First step for all of my recipes is to refresh the starter. I discard half of the starter that I have in the fridge and add 3/4 cup of flour (4 oz. by weight) and 4 oz. of water (weight and volume are the same for water). I let that sit in a warm spot for 8-12 hours, usually overnight. During the summer, I just put it on the counter in the kitchen. During the heating season, I put it in the basement in the same room that has the boiler in it.
Second step is the make the sponge for the bread recipe. For that, I stir down the refreshed starter and measure out 4 oz. by weight. I don't know what that is by volume. I always measure it by weight, because that is going to be the most accurate. The volume is about twice as much before the stirring as after. Not only that, sourdough starter is kind of sticky, so even if I were confident about the volume, too much of it would stick to the measuring cup.
To that 4 oz. of starter, I add 4 oz. (by weight) of flour and 4 oz. of water. I cover that loosely with plastic wrap and let it sit for 8 hours. It's the same idea as the starter refresh. The remaining starter goes back in the fridge.
A note about ingredients. For the above steps and any part of the recipe that calls for white flour, I use King Arthur bread flour. I won't accept any substitute. I'm not affiliated with King Arthur in any way, but their bread flour makes the best bread. I won't even use their all-purpose flour. In my mind all-purpose flour is all-purposes except for making bread. I think it has to do with the gluten content of the bread flour. The person who taught me to make bread (by hand) about 25 years ago told me to use King Arthur bread flour, and I've never strayed. I use King Arthur for the whole wheat flour, too. King Arthur doesn't seem to make rye flour. I use Hodgson Mill.
OK, now we have a sponge. That gets used to make either whole wheat bread:
Whole Wheat, Take 6
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Prepare sponge. When it is ready, put these ingredients in the bread machine with the white flour going in last. Add the sponge on top.
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Water
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4 oz.
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Whole wheat flour
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2 ¼ cups
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White flour
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1 cup
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Vital Gluten
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none
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Salt
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1 tsp
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Oil
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2 Tbl
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Honey
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¼ cup
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or rye bread:
Ryer Rye Bread, Take 3
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Prepare sponge. When it is ready, put these ingredients in the bread machine with the white flour going in last. Add the sponge on top.
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Water
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7 oz.
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Salt
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1 tsp
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Caraway seeds
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1 Tbl
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Oil
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2 Tbl
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Vital gluten
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2 tsp
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Rye flour
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2 Cup
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White bread flour
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1 1/3 Cup
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I use the whole-wheat cycle on my Toasmaster TBR 15 bread machine for both recipes.
I still haven't perfected the white bread recipe, but I like whole-grain breads. I'll probably revisit it at some point, but I'm sticking with these two favorites for the near future.
Once the weather turns cooler, I'm going to try making some things other than loaves of bread, like English muffins, bagels, and maybe some sandwich rolls.
