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This is a post which shows you a way to make sourdough bread in the working day and make the most of not having a commute when working from home.
Contents
The origins of this sourdough in the working day post
During the events of 2020 in lockdown many of us have got into baking Sourdough bread since. This was more to pass the time than anything else. If, like me, you discovered a love of bread making then you know this is something you want to do now back at work.
Remote working has allowed us to rediscover our work/life balance and I make full use of not having a commute by using that time for baking. I devised a plan for sourdough in the working day which lets you do some in the morning and some when you get home. Here is your work day sourdough schedule.
Sourdough in the working day Key parts to the process
The work day sourdough schedule consists of:
- Preparing the starter
- Preparing the dough
- Shaping the loaf
- Proving the loaf
- Cooking the loaf
Now the main caveat here is everyone's timings are different. I find this works best on a Friday into the weekend so you get fresh bread on a Saturday morning (if you are not working). Test the work day sourdough schedule at a weekend and then move it to during the week for better results.
Don't forget these are all estimated timings and you can adjust and shift accordingly to suit you. There are some parts which will be able to be done at lunch time or if you get a coffee break too.
The Schedule:
Night Before – Prepare the Starter
Feed your sourdough starter before bed. If it's kept in the fridge, take it out and feed it. Leave it out overnight if cool; otherwise, refrigerate again.
Optional Lunch Time – Extra Starter Feed
If working from home, do an extra feed at lunchtime to boost starter activity.
5:00 PM – Autolyse
Mix flour and water. Let rest for an hour to develop gluten.
6:00 PM – Add the Starter
Mix in the starter by folding it into the dough. Let rest for another hour.
7:00 PM – Add the Salt
Add salt and mix thoroughly. No salt pockets should remain.
7:45 PM – Stretch and Fold #1
Pull and fold the dough into itself. Repeat 8–10 times. Flip dough at the end.
8:15 PM – Stretch and Fold #2
Repeat the stretch and fold process.
8:45 PM – Stretch and Fold #3
Repeat again for improved structure.
9:15 PM – Stretch and Fold #4
Final stretch and fold. Rest dough for 45 minutes.
10:00 PM – Shape and Refrigerate
Dust surface with rice or semolina flour. Shape the dough, place in a floured banneton, and refrigerate overnight.
7:30 AM – Score and Bake
Preheat oven to 230°C. Place dough on parchment, score, and bake for 25 mins. Spritz with water for a crisp crust.
The Schedule In Detail
Preparing the Sourdough Starter
Preparation is all about planning ahead and thinking what needs to be done. The night before your bake you need to feed your starter before you go to bed. If you keep it in the fridge, lift it out and feed as normal. Leave it on the counter if the ambient temperature is not too high (ideally below 20C). If it is a warmer time of year, put it back in the fridge overnight and lift out again in the morning.
If you are working from home and have the option to do another feed at lunch time, then that is an ideal point in the day to do so. The more active your starter is then the better and stronger the bake will be.
5pm Get Home from work
So around 5pm you can mix the flour and the water. Use the recipe below to see amounts. Give it a good mix together and then leave it for an hour. This is the autolyse (or autolysis) part where the gluten strings begin to form. Some say the longer the better with this but in my opinion, 1 - 2 hours is great. In this case, an hour works and fits in with our working day sourdough.
6pm Add the starter
So your dough is mixed and now you need to add the starter. Weigh it in to the bowl and scoop in the right amount. Mix either with your hands or a spatula, folding it over as you do. Now once mixed, leave again for another hour. I got my starter from the guys at Kensington Sourdough. It comes in a freeze dried format but it proved to be much better than the starter I made.
7pm Add the salt
As you did with the starter, do the same for the salt. Mix it in either by hand or by spatula. Fully incorporate it and don't leave any around the bowl.
7:45 Stretch and Fold #1
So stretch and folds consist of getting one edge of the dough, pull it up and then push it into the centre of the bowl. Then turn the bowl a quarter turn, and then repeat. Do this 8 - 10 times, turning the bowl each time. Then lift up the dough and turn it upside down so the folded in part is underneath. For more success and less stick, do this with wet hands. For sourdough in the working day you need to repeat this process 3 more times at the times below.
8:15 Stretch and Fold #2
8:45 Stretch and Fold #3
9:15 Stretch and Fold #4
After this last set of stretch and folds, leave it for 45 minutes covered. By now it should have risen a bit in the bowl (sometimes you might need a couple of hours) but his is the pre-shape rise. If your ambient room temperature is a bit on the cooler side, this might need longer and realistically the next step could be happening at 11pm/midnight. It's an ever changing landscape so you just have to try and see what works for you.
10:00 Shape the loaf
So this is the last step before bed. Flour up the work surface with something different to the flour you mixed into your bread. Why? So that it doesn't absorb and stick. So you will have bread flour in your dough, so use rice flour or semolina flour for dusting. This is a top tip for your work day sourdough schedule to avoid sticky sourdough dough - a gamechanger I promise!
Spread out the dough and fold into the required shape. There are so many shaping techniques that I'm not going to explain this here but there are plenty of YouTube demo videos on how to shape sourdough. Place your shaped loaf into a pre flour dusted banneton basket (again, using the rice flour or semolina flour) and cover. Put this in the fridge over night and your work day sourdough schedule is done for the day.
7:30am Scoring and baking the bread
Take out the dough from the fridge and place (still in the basket) on the side while your oven heats up. Again, loads of methods of cooking which I'm not detailing too much here. For my its a pizza stone in the top oven. I preheat for 20 minutes to around 230C and place a pot to put some water in to create steam while it pre heats.
Flip the dough onto a baking sheet of parchment, score your shape as you wish and then slide the parchment into the oven. I cook on the pizza stone for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Give it a spritz with water at the start of baking and halfway through to get that epic crust. Now you know how to do sourdough in the working day you will never be without fresh bread!
The Recipe
Sourdough In The Working Day
Ingredients
- 400 g Bread flour
- 290 g Water
- 8 g Salt
- 80 g Sourdough starter
Instructions
- Follow the timings above for the full details.
- Mix flour and water
- Add in starter
- Add in salt
- Stretch and fold 4 times
- Shape and prove overnight
- Bake
Notes
Nutrition
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2 responses to “Sourdough In The Working Day”
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At the end of bulk fermentation is the dough double in size?
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Hi there,You should see an increase in it's size however it may not be quite double. It is difficult to specify due to fluctuations in temperature and climates. A fridge of 3-4C will require around 8-10 hours for it to be ready, but of course this can vary. Sorry that's not very helpful, but it really is trial and error.
Best wishes,
Martin (aka Dad What Cooks)
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