Living just two hours away from San Francisco, I have learned to love true sourdough bread. Whenever we visit Fisherman’s Wharf, I buy at least one loaf of their famous sourdough French bread. It’s that “tang” to the bread that I’ve grown to love. These rolls were made from my sourdough starter, that I have lovingly fed for several years. I added an additional ingredient that makes that sourdough flavor pop– Ascorbic Acid! I had fun making these rolls, and I hope that you do too.
Bread baking is something that strikes terror in so many people. I know this is true, because I used to be one of “them”. Many years ago, I can remember trying to bake a loaf of bread, that turned out to be flat and hard as a brick. Working with yeast scared me, and I gave up. Once in a while, I’d buy frozen bread dough. Even that produced dismal results. So, I resigned myself to being a total bread baking dud.
Then…the magical “Bread Machine” came into our lives, in 1986, from Japan. Yes, the self-proclaimed “Gadget Queen” (that would be ‘moi‘) bought one of the first ones (and it was expensive, as I recall). I marveled that I could simply dump flour, yeast, powdered milk and water, press a button and walk away. A short time later, I’d have this funny looking square loaf of bread.
I felt like I had conquered my fear of bread baking. Then, the machine died. I bought another one, which lasted just over a year. Then, it died. I decided it was time to quit buying bread machines.
That’s when it dawned on me, that I had a perfectly good Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer! I quickly fell in-love with being able to let that machine mix my dough– and then, I began to enjoy the feeling of working with bread dough… by that, I began to love the feel of bread dough, and shaping the dough into bread rolls, or loaves of bread. I got better at it, and more confident. Who needs a bread machine?
The internet is loaded with plenty of information on how to work with yeast. One of my favorite resources is King Arthur Flour. My pantry is full of their products, because they work. Their recipes work, too and love their clear step-by-step recipes with plenty of photos. Plus, they have a toll-free Baker’s Hot Line, that I have used plenty of times.
I finally took a leap of faith, and ordered their sour dough starter. I was scared that I’d kill my starter– and I really didn’t understand what to actually do with it. At first, my sour dough starter was kept in a glass mason jar, loosely covered with plastic wrap and a rubber band. Eventually, I bought this special crock pot– and I will say that I love it. I can easily spot “the beast” in the back of my fridge.
I “fed” this sour dough starter for two years, before I actually used it! In hindsight, I don’t know what I was so afraid of. I made these Classic Baguettes, that turned out really well. I can say that I’ve conquered another fear. I can assure you, that my sour dough starter has been sadly neglected for weeks, and still, I managed to revive it and keep it going. (You can learn all about Sourdough starters by clicking here and here.)
The Classic Baguettes that I made were so good (as my family will attest to). Still, I love a sour dough bread that has a bit more tang to them. I used King Arthur Flour’s recipe for Extra-Tangy Sourdough bread, which requires one cup of “fed” starter…
…I added a little Vital Wheat Gluten (not required, but I like what it does to the texture of my breads).
..and here’s the ingredient that adds that “tang” that I love in my sour dough bread– “Sour Salt/Citric Acid“. I added 1/2 teaspoon (you can’t go hog wild with this, or it can cause deterioration of the crust). I have no idea exactly what that means…but I decided not to go there.
Unlike my One Hour Dinner Roll recipe, you need to allow anywhere from 2-5 hours for the dough to rise. I decided to shape these into sandwich rolls, to make a Slow Roasted Beef sandwich. Once again, it takes anywhere from 2-5 hours for them to proof, before baking. (My total time was 2 hours each time).
Sourdough Sandwich Bread Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
- 2 cups sourdough starter about the consistency of thick pancake batter; fed, or unfed*
- 4 1/2 – 5 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast I use SAF instant yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon Ascorbic Acid** I use LorAnn’s brand from King Arthur Flour
- 4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten I order from King Arthur Flour
- 1 egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water for glaze; optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the water, starter, and 3 cups of the flour, mixing until smooth.
- Stir in the salt, sugar, yeast, gluten and ascorbic acid powder (if using) then an additional 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour. Stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, adding only enough additional flour as necessary; a slack (sticky) dough makes a light loaf.
- Knead the dough for about 7 minutes in a stand mixer; or 8 to 10 minutes by hand, on a lightly greased work surface. You may also knead this dough using the dough cycle on your bread machine; once it’s finished kneading, transfer it to a bowl to rise, as directed below.
- Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes.
- Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into six pieces (for thin baguettes) or three pieces (for thicker Italian loaves).
- Shape each piece into a 16-inch long loaf, and place the loaves, at least 4-inches apart, on parchment-lined baking sheets, or in lightly greased baguette pans (French loaf pans). If you’re using baguette pans, make the loaves 15-inches long. Note: I shaped my rolls about 6-inches long and got 8 rolls.
- Cover the loaves with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let them rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until they’re nice and puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450°F.
- If desired, gently brush the loaves with egg yolk glaze (which I didn't do, this time), and sprinkle them generously with Pizza Seasoning, artisan bread topping, or the toppings of your choice. If you're not brushing the loaves with egg yolk, spray them with olive oil spray; this will help them brown. Note: I use the olive oil spray and placed the rolls on parchment paper and onto a bread baking stone.
- For a classic look, make three diagonal slashes in each loaf, cutting about 1/4-inch deep. For taller, rounder baguettes, don’t slash. Note: I made one long slash down the middle of each roll.
- Bake the baguettes for about 25 minutes, or until they’re a rich golden brown. Remove the loaves from the oven. Turn off the oven, crack it open a few inches, and return the loaves to the cooling oven, without their pans. Letting the loaves cool right in the turned-off oven helps preserve their crunchy crust.
- Yield: 6 baguettes, 8 rolls or 3 Italian-style loaves.
Notes
If you feed your sourdough before using, the loaves will rise better; but if you’re in a hurry, unfed sourdough will simply lend its flavor, while the yeast in the recipe takes care of the rise.
The Ascorbic acid gives a nice little “bite” of sour dough flavor. I order mine online.
Debby, I love sourdough bread too! I had the same starter for 18 yrs!! It was when our children were all at home and I used it often as I made all the bread we ate. I also used it very often for biscuits. Once the kids were gone from home I wasn't using it often enough and one time I looked at it I thought it was beyond reiviving so out it went. It was a favourite of many visitors who ate with us. I hope you really enjoy the many things you can make with it 🙂
LOL, Lynn! I guess I shouldn't feel embarrassed that it took me two years to finally use my starter. The Beast has become a member of the family, in a way.
The bread looks delicious Debbie. Bev just recently made her first batch using the King Arthur starter and while the texture wasn't just right, we loved the tangy flavor. Getting sourdough in SF is one of my favorite things when we get out that way. I'll send this one to her so she can benefit from your experience.
I definitely want to dive into the world of sourdough someday…maybe it's time to order one of KAF's starters! Your rolls are beautiful!
KAF is wondeful. They share fantastic recipes and instructions. I am also hesitant to start anything that includes yeast. That said, I was going to try the 5 minute Artisan bread and just watched a video on it. Your sour dough bread looks great!
I had zero bread baking skills when I started blogging and VERY slowing with practice I'm producing decent loaves of bread. I don't think there is anything more satisfying. I haven't gotten into the whole starter thing yet but you have made me curious because I love the tangy taste of sourdough. Beautiful loaves, Debby.