My Top 5 Sourdough Cookie Recipes by Make It Dough (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to sourdough? ›

The secret to sourdough is simple: water. The more water you add to your dough will affect how open the crumb (bigger holes and softer texture) will be once it's baked.

Bread flour (or baker's flour) is a high protein, white flour that is milled specifically for baking bread and sourdough. What is this? You'll get the best results for your sourdough bread from using bread flour. The most popular bread flour in the US is King Arthur Bread Flour.

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour.

We recommend baking sourdough in a Dutch oven. This lets you cover your bread for the first one-third of its baking time, allowing steam to build. This steam helps the loaf reach an ideal color and texture of crust.

Keeping the lid on for the first part of baking allows steam to expand between the gluten fibers to rise the bread and create a fluffy loaf. Step 4: Remove the lid and bake for an additional 12-14 minutes or until the crust is crispy and golden brown. Once you take the lid off, the bread likely won't rise anymore.

The key taste compounds include salt, which is directly added to the dough, as well as acetic and lactic acid, produced during fermentation. After these experiments, they applied a technique called “unified flavor quantitation,” which was previously developed by Hofmann's team, to the sourdough bread.

More stretch and folds

Typically, people do about 3-5 stretch and folds in the process of making a loaf of sourdough bread. If you do 2-4 more of them, it helps produce a more sour dough.

Substituting all purpose flour in a sourdough recipe that specifically calls for bread flour is not always an even swap. You'll need to REDUCE the total amount of water first. All purpose flour absorbs less water than bread flour, which can make the dough too sticky to work with otherwise.

*If making sourdough is new for you, do not be discouraged if you starter takes longer to get active than mine – stick with it, it will happen! *Tap water is usually fine, if you are not sure, use boiled and cooled water, you can use it at room temperature or cool; do not use distilled water.

Grano tenero flours are generally used in Italy to make both bread and pastries.

Is distilled water good for sourdough? ›

Distilled water is a bad choice because the minerals that the bacteria need to do their thing have been removed. Just stick to filtered spring or purified water for your starter and bread baking.

Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven with no rack above it. Put your combo cooker or Dutch oven on the oven rack, and preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C) for at least 30 minutes.

Baking soda or bicarbonate of soda can be used in sourdough bread to create a less sour loaf. Added after bulk fermentation, but before shaping, it can help to create a lighter, more fluffy loaf of sourdough.

Over the years, I've found keeping the mixture warm at around 80°F (26°C), and high hydration (100% water to flour in baker's percentages) helps get things started. In addition, while not mandatory, using certain flour also helps increase the chances a starter will take hold quickly (see below).

Sourdough bread's signature taste comes from friendly bacteria and yeast, which produce flavorful lactic and acetic acids in rising bread dough.

Why Is Sourdough Bread Different? Unlike other yeast bread recipes that use baker's yeast as the leavening agent, traditional sourdough recipes use a starter made of water and flour. The starter ferments over time, producing natural yeast and the slightly acidic flavor that sets sourdough apart.