Sourdough Bread Ken Forkish Method Original Recipe See Next Printable Recipe For Modified Version

SOURDOUGH BREAD, KEN FORKISH METHOD (ORIGINAL RECIPE, SEE NEXT PRINTABLE RECIPE FOR MODIFIED VERSION)

Steps:

• Day 1 (around midday), feed the levain. Before refreshing your mother starter, set aside 40 grams to feed for the levain required in this recipe. Feed 40 grams each flour of your choice and water. Set aside until at peak rise (about 4 hours; longer on cold days. In winter I store the levain inside the oven, turned off with the light on.
• Day 1, autolyse. Combine the all-purpose and wheat flours with the water in a bowl (DON'T add the starter and salt). I've performed this step two ways. The original Ken Forkish recipe requires a 30-minute autolyse. In this case, after a few hours of feeding the starter, when it is near peak, combine the water and flours and let rest. The other option that has worked for me is to start the autolyse at the same time as I feed the levain, resulting in an autolyse of several hours. If you're trying this recipe for the first time I recommend opting for the shorter option as it is what the original recipe uses.
• Day 1 (evening), mix the final dough. When the levain is ready add the salt and levain to the flour and water mixture. Combine the dough using a wet hand and folding the dough over from the bottom to top. Then Ken Forkish employs what he calls the "pincer" method to make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Imagining your hand as a lobster claw (my description), cut through the dough pinching a few times, mixing, then pinching again. If you're using the caraway seeds at them at this step.
• Day 1 (evening), fold the dough. Pick up one portion of the dough (without taking it out of the bowl) and fold it over. Repeat this folding step a few times, inverting the dough with the folds at the bottom of the bowl when done. This folding step should be done three to four times before the dough rests overnight over a period of one to two hours. I fold every thirty minutes in the space of two hours before the overnight rest. After folding, cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rest overnight.
• Day 2 (morning), shape the loaf and final proof. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. The dough will relax and flatten when you take it out of the bowl. Taking one section of dough at at time, fold the sections over the rest of the dough until you have a somewhat tight ball shape. Then tighten the dough by pulling it towards you by cupping the dough with both your hands using your pinky fingers as the anchors. This tightens the dough shape as you pull it towards you. Rotate then repeat three to four times until the dough holds its ball shape. Transfer the dough on a floured banneton with the seam side down. Cover the entire proofing basket with a plastic bag and let rest for about four hours. To test for readiness, poke the dough with a floured finger, making about a 1/2 inch indentation. If the dent springs back immediately, the dough needs a longer proofing. If the dent springs back slowly and doesn't completely disappear, the dough is ready to bake.
• Day 2 (afternoon), bake. This recipe uses a dutch oven for baking. Preheat your oven to 475ºF with a rack in the center of the oven. Put the dutch oven with their lid on on the rack while the oven preheats. Once the oven has reached temperature, invert the dough on a lightly floured countertop. Even better is to invert the dough on a piece of parchment paper. Make sure you have oven mitts then take the (very hot) dutch oven out of the oven and place on the counter or stove. Remove the lid and rest one of your mitts on top of the lid so you don't touch it by accident. Take the ends of the parchment paper and carefully lift and transfer the dough to the dutch oven. Cover the dutch oven and place it back in the oven. Bake covered for 30 minutes then uncover and bake for another 20-25 minutes, checking your bread at the 15-18 minute mark just in case your oven runs hot. When done, tilt the bread out of the dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

THE SATURDAY WHITE BREAD

Steps:

