Introduction
I started baking whole wheat bread about 50 years ago milling the wheat berries with a hand operated stone mill. It took about an hour to grind enough flour to make four, two pound loafs. Some time more than 4 years ago I created my first and only sourdough starter and later acquired a small electric stone mill.
Making sourdough breads is not generally a quick process of mixing the wheat and other ingredients with some yeast and waiting a couple of hours for the dough to rise. Rather a natural fermentation agent is used requiring the sourdough starter. The process of making sourdough breads requires frequent refreshing of the starter, especially if its been in the refrigerator during times when I’m not baking. This process can require a couple of days.
The starter is then often used to create a smaller amount of levain or levening, which is used to fertilize the bread dough, much like making yogurt. This process can take several hours up to 12 hours over night. The levain is then added to the all or part of the dough for an hour or more. The dough is then allowed to proof with some stretching and folding to strengthen the dough and build the gluten, process called Bulk Fermentation. Some bread recipes call for putting the dough in the refrigerator overnight, called Retard Fermentation. This helps to develop the unique and wonderful taste of sourdough breads. The next day the loaves if they have been shaped prior to Retarding are placed in a preheated oven or shaped then proofed prior to baking.
Also worth noting is that sourdough starter is a reflection of the environment adding yeasts and other beneficial organisms depending on what’s in the air at the time. The starter is naturally resistant to molds and other harmful bacteria.