Recipe: Appetizing French Sourdough in the Bread Machine

French Sourdough in the Bread Machine. Place the ingredients into the pan of your machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer; program for French Bread, or a similar long-rising cycle; and press start. I have spent much time experimenting with sourdough to come up with a recipe that I feel can rival the famous San Francisco Sourdough French Bread. I find that using my bread machine for the kneading process only, saves me a lot of time and saves my wrists.

Set machine for dough cycle and start. At end of dough cycle, turn dough out onto a floured surface. If dough is too sticky, knead in a little additional flour. You can cook French Sourdough in the Bread Machine using 9 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of French Sourdough in the Bread Machine

1. Prepare 180 grams of Bread flour.
2. You need 40 grams of Whole wheat flour.
3. It's 30 grams of Rye flour.
4. Prepare 5 grams of Salt.
5. It's 5 grams of Honey.
6. It's 160 grams of Water.
7. It's 2 1/2 grams of Dry yeast.
8. You need 50 grams of Walnuts.
9. It's 70 grams of Dried fruits soaked in rum.

This bread has an autolyse step that is a fancy word for "mix everything in a bowl and let it sit there". Set it for french bread and start it. Slowly drizzle the water into the machine while it is running. Try Out the French Bread Setting.

French Sourdough in the Bread Machine instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to the bread maker and set it to the dough setting. Start the course and once the dough has finished kneading, switch it off. Take the dough out of the bread maker and mix in the walnuts and rum-soaked fruit..
2. Prove until the dough doubled in size. Once proven, punch it down to get rid of any excess gas and roll it into a neat ball. Leave to rest for 10 - 15 minutes..
3. Roll the dough out into an oval shape..
4. Fold the two long sides over the bread towards the middle..
5. Fold in half lengthways and firmly close up any seams. Put the dough seam-down on a baking tray and leave to prove for a second time..
6. After this second proofing, use a tea strainer to sprinkle some bread flour over the top of the dough and score it 4 times. Spray with water and bake in an oven preheated to 220°C for 22 minutes. The outside of the bread may burn easily so if it looks like it is browning too much, cover it with aluminium foil whilst baking..
7. Here it is when baked. I kind of burned it a little, but that's the way I like it..
8. You can use this recipe to make 2 small loaves as well..
9. Here I tried making a loaf with no filling. I proved it for a second time in a banneton (a bread rising mould) and dusted with rye flour. It made a really soft loaf that's great for making sandwiches..

If you aren't able to adjust the rising time of your bread maker, you may want to test out using the French bread setting with your sourdough. Generally, the French bread setting provides a longer rise time and a slower rise. As you know, that is usually exactly what sourdough bread needs. Sourdough starter is the key to making these authentic-tasting and hearty loaves of bread. To mimic the humidity of a real wood-fired bread oven, spray water into the oven a few times, and keep a pan of hot water in the oven during baking.