Beginner’s Sourdough Recipe by Black Market Bakers’ Steve O’Leary
Article By Sarah Amyot
Recipe By Steve O’Leary
During the COVID pandemic, people picked up some interesting hobbies—from collecting plants (I’m guilty as charged), learning how to cross stitch, becoming a puzzle master, and baking sourdough. Even though it’s now 2024, it’s never too late to jump on the sourdough baking craze! We chatted with Steve O’Leary, one third of the trio who owns Black Market Bakers (Steve and Brendan are brothers, Tom is the father) to talk bread. Like sourdough, Black Marker Bakers (BMB) has grown– from food truck to storefront and now has two locations in Annapolis. Sourdough is at the crossroads of art and science. Sound daunting? Thankfully, Steve has broken down the process for us. Thanks to Black Market Bakers for sharing this Beginner’s Sourdough recipe.
Yield: 2 loaves Ingredients
800g high gluten flour 200g whole wheat flour 700g water + 50g reserved 200g ripe levain 20g salt *It is important to weigh out these ingredients on a kitchen scale COMMON TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Levain = An offshoot of your sourdough starter. It’s a mixture of fresh flour, water, and some ripe starter. This mixture will be used entirely in a batch of dough and has the same fate as the bread dough you're mixing—you will bake it in the oven and eventually eat it. Sourdough starter = A stable mixture of beneficial bacteria and wild yeast that's maintained with regular feedings and is used to leaven (i.e. rise) and flavor your dough. Feeding your sourdough starter = Since sourdough starter is a live culture, you’ll need to “feed” it every time you want to make bread dough. By feeding it, you “activate” your starter, making it bubbly, which ultimately causes it to rise (which is what we want!). Scoring = Making a large shallow cut or multiple cuts on bread dough right before it’s baked to guide the way your bread rises in the oven, which affects how your bread looks and its texture.
All Photos courtesy of Rebecca McCoy Photography
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