Making Basic Sourdough Bread: BBA

This month in the BBA Challenge, we’re baking through the sourdough series in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Basic Sourdough Bread is the 30th bread in the challenge. I decided to wait until January to start this series so that I would be fresh. I’m so glad I took a break during the Holidays because now I’m able to slow down and use this challenge as more of a learning process rather than just trying to finish the breads in the book. Like so many of the other bread-bakers participating in the challenge, I had gotten a little burnt out, but it’s a new year and a new day and I’m ready to rock and roll again.

With the BBA method, you begin the process of making sourdough bread by creating a seed culture using a mixture of 1 cup of rye flour and 3/4 of water. Then you feed the culture a mixture of 1 cup of bread flour (or high-gluten flour) and 1/2 cup of water each day for 3 more days until it is ready to be turned into the mother starter. It took about 6 days (rather than 4) to develop my seed culture because it was cold in my kitchen and it took longer to ferment. I started this process over the Holidays so the barm would be ready to use in January.

I really like my existing sourdough starter so I almost just used it instead of creating a new one, but for the sake of the challenge, I decided to create the starter from the formula in the book and note the difference between the two starters. Peter Reinhart usually has such great techniques and methods, I figured I couldn’t go wrong using his formula.

 

Basic Sourdough Bread
Makes: Two medium loaves
From: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

Ingredients:

Firm Starter:

• 2/3 cup barm (see below)
• 1 cup unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup water

Final Dough:

• 4 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups water, lukewarm
• Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

 

Directions:

Friday Night: Make the Barm (or Mother Starter)

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
• 2 cups water, at room temperature
• 1 cup seed culture

Once the seed culture is ready, make the barm. Stir together the flour, water, and seed culture in a mixing bowl.  Make sure the seed culture is evenly distributed and all of the flour is hydrated.  It will make a wet, sticky sponge.

Transfer the sponge to a clean plastic, glass, or ceramic container.  Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for about 6 hours, or until the barm is bubbly.  Open the lid or remove the plastic wrap and let the gas escape. 

Replace the cover and refrigerate the barm overnight before using. The barm will be ready to use the next day and will remain potent for 3 days before you have to refresh it. 

Once the barm is ready, it is used as the starter for making the sourdough bread. Just feed it on a regular basis to keep it alive.

Saturday: Prepare the Starter

To make the starter for the Basic Sourdough Bread, remove the barm from the refrigerator and measure out the appropriate amount by dipping a measuring cup into water, then scoop out the barm.

Transfer the barm to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to warm up for 1 hour.

 

Add the flour to the bowl and mix together the barm and the flour.