Background

I began to experiment with sourdough bread well over a decade ago when my son Greg gave me a jar of Russian Sourdough Starter. I first adapted a recipe by Mark Bittman (New York Times, 2006), based on the no-knead technique developed by Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery. I later modified the recipe, retaining Lahey’s two-phase baking, but replacing his no-knead treatment of the dough with the stretch-and-fold method from the country bread recipe in Chad Robertson’s book Tartine Bread (reprinted in New York Times, 2010). Stretching and folding the dough gives the bread a light and airy texture and enriches its flavors.

My recipe and process work well in Palo Alto, California. It may be necessary to modify amounts and times for warmer, cooler, wetter, or drier climates or for high altitudes. I let the sourdough starter grow, and the dough rest or rise, at about 80° to 85° F. Because this is much warmer than our room temperature, I warm our electric oven to about 80° F, then turn the oven off and leave the bowl of starter or dough in the closed oven.