I’ve always made no need to knead breads as I really want quick, easy bread in the house for my little grasshoppers who munch through the entire kitchen in one sitting. However as it’s Sourdough September, I thought I would at least give it a try.  I made my Sourdough Starter 5 days ago, it really is quite easy, I did set an alarm on my phone each day to remember to feed it.

 

Sourdough Starter

You need equal parts of flour and water.

 

200g Sharpham Park Spelt Flour

200g water

 

Mix the two together with a balloon whisk, cover with a dishcloth and leave on the side.  Feed it every day for approximately 5 days.  To feed it add 50g flour and 50g water, whisk, cover and set aside – it’s that simple.  The starter will start to ferment showing a few bubbles.  It should not go mouldy though.  Once it’s ready, I put it in a jar with a lid on in the fridge and use it as necessary.  

 

Bread

 

100g starter

5g Himalayan Salt or Rock Salt

300ml warm water

500g Sharpham Park Organic Wholegrain Flour

Extra flour for kneading and dusting

 

Mix everything together with a wooden spoon (you can get your hands in there too) and rest for an hour or two.  On a floured surface remove from the bowl and knead for about 5-10 minutes.  Pop back into the bowl, cover and allow to rise overnight. The next day grease an oven proof cast iron casserole (or dutch oven - I use Le Creuset) with a little olive oil.  Pop the dough into the dutch oven and allow to rise. Once risen, you can make a few cuts with a pair of scissors/knife or a lovely pattern on the top of the bread. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Put the lid on it and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes or until the bread feels hollowly when your tap it and the surface is nice and crispy.  Remove from the oven and the dutch oven.  Cool completely before cutting into it as all the lovely air will escape otherwise.