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San Fransico Sourdough Bread

Recipe Link: http://joejaworski.com/bread1.htm

List of Ingredients




If you're a bread lover, nothing beats the tangy taste and chewy texture of true San Francisco French style sourdough bread. From its hard crust to its soft interior, this bread has a unique flavor that is hard to resist. Although traditionally served with shellfish or seafood, this bread can be served with most dishes, including red meats and poultry.
You probably have tasted this bread in the past, even if you do not live in San Francisco. Many supermarkets now carry prepackaged loaves as well as most major airports in the U.S. However, nothing can compare to the taste of a warm, fresh baked loaf right from your oven.
Over the past year, I have tried many methods to reproduce the flavor of true San Francisco sourdough at home. My goal was to create a bread with equal or superior taste to the famous San Francisco bakeries of Boudin, Parisian, and Colombo. This article describes the process that I have developed that will produce excellent results in any home kitchen. My method is relatively simple, and if you currently bake any kind of yeast breads, you should have little difficulty following my recipe. While the start to finish time of baking this bread takes about 24 hours, there is very little to do most of this time.

Start with a Starter
The starter (or sometimes called a sponge) is a flour and water mixture that contains the yeast used to rise the bread. You need a starter to make sourdough bread. To create starter, you must first obtain some sourdough yeast. The only way to bake real San Francisco sourdough bread is to use a yeast culture from San Francisco. You can purchase dried San Francisco yeast starters at some gourmet cook shops or larger health food stores. If you are associated with a cooking school or club, you might be able to get a bit of someone else's starter to start your own. There are also companies on the internet that sell starters by mail. In any case, you cannot bake authentic San Francisco sourdough bread with just any sourdough starter, and certainly not with one made from commercial yeast like Red Star or Fleischmann's.

The starter will take at least 24 hours before it is ready to be used, so plan ahead. I usually prepare my starter on Friday after work for bread that will be ready for Saturday's dinner. If you need more details on the ins and outs of sourdough starters, see my web page The Care and Feeding of Sourdough Starters before proceeding. If you're already baking sourdough but are have some problems, see my sourdough FAQ for answers to common problems.

About 24 hours before bake time, combine the following ingredients in a glass jar or stoneware bowl. You can also prepare your starter right in its storage jar as I do.

1/4 cup of sourdough starter
1/2 cup of bread flour
1/2 cup of water

Optionally, you can add 1 tablespoon of rye flour which will promote a stronger sour flavor. Stir the mixture for a few minutes using a wooden spoon (never use metal bowls or utensils with yeast). The idea is to get lots of air into the mixture, which will help the yeast develop. The starter should wind up having the consistency of thick gravy or runny pancake batter. Do not be overly concerned if there are a few lumps in the mixture.

You need to place the starter in a dark, warm place to promote the fermentation process. A good place is the oven. If you have a gas oven, the pilot light will create enough heat to warm the mixture. For an electric oven, turning on the light will supply warmth. Do not actually turn on the oven, because even the lowest setting will be too hot for the starter. If it is summertime and air temperatures are near 80 degrees F (27C) or above, you can simply keep the starter on the kitchen counter covered with a small hand towel.


The starter needs to ferment for about 8 hours. If you are familiar with sourdough baking, you know that sourdough starters have a "peak" in their bubbly activity, then tend to go flat or dormant after that. For best results, you want to ferment your starter right up to its peak. Depending upon how strong or weak your initial starter was, the peak might take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours. With a new starter, check it every few hours or so to get an idea of when your starter reaches its peak. Don't worry if you are too early or too late in the peak. The only drawback is that the loaf will be less sour or may not rise to its full potential. Later in this article, I'll show you how to overcome both of these problems during the baking cycle.

After 8 hours or when the starter has peaked, add the following ingredients to the starter:

1 cup of bread flour
1 cup of water
Mix this additional flour and water into the starter just as you did before, trying to whip some air into the mixture. Return the starter to the oven and let it sit for another 8 hours or so.Knead Some Dough
It is now time to make the dough. Plan on doing this step this about 4 - 5 hours before you actually want to serve the bread. After the second peak, remove the starter from the oven. In a stand mixer or bread machine, combine the following ingredients:

1-1/2 cups of prepared starter
2 cups of bread flour
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ascorbic acid

