Rachel
- Feb 15, 2021
- 6 min read

Sourdough Bread 4 (Open Crumb)

Updated: Jun 17, 2021

My first well fermented and open crumb sourdough recipe! It's certainly more involved than the sourdough bread 3 recipe I've been using since 2019, but I think the end result is totally worth it! It's not all about looks either :) this bread has a lighter interior texture that crisps up very well and the outside crust is chewy and also crispy, especially when toasted. And of course it tastes great!

I modified this recipe from the original, and I highly recommend watching this video tutorial before attempting this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjmd9uIQwOA

My loaf was 79% hydration (307 g water, 389 g flour), 704 g dough

The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:

Ingredients:

78 g wholegrain rye sourdough starter (or other starter) at it's peak rise
280 g bread flour (mine is Robin Hood brand, 13% protein)
70 g whole wheat flour
8 g uniodized salt
268 g room temperature water (70-80°F)
Rice flour for dusting

Directions:

Notes: I fed my starter 2x a day (every 12 hours) at a 1:1:1 ratio for 3 days before starting this recipe, which will give you an idea of how long it takes to reach its peak rise for this recipe. My room temperature from step 1 to step 15 was between 68-74°F. Be aware that your fermentation time might change depending on the room temperature. Here are the steps with a tentative time table (feel free to adjust):

5 a.m. Feed your sourdough starter at 100% hydration and a 1:1:1 ratio. I fed 30 g of my wholegrain rye starter with 30 grams of wholegrain dark rye flour (I use Rogers brand), 30 g water and mix together. Cover and rest, you will at it to the dough when it's at its peak rise.
5 a.m. In a medium mixing bowl mix together the 280 g bread flour, 70 g whole grain flour, and 258 g water (mine was ~82°F) until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest, this is an autolyse. Total autolyse and starter rise time: 4 hours. If your starter takes longer to rise you can extend the autolyse or simply feed the starter earlier.
9 a.m. When the starter is at its peak, add 78 g starter to the autolyzed flour + water. Then use stretch and folds and a slap and fold method (or the Rubaud method if your dough is loose enough) to mix the starter in until completely combined (4-6 minutes).
Cover and rest 30 minutes at room temperature (mine was 72°F).
9:30 a.m. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and add 10 g water. Use wet hands to dimple the salt into the dough and once the salt and water is folded in mix for 4-6 minutes until the salt is completely combined. My dough was not very loose so I used stretch and folds and a S & F method around the edges of the bowl.
Cover and rest 30 minutes at room temperature (mine was 74°F).
10 a.m. Take the dough out and do a strong fold (4-5 folds) on a clean countertop. Then shape back into a ball and put back in the bowl.
Cover and rest 30 minutes at room temperature (mine was 72°F).
10:30 a.m. Perform a lamination. Take the dough onto a clean surface and stretch in to the largest rectangle you can, stretching out from the inside of the dough, not pulling too hard on the outer edges. This takes time, about 3-5 minutes and be patient. Try not to create areas that tear or are too thin. Then fold like a letter and roll it up tightly without tearing the dough. Place, seam side down, in a clean Pyrex or glass (heavy bottom) dish.
Cover and rest 2 hours at room temperature (mine was 72°F). Note: if your dough flattens a lot after 1 hour do a coil fold at 11:30 am and one again at 12:30 p.m.
12:30 p.m. Do a coil fold (see video linked above).
Cover and rest 2 hours at room temperature (mine was 70°F). If it's raising fast consider shortening these 2 sets of 2 hour rests.
2:30 p.m. Lightly dust the counter with flour. Flip the glass Pyrex dish upside down and let the dough fall out on it's own. Then shape the dough into a boule or batard. I used this tutorial to shape my batard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_mzSDCT6Kc Place the loaf top side down in a banneton that's been well floured with rice flour.
Cover and rest 2 hours at room temperature (mine was 68-70°F), or until it passes the finger poke test in multiple locations (poke a finger in about 1/2 a cm or 1/4 inch and if it slowly springs back and leaves a slight dent it's ready but if it doesn't spring back it's gone too far and if it springs back quickly and fully it's too early.)
4:30 p.m. Place the covered banneton in a refrigerator on a lower shelf for 12-18 hours (i did 14, my fridge was 37-40°F).

Day 2:

Morning or early afternoon: Place the Dutch oven in an oven on the middle rack. Optional: Cover the oven's heat vent or steam vent (mine's the left back burner) with a heavy cast iron pan to trap in more heat.
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Once it reaches 500°F let it continue heating for 30-45 minutes before you add the loaf in.
Once the oven is very hot, take the dough out of the fridge and flip top side up onto prepared parchment paper (see picture below). Quickly score the loaf, remove the Dutch oven from the oven, and lower the bread in side. Optional but recommended: use a spray bottle to spray the inside of the Dutch oven several times to create steam. Quickly cover the Dutch oven with a lid and return to the oven.
Bake 15 minutes.
Quickly remove the Dutch oven lid and if your loaves tend to burn on the bottom place a thick baking tray on the lower shelf to avoid this issue (and also remove steam vent cover if using). Lower the oven temperature to 450°F.
Bake another 20-30 minutes uncovered, and if it browns too much lightly cover it with tin foil.
Immediately remove the loaf, once baked, onto a wire rack and let cool 3-4 hours before cutting into.
Store the loaf in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temperature or in the freezer for up to 1 month. I like to place it in a large Ziploc bag and suck the air out for both storage methods.
Makes 1 loaf, feel free to double the recipe but split the dough in half before the lamination stage!

Day 1:

Starter right after feeding (step 1).

Before mixing the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and water for the autolyse (step 2).

After mixing the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and water for the autolyse (step 2). Both the starter and the autolyse mixture will rest ~4 hours.

Starter after feeding (it reached it's peak after 4 hours. As you can see it's domed up on top.

Autolyse mixture after 4 hours.

After adding the starter (step 3).

After mixing in the starter (step 3). Now cover and rest 30 minutes (step 4).

After 30 minutes sprinkle on the salt (step 5). I also added a bit more water here, but it's still the same total amount listed above.

After mixing in the salt (step 5). Now cover and rest 30 minutes (step 6).

After 30 minutes. Now we'll take it out onto the counter to do the strong fold.

Before the strong fold (step 7).

After the strong fold (step 7).

Then shape it into a ball (step 7) and cover and rest 30 minutes (step 8).

After 30 minutes. Next we'll take it out onto the counter for the lamination step.

Put the dough on a clean (or slightly wet surface) (step 9).

Stretch it as far as it will go (step 9). If it's got a lot of thick and thin areas this may represent poor mixing in the previous steps (so consider that for future attempts at this recipe).

Fold in thirds like a letter (step 9). Obviously my folding wasn't perfect and I got some wrinkles :)

Fold the bottom up a bit (step 9).

And then start rolling tightly! (step 9).

After rolling up, closing the open end, and placing in a pyrex dish. Next you'll cover it and let it rest 2 hours (step 10).

After resting 2 hours. It didn't flatten as much as I expected... Next we'll do a coil fold (step 11).

After the coil fold (step 11). Cover and rest 2 hours (step 12).

After 2 hours. You can finally see that it's grown a little and there some big bubbles on the top, which is a good sign of fermentation! Next we will shape it (step 13).