• Autolyse: Combine the 1,000 grams of flour with the 720 grams of 90°F to 95°F (32°C to 35°C) water in a 12-quart round tub or similar container. Mix by hand just until incorporated. Cover and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Mix: Sprinkle the 21 grams of salt and the 4 grams (1 level teaspoon) of yeast evenly over the top of the dough. Mix by hand, wetting your working hand before mixing so the dough doesn't stick to you. (It's fine to rewet your hand three or four times while you mix.)
• Reach underneath the dough and grab about one-quarter of it. Gently stretch this section of dough and fold it over the top to the other side of the dough. Repeat three more times with the remaining dough, until the salt and yeast are fully enclosed.
• Use the pincer method to fully integrate the ingredients. Make five or six pincer cuts across the entire mass of dough. Then fold the dough over itself a few times. Repeat, alternately cutting and folding until all of the ingredients are fully integrated and the dough has some tension in it. Let the dough rest for a few minutes, then fold for another 30 seconds or until the dough tightens up. The whole process should take about 5 minutes. The target dough temperature at the end of the mix is 77°F to 78°F (25°C to 26°C). If the final mix temperature is cooler, don't worry, it will just take longer to fully rise (in this case tripling in size). If you have a warm spot where the dough can rise, that will help make up for the cooler dough temperature. If your dough is warmer, the dough will triple in size sooner. (The next time you make the recipe, you can adjust the final mix temperature by using warmer or cooler water.) Cover the tub and let the dough rise.
• Fold: This dough needs two folds. It's easiest to apply the folds during the first 1½ hours after mixing the dough. Apply the first fold about 10 minutes after mixing and the second fold during the next hour (when you see the dough spread out in the tub, it's ready for the second fold). If need be, it's okay to fold later; just be sure to leave it alone for the last hour of rising.
• To fold the dough, dip your active hand in the container of warm water to wet it so the dough doesn't stick to you. With your moistened hand, reach underneath the dough and pull about one-quarter of it out and up to stretch it until you feel resistance, then fold it over the top to the other side of the dough. Repeat four or five times, working around the dough until the dough has tightened into a ball. Grab the entire ball and invert it so the seam side, where all of the folds have come together, faces down. This helps the folds hold their position. The top should be smooth.
• When the dough relaxes a bit and flattens repeat the process for the second fold. When the dough is triple its original volume, about 5 hours after mixing, it's ready to be divided.
• Divide: Moderately flour a work surface about 2 feet wide. Flour your hands and sprinkle a bit of flour around the edges of the tub. Tip the tub slightly and gently work your floured free hand beneath the dough to loosen it from the bottom of the tub. Gently ease the dough out onto the work surface without pulling or tearing it.
• With floured hands, pick up the dough and ease it back down onto the work surface in a somewhat even shape. Dust the area in the middle, where you'll cut the dough, with a bit of flour. Cut the dough into 2 equal-size pieces with a dough knife or plastic dough scraper.
• Shape: Dust 2 proofing baskets with flour. Shape each piece of dough into a medium-tight ball. Place each seam side down in its proofing basket.
• Proof: Lightly flour the tops of the loaves. Set them side by side and cover with a kitchen towel, or place each basket in a non-perforated plastic bag.
• Plan on baking the loaves about 1¼ hours after they are shaped, assuming a room temperature of about 70°F (21°C). If your kitchen is warmer, they will be optimally proofed in about 1 hour. Use the finger-dent test to determine when they are perfectly proofed and ready to bake, being sure to check the loaves after 1 hour: Poke the rising loaf with a floured finger, making an indentation about ½ inch deep. If it springs back immediately, the loaf needs more proofing time. If the indentation springs back slowly and incompletely, the loaf is fully proofed and ready to bake. With this bread, 15 minutes can make the difference between being perfectly proofed and collapsing a bit.
• Preheat: At least 45 minutes prior to baking, put a rack in the middle of the oven and put 2 Dutch ovens on the rack with their lids on. Preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C). If you only have 1 Dutch oven, put the second loaf into the refrigerator about 20 minutes before baking the first loaf and bake the loaves sequentially, giving the Dutch oven a 5-minute reheat after removing the first loaf. Alternatively, you can keep the second loaf in the refrigerator overnight, in its proofing basket inside a non-perforated plastic bag, and bake it early the next morning; if you do this, put the second loaf in the refrigerator immediately after shaping.
• Bake: For the next step, please be careful not to let your hands, fingers, or forearms touch the extremely hot Dutch oven.
• Invert the proofed loaf onto a lightly floured countertop, keeping in mind that the top of the loaf will be the side that was facing down while it was rising-the seam side. Use oven mitts to remove the preheated Dutch oven from the oven. Remove the lid. Carefully place the loaf in the hot Dutch oven seam side up. Use mitts to replace the lid, then put the Dutch oven in the oven. Maintain the temperature at 475°F (245°C).
• Bake for 30 minutes, then carefully remove the lid and bake for about 20 more minutes, until at least medium dark brown all around the loaf. Check after 15 minutes of baking uncovered in case your oven runs hot.
• Remove the Dutch oven and carefully tilt it to turn the loaf out. Let cool on a rack or set the loaf on its side so air can circulate around it. Let the loaf rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.