The ascorbic acid is optional, but will make the bread rise faster and higher. You can buy ascorbic acid in health food stores sold under the name of "Vitamin C Crystals" or bulk/powdered vitamin C. This recipe will yield a loaf approximately 1-1/2 pounds in size. If you need to make more or less bread, scale the above ingredients accordingly. If you are using a stand mixer, use the kneading attachment and knead the dough until it no longer sticks to the sides or the bottom of the mixing bowl. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes on a low (2 to 3) speed setting. The dough should be very dry, almost approaching the point where two dough balls are trying to form in the mixer. If it looks too dry, add up to an additional 1/4 cup of starter. You may also knead the dough in a bread machine, although this dough is fairly stiff and will require a bread machine powerful enough to do the job. You may also knead the dough by hand, but unless you're a weight lifter, you may find this very tiring.


After kneading, spray or wipe the inside of a bowl with a little cooking oil. Place the dough into the bowl, forming a ball. Now flip it over and roll it around to coat the dough ball with the oil. Next, place a piece of plastic wrap over the dough. This prevents the dough from drying out during rise.
Place the bowl and dough back in the oven and let it rise for 45 to 60 minutes. During this time, the dough should rise about 1-1/2 to 2 times its size. If your starter was very active, the dough may be rising too quickly. In this case, you can reduce the rise time to 30 minutes. If your starter does not seem very active, this is okay. It might take several hours for the rise, just go for the doubling in size no matter how long it takes.

Form the Loaf

After the rise time, the dough ball should be twice the size, full of air, and somewhat wet. Remove the dough from the oven and turn onto a floured surface.
Sprinkle the dough with some flour and knead the dough gently, using your knuckles or the palm of your hand. The idea is to remove all of the larger air bubbles, while keeping some of the smaller air bubbles intact. Avoid using a roller pin or otherwise flattening the dough. The whole process shouldn't take more that a few minutes. As you finish, knead the dough into a small round circle.
Now lift the dough from its sides and fold it back to form a ball. Stretch the dough slightly across the front, while tucking it towards the back. Finally, pinch the back of the dough ball to seal the seams.
The best way to bake this bread is on a baking stone. If you are not familiar with this device, it is a sheet of porous stone often used for baking pizzas. It has the ability to pull moisture out of bread while it is baking, resulting in a thick, delicious crust. You can buy a baking stone at most cooking supply stores.

Sprinkle some corn meal on a baking stone and place the loaf on the stone. Now spray the loaf lightly with some cooking oil spray. Also spray one side of a piece of plastic wrap. As before, place the greased plastic wrap over the dough. With the plastic wrap in place, you can now easily reform the dough ball if necessary through the wrap.


Place the baking stone in the oven. Let the bread rise for 3 to 4 hours. Unlike commercial yeast, San Francisco yeast rises much more slowly, so you won't wind up with a dough monster filling your oven to its brim. The dough should rise to 2 to 2-1/2 times its original size.

Bake Away
After the 3-4 hour rise, remove the dough from the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.

Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the loaf. Using a sharp serrated knife, make 3 or 4 slashes about 1/2 inches deep across the top of the loaf about an inch apart. Make the same 3 or 4 slashes at right angles, forming several squares on the top of the loaf. If the loaf has dried out slightly on top, the knife may drag against the dough causing it to tear. Wet the knife with water before making your cut. Best results can be obtained by making a single quick, deep cut for each stroke.

To form a good crust, the bread must be baked in a steamy, humid environment. To accomplish this, place a small glass bowl with water in the bottom of the oven. You should also use a hand sprayer to spray down the sides of the oven during baking.

Place the baking stone and loaf in the oven. Do not try to move the loaf off of the stone or to another cooking surface, because it is very delicate at this point and will bruise and flatten. If the loaf looks as if it is already close to its final size (i.e., it has risen very well already), turn up the oven temperature to 400F degrees (205C). If the loaf seems a little flat (as shown in the photo) bake for 15 minutes at 350F, then raise the oven temperature to 400F for 45 additional minutes.


During the first 20 minutes of baking time, spray the sides of the oven with water every 5 to 10 minutes. This, combined with the small glass water bowl (see photo) will ensure a firm, thick crust for your bread.

The total baking time should be approximately 60 minutes. Sourdough should have a darker looking crust when compared to other types of bread, so leave the loaf in the oven an extra 5 minutes or so after you think it is done.


Move the loaf to a cooling rack and let it cool at least 30 minutes. Break out the butter and enjoy!




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