Daily Bread

A tangy, crusty sourdough boule is surprisingly simple to make at home.

- PAIGE GRANDJEAN,PAIGE GRANDJEAN,VICTOR PROTASIO

SOURDOUGH

SOURDOUGH WAS THE BREAD, the hobby, and the self-prescribed therapy of the COVID-19 pandemic. Treating a starter like a pet, feeding it on a carefully regimented schedule, and baking loaves of bread was how many people filled their days during the lockdown. It was all-consuming, and that’s what made it perfect. But as the world began to reopen and busy schedules resumed, the rigorous bread-baking routine started to feel impossible. But making sourdough doesn’t have to take over your life—with careful planning (see “Timing Tips,” opposite), the process can be adapted to busy schedules.

Sourdough gets its characteristic tangy flavor from the bread’s most important ingredient: sourdough starter. This bubbly mixture, brimming with naturally occurring wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, is first combined with flour and water to form a levain. The levain is responsible for the bread’s mildly acidic flavor, and it’s what gives the dough its rise. Once the levain is almost doubled in volume, it’s mixed with additional flour and water and left to rest for 30 minutes. This key step of resting the dough before adding salt, known as the autolyze, allows the flour to fully hydrate and jump-starts gluten development.