Recipe Bake Ingredients Steps

Foodbod Master Recipe

Follow along as Elaine Boddy shows you how to make her Master Recipe that is the basis for over 60 recipes in her wonderful "Whole Grain Sourdough at Home" book.

From Elaine: The recipe I have developed as my master recipe is what I follow every week. I need a recipe that works again and again to provide the bread for my household, and this works for me, every time.


Read the recipe in full on Elaine's website
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Author: Elaine Boddy
1x (904g)
71%
6 hrs
Loaves
Hydration
Starter Peaks
Day 1 @ 11:00 AM
7 hrs
Day 2 @ 4:10 PM
Start
Cold Proof
Ready
Change Start Bake Stop Bake
Ingredient
Baker's Pct
Levain/Starter
This is a 50/50 mix of water and flour
10%
Strong White Bread flour
100%
Water
70%
Salt
From Elaine: "Please note that I only use a small amount of salt in my recipe, this suits my tastes; please feel free to increase it."
0.8%
When
Step
Duration
Levain
6h
  1. Feed the starter
  1. Start this process when your starter is ready, around mid/late afternoon works well, I tend to begin making my doughs between 4-5pm.
Autoproofer calculates the recipe based on the time it takes your starter to peak. Make sure to adjust that before starting your bake and the schedule will adjust to your starter as needed.
First Stage
5m
  1. Mix the starter and the water
  1. In your mixing bowl, mix the 50g of starter with the 350g of water; the water can be cold, cool or room temperature, it doesn’t need to be a particular temperature. Stir the starter and water loosely together just to lift the starter off the bottom of the bowl.
5m
  1. Mix in the flour and salt
  1. Next, add the 500g of strong white bread flour to the bowl, and the 4g of salt. (Please note that I only use a small amount of salt in my recipe, this suits my tastes; please feel free to increase it.)
Mix it all together loosely, so that it’s pretty ragged but all the flour and water is mixed; I tend to use a stainless steel tablespoon for this first rough mix, or use your hands, whichever you prefer. I follow this up using a bowl scraper to clean round the bowl and make sure it’s all nicely roughly mixed together.
1h
  1. Cover and rest
  1. Cover the bowl with a shower cap or cover of your choice, and leave it for an hour or so on the kitchen counter. You do not need to time this, it doesn’t need to be exact, around an hour is fine, if it’s a bit longer, it will also be fine.
NOTE: You will see this process being called the 'autolyse' or pre-mix. I just call it the first stage.
*Put the rest of the starter in the fridge, you only ever need to keep around 100g of starter and you DO NOT need to feed it again after use, just store it, covered, in the fridge until you need it again.
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Second Stage
5m
  1. Pulls and folds #1
  1. After an hour, remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough, wake up the gluten, and bring it into a smooth ball of dough. Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it about 20-25 times maximum, until its a smooth ball.
Please note: you will only need to perform this many pulls and folds on this first occasion; after this, far fewer pulls and folds will be required to pull the dough into a ball before covering and leaving it again. You do NOT need to perform 20-25 each time. At this point the dough will be at its stickiest, from this point it will become less sticky with each handling.
45m
  1. Cover and rest
  1. Cover the bowl again with your same cover, and leave it out on the kitchen counter.
  2. Over the next few hours, perform sets of the pulls and folds/lifting and folding actions 2 to 4 more times; these do not need to be done at fixed time periods apart, as long as you fit in sufficient sets during that time, that’s the key. I aim for 4 sets in total. The dough will not be starting to grow at this stage.
This Autoproofer version of Elaine's recipe will plan 3 more sets as Elaine demonstrates in her video, however this is up to you as to how many you actually want to do!
Third Stage
5m
  1. Pulls and folds #2
  1. Remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough, wake up the gluten, and bring it into a smooth ball of dough. Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it until it's a smooth ball.
Each time you perform these pulls and folds, stop when the dough comes into a ball, that’s the dough telling you it’s had enough handling at that stage.
45m
  1. Rest your dough
  1. Cover the bowl again with your same cover, and leave it out on the kitchen counter.
A reminder: these do not need to be done at fixed time periods apart, as long as you fit in sufficient sets during that time, that’s the key. I aim for 4 sets in total. The dough will not be starting to grow at this stage.
5m
  1. Pulls and folds #3
  1. Remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough, wake up the gluten, and bring it into a smooth ball of dough. Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it until it's a smooth ball.
Each time you perform these pulls and folds, stop when the dough comes into a ball, that’s the dough telling you it’s had enough handling at that stage.
45m
  1. Rest your dough
  1. Cover the bowl again with your same cover, and leave it out on the kitchen counter.
Fourth Stage
5m
  1. Pulls and folds #4
  1. Remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough, wake up the gluten, and bring it into a smooth ball of dough. Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it until it's a smooth ball.
Each time you perform these pulls and folds, stop when the dough comes into a ball, that's the dough telling you it's had enough handling at that stage.
10.2h
  1. Bulk Ferment
  1. Re cover the bowl, and leave it on the counter overnight. This is often termed as the "bulk fermentation" period.
The ideal temperature for this is between 18C - 20C for 8-10 hours. If it's a lot colder than this, it will take longer, just give it a few more hours. If it's warmer it risks over proving, see my hints and tips and FAQs for assistance on how to prevent it.
Fifth Stage
5m
  1. Prepare your banneton
  1. Now, get your banneton out and sprinkle it with rice flour even if it's been prepared beforehand. It needs to be really well floured, all the way up the sides, so that the dough doesn't stick.
At this point, the dough should have really grown within the bowl, to at least double, with a smoothish, slightly domed surface. There should be a nice structure to the dough, it does not need to bubbly, just grown.
5m
  1. Final set of pulls and folds
  1. To place the dough into the banneton, perform a final round of pulls and folds with the dough, enough to bring it into a nice ball again, it should be bouncy and happy and you should be able to feel the structure in your dough. Don't be overly heavy handed, you're not trying to crush the dough, but likewise don't be too gentle or nervous; aim to create some tension in the dough so that it holds a ball on it's own and sits proud on the middle of the bowl quite happily.
5m
  1. Place in banneton
  1. Lift and place the ball of dough, smooth side down into the banneton. Move the dough gently aside to be able to sprinkle rice flour down the sides of the dough. And ensure that you sprinkle some rice flour all over the top of the dough too to stop it from sticking to the parchment paper.
7h
  1. Final Proof
  1. Cover it again with a shower cap/cover, and put it in the fridge for an absolute minimum of 3 hours, and up to 24 hours, the longer you leave it, the more the flavour will grow. I usually leave mine for an average of 10 hours. This means you can leave it there all day whilst you’re at work, or out for the day, and bake it on your return should you wish.
This schedule is based on Elaine’s standard process, allowing the dough to prove overnight for 8-10 hours on the counter, assuming an overnight room temperature of between 18-20C.
Please note that of it was colder overnight, the dough may need longer to fully prove; leave it on the counter until the dough has doubled in size then move onto the next step.
If it is warmer than 22C overnight the dough is at risk of over proving; in this instance, use half the amount of starter in the dough and refer to Elaine’s website for more help.
Sixth Stage
55m
  1. Score and bake
  1. You can bake the dough when it suits you, but Elaine recommends leaving the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours to firm up. To develop more flavour, leave it for longer, up to 24 hours maximum.
  2. To bake from a cold start: place the dough into the pan as above, score, put the lid on and place the pan into your cold oven. Turn the oven up to 220C/425F fan/230-240C/450F non fan and a timer on for 55 mins, leaving the lid on for the whole time. The time required in the oven starts from the point you place the pan into the cold oven and switch it on, not from the time the oven reaches the required temperature. For more information about cold baking read more here.
  3. Leave it to bake: DO NOT be tempted to peek, do not open and close the oven, resist any urge to do so to look at it.
Now you can choose whether to bake from a preheated or cold start; I bake all of mine from a cold start, it may sound counterintuitive, but I promise it works. For instructions on how to cook from a preheated oven, tap "Read more" below.
If you choose to preheat: preheat the oven now to 220C/425F fan/230-240C/450F non fan.

