A finished loaf without parchment, just for the photo!

I know so many people have been making sourdough starter these days, unable to buy yeast. I’ve been keeping a sourdough starter in my fridge for several years now, making bread every week or so.

However, I am not making real sourdough bread, like my friend, Rafi, of Hilltown Hot Pies. (See his Instagram page where he’s been doing live lessons.) Most of the time I’m doing what I would call a cheater’s version that doesn’t require nearly as much time and coordination. While it may not have as strong a sour tang, my rosemary version has become our go-to bread of choice.

For a real sourdough one would discard some of the starter and feed the remainder, then wait hours before mixing the dough. That just doesn’t work for me while I’m still teaching full-time. Instead I take the sourdough starter out of the refrigerator the night before I want to make bread. After sitting out all night, I use 8 ounces of the starter in my dough. Because it’s not made as a “real” sourdough, I do need to add some yeast, but half of what I would need if it were non-sourdough bread.

I also sometimes cheat by putting the dough in the fridge for the first rise. That isn’t really happening these days as I’m pretty much always home, but when I did have errands, I could put the dough in the fridge to rise and not worry about it over-proofing.

I like to bake my bread in preheated pan, covered for the first 25-30 minutes to create some of the steam that helps make a good loaf, and then take the cover off for the rest of the baking time. If you don’t have a pan specifically for this purpose, you can use a Dutch oven. Whatever you do, line the pan with parchment to get the bread out of the pan more easily. If you don’t have a pan, you can make a free-form loaf and use a baking stone, or even a half sheet pan.

I read somewhere that you can keep your sourdough starter in the fridge without using it for up to two weeks, and with some planning I’ve been able to accomplish that. If we are going away, I’ll make bread or crackers (see the recipe for crackers with sourdough discard on this post) right before we leave, and then again as soon as we get back. I’ve read about other methods to store it for longer, but I’ve not yet had to deal with that.

Rosemary (Cheater’s) Sourdough

You will need to have sourdough starter in the fridge already. I got mine from King Arthur, but you can also check with a friend who could give you some. I’ve shared some of mine to get friends started.

8 ounces sourdough starter
21 ounces flour (all-purpose or bread flour or a combination of the two)
1 scant teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt (I like King Arthur bread salt)
1 scant Tablespoon sugar
1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tablespoons rosemary olive oil, or try another flavor of infused oil
12 ounces tepid water (68°-75°F)

Take the sourdough starter out of the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 4-12 hours.

Measure out 8 ounces of sourdough starter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the remaining ingredients and begin to combine with the dough hook attachment of the mixer. Stop the mixer once or twice and use a flexible scraper to push the dry ingredients on the sides of the bowl into the middle. Allow the mixer to knead the dough for 7-9 minutes at medium-low speed. (This is the second setting on my KitchenAid.)

[While the mixer is kneading the dough, replace what you have taken from the starter with 4 ounces of all-purpose flour and 4 ounces of cool water. Allow the fed starter to sit out for 2-4 hours and make sure some bubbles are coming to the surface before putting back into the refrigerator.]

Scrape the dough from the bowl of the mixer into a lightly-oiled bowl. I use olive oil spray for this. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise in a warm room temperature spot for 90-120 minutes. Optionally, if that timing doesn’t work, the dough can be placed in the refrigerator for several hours and it will rise more slowly.

Prepare the pot, if using, by lining with parchment. I use the pre-cut half sheets of parchment, folded and/or formed as needed. I’ve used both round and long bakers, or a Dutch oven is a great option.

With floured knuckles, punch down the dough and scrape out onto a floured surface. Shape the dough as needed for the pot in which you will bake the bread, if you’re using a vessel. The piece of dough should be smaller than the pot for now. If you are making one or two free-form loaves, shape as desired and place on a piece of parchment. If you are using a parchment-lined sheet pan, you can just put the loaves on that now.

Place the dough on the parchment in the pot, and then lift out with the parchment for the second rise. At this point I place the parchment and dough into a jerry-rigged set up to keep the shape. Cover the loaf with plastic wrap and a towel. (For a round loaf I put it into the ring of a springform pan set on a cutting board; for my long baker I place the parchment with the dough into the side of a roasting pan with a small loaf pan alongside so the dough rises up, not sideways)

Place the empty vessel in the oven and preheat to 475°F while the dough rises for 45-60 minutes. If not using a vessel but you do have a pizza stone, put that in the oven to preheat. If you are just using a sheet pan that you will not preheat, you don’t need as long for the preheating stage. (The longer preheat is to make sure the vessel or pizza stone is fully heated.)

Remove the preheated pot from the oven, if using, and take off the cover. Uncover the dough and using the parchment sticking up, lift the loaf and place it in the pot. Optionally, you can dust the loaf with flour at this time. With a lame, single edge blade (such as from a utility knife), or a sharp knife, slash the dough. You should make at least one deep slash, and you can make other shallow slashes as desired. Place the cover on the pot and place in the oven. If you are using a pizza stone, use a peel under the loaf to slide the bread onto the stone. If using a half sheet pan, just place in the oven.

For bread baked in a cover pot, after 25-30 minutes, remove the top, then allow the bread to bake for another 20-25 minutes until deep brown. For a loaf on the pizza stone or a half sheet pan, you can check after 45 minutes. If you have made two smaller loaves, check after 30 minutes. You can test for doneness by tapping the bottom of loaf – it should sound hollow. If you have an instant read thermometer, this kind of bread should be 205°F.

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Lazy Sourdough