 hours or so of the mixture sitting on your bench covered by a tea towel, pop the mixture into a very hot oven - my oven is fan forced 240 C. I keep it at heat for about 10 mins before dropping the oven down to 180 for around 15 mins and then 10 more at 150. This part depends on your oven - our oven is crap.

I hope that you enjoy the sour taste of the dough. The bread is the ultimate in low GI and purity. It is beautiful toasted and smothered with honey.

Like I said earlier, try this recipe first of all. However, make sure that you go by feel after a few attempts. Sourdough was created long before all of this pedantic measuring and it is important to enjoy that process as well as making your own 'yeast' and making your own ancient and beautiful bread!

Enjoy.

Deborah.