Remove the dough, in the banneton, from of the fridge once the oven is ready; line your enamel roaster with a sheet of parchment baking paper. Place the tin over the top of the banneton, then invert it/turn it all over together to turn the dough into the pot.

You should now have a lovely dome of dough, that holds it shape, decorated with a pattern of concentric flour rings from the banneton. Score the top of the dough with a lame or a clean razor blade, put the lid on and bake it for 50 mins.
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Seventh Stage
1h
  1. Take out and rest before eating
  1. After the 50 or 55 minutes, remove the whole pan from the oven, carefully take the loaf from the pan, tilt it whilst still wearing your oven gloves to remove the parchment paper from the bottom, (and keep it to use again like I do) then leave the loaf on a rack to cool.
  2. If after the required time, you prefer a darker loaf or you feel that yours look pale, you can remove the lid and bake for a further 5-10 mins; I prefer to keep the lid on for the entire bake as I like the colour I get.
Wait AT LEAST an hour before you slice into it. If you cut into the loaf too soon, it will still be cooking, and steam will fill all of those carefully crafted holes and make the bread gummy.
Enjoy
0m
  1. Eat!
  1. If you have any issues or queries, check out Elaine’s faq page or contact her directly for help: https://foodbodsourdough.com/faq/
Let Elaine know how it worked for you at https://foodbodsourdough.com/contact/