Sourdough Bread Techniques
Below are a series of techniques that are an important part of baking sourdough bread: Doing Hand Folds, Creating Loaf Rise Tension (or Oven Spring), and lastly - making Seam Tears!
Hand Folds
The purpose of the hand folds is to develop gluten in the sourdough bread which will give the bread structure and support. This will help the dough rise. Starting with the dough simply mixed/combined you will do a series of 4-6 hand folds in quick succession before letting the dough rest for 30-45 minutes. After it rests you will repeat this process again.
Start the folding process by wetting your hand, this will help keep the dough from sticking to your hand
With the dough in a large bowl, slide your wet hand completely underneath the dough
Grip the dough and fold itself over the top
Rotate the bowl 45 degrees and repeat the same motion, sliding your hand under the dough and folding it over itself
Repeat this same process of rotating the bowl and folding the dough over itself 4-6 times total, then cover with a tea towel and let rest
Repeat this process every 30-45 minutes
Creating Loaf Rise Support
The purpose of creating loaf rise support, sometimes called “oven spring”, is to create tension in the dough to help encourage its rise in the oven, by completing a series of folds the dough will have tension in it to support its rise.
With the dough in a ball, or a semi-spherical disk, lightly flour the top of the dough
Then, flip the dough over so the floured side is against the counter
Position your hands so that one hand is gripping the top of the dough (the part of the dough furthest away from you), and your other hand is gripping the part of the dough closest to you.
Without tearing the dough, stretch it out by pulling your hands apart. Then, fold over the bottom of the dough (the portion closest to you) over 2/3 of the way (but not completely in half) so that 1/3 of the dough is still exposed
Next, grip the right side of the dough. Again, without tearing the dough, stretch it out, then fold it on top of the middle section of the dough.
Repeat this again with the left side of the dough
Finally, take the remaining 1/3 of dough at the top and fold it down over everything else so that you have a pack of folded dough
Now, as much as possible without losing the tension you developed, roll the dough between your hands to return it to a ball shape before gently placing the dough into a prepared baking dish (a dutch oven or loaf pan)
Making Seam Tears
The purpose of seam tears is to allow the sourdough bread to “explode” through pre-determined points. Ideally this can be done in an aesthetically pleasing way with tears done at predetermined points. As the dough rises it needs to expand somewhere, if the top of the dough is perfectly smooth (without any seam tears) it can create some unfortunate adverse effects - a large air bubble in the top of the dough or the dough exploding out of strange places in the top.
To create seam tears take an ordinary pair of scissors and cut deep into the dough. Do not be shy with your cuts.
Cut the dough a total of 3 - 5 times in an intentional pattern to give the dough several places to expand out from.
Once the seam tears have been created, sprinkle the dough with water, cover with the dutch oven lid or tin foil tent and bake!
Baking!
From here simply cover and bake! 500 degrees for 30 minutes covered, then 450 for 25 minutes uncovered.
Photos of the pre-bake coverings, mid-bake, and final product below!
Pre-Bake
Mid-Bake
Final Product