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Easy Overnight Wholemeal Sourdough

After making no-knead bread for a while (see Tom's Overnight, No-knead Sourdough), I was persuaded to give kneading a go to see what difference it made. My conclusion ... it takes a little more time and effort, but assuming you've got a few mintues to spare, it's worth it for a better crumb.

Ingredients

Starter 150g (my starter is approx 1 parts wholemeal rye to 1 part water)

Wholemeal flour 500g

Water 300g

Salt 8g

Method

Some time before:

Feed up your starter and make sure it will be ready to go ...

Early evening:

Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and mix briefly. Then add the starter and the water and mix thoroughly to form a rough dough. Cover in plastic bag / clingfilm and leave in a warm place for an hour or 2 to autolyse. (This gives the starter a chance to get to work before you start kneading, which helps with the flavour and makes the dough a bit easier to handle when you do knead it.)

Late evening:

Knead your dough for 5-10 mins, or until you feel that it is ready.

Next morning:

Place your dough on to a well floured surface, fold a couple of times and shape. Treat it gently as you don't want to push the air out of it - sourdoughs need handling with care! Place your shaped dough in a well floured bannetone and cover with a plastic bag, before leaving in a warm place to prove. It usually takes 3-4 hours to double in size.

Pre-heat the over to 220C. I bake this loaf in a large "Le Crueset" casserole for at 220C for 20mins and then take the lid off and bake for a further 20 mins at 200C.

Try to wait a bit before eating, but not too long as it is really delicous when it's still warm! It keeps well and makes fabulous toast for days, if you can keep it for that long.

NOTE - the precise quanitities of ingredients work very well for me, but try tweaking the flour to water ratio to change the texture. More water gives you a more open structure to you bread, but is harder to handle; less flour and it's easier to shape, but more closed.

If you try this recipe, please leave a comment to let me know how you got on, especially if you've got any suggested improvements. Thanks