My mom took some of my sourdough starter home with her in December, and has started baking bread for my dad. As he is the only one eating bread, my mom asked me to create a recipe for her, for a small sourdough loaf. This is great if you are baking often, or if you only want bread for a few days.
Skip ahead to the recipe for Small Sourdough
Small words
I keep reading on threads about people boarding a flight, to find someone sitting in their seat. Or, people being asked to move so families can sit together. I really thought people were making this up, until I was on a flight last month. I heard two people say to other passengers that they were sitting in the wrong seat. The plane is a two by two configuration, and the people sitting where they should not have been, had chosen the window seats. I always select the emergency row when I am flying alone. And, I take the window seat as when Dave and I fly together, I don’t have that option. I was one of the first to board, and a couple boarded well after me, with the husband taking the aisle seat next to me. The wife was seated behind him, next to a young lady.
Making offers
The young lady immediately asked the wife if she would like to swap, so she could sit with her husband. The wife declined, stating they both preferred the aisle seats. The husband however was shocked that she declined the seat with the extra leg room. He honestly believed that the lady behind me was offering up my seat for the wife! I made it very clear that there was not a hope in hell that I would move! He ended up being very chatty and by the time we landed 2 hours later, I knew his entire life story! The one thing I am prepared to move on, is the way I bake my sourdough. Instagram is full of experts who complicate things for the average bread baker. Other than this small sourdough loaf, I am also working on a stand mixer recipe.
Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ Small Sourdough ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Small Sourdough
Ingredients
- 280 g bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 150 g water, plus extra in a spray bottle
- 75 g active starter
- 6 g fine salt
Method
- Place the flour, water and starter into a stand mixer bowl, and using the dough hook, mix until ragged
- Cover the bowl with a wet cloth and leave for an hour
- Spray the top of the dough with water and sprinkle the salt on top
- Using the dough hook, mix until combined, cover with a wet towel and set aside to prove until doubled in size
- Do 4 rounds of stretch and folds, 1 hour apart
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a boule and place into a lined brownie tin, dusted with flour, seam side down
- Dust the top of the dough with flour, cover with a shower cap and place into the fridge over night or
- Place into a warm spot until doubled in size *
- Preheat the oven to 190° Celsius
- Spray the top of the dough with water, slash the top and place the tin into the oven
- Bake the bread for 40 minutes
- Remove the tin from the oven and place the bread onto a wire rack to cool for 4 hours before slicing (if you can wait that long)
Notes
See the links below for blog posts I published on June 16:
- 2024: Lone Wolf
- 2021: Oppie Dorp
- 2017: Avocado Salad Dressing
- 2016: Florentines
- 2014: Haggis
- 2010: Crayfish Pasta
No one’s ever asked me to move seats so a family could sit together. I’d probably agree if it got me out of the middle seat.
That is a good enough reason to move!
What a lovely loaf, Tandy! A smaller sourdough is such a practical idea, and the crumb looks wonderful.
How lovely that you mum has some of your mother dough.
and she has really embraced bread making 🙂
An interesting observation about seating on planes. I have accidentally sat in the wrong seat once but not deliberately. I have moved to let people sit together 💗
I have also moved to give a young girl a window seat as I know what it was like to fly when I was young 🙂
Nothing beats homemade bread! Your sourdough looks fantastic.
Thank you so much!
What an adorable little loaf! Personally, I could eat that all in one sitting, but I admire the restraint of others. 😉
I would also eat it in one go 😉
Having a small batch bread recipe is always handy!
I think so too 🙂
I have completely missed the Sourdough Train. I must get on board.
Amalia
xo
Let me know how you get on 🙂
This looks amazing. I am trying my hand at sour dough but I am not very great at it yet.
Any loaf of bread is a good loaf! Or it makes great toast 🙂
What a lovely loaf, Tandy! A smaller sourdough is such a practical idea, and the crumb looks wonderful.
Thanks so much for the compliment 🙂
Tailoring a sourdough recipe down into a smaller size is the ultimate act of love for a solo bread eater, especially when social media tries to make baking feel like a grueling science experiment. Your dad is incredibly lucky to have fresh, smaller loaves that won’t go stale before he can finish them. Speaking of grueling experiences, that airplane seat story is wild; the sheer audacity of the husband thinking someone else was offering up your window seat in the emergency row is mind-boggling. Good for you for holding your ground instantly, though it is hilarious how he transitioned from that awkward moment into sharing his entire life story over the next two hours. Hopefully, your mom finds this streamlined recipe easy to manage, and your dad gets to enjoy the perfect amount of fresh toast without any of the online drama.
My dad is loving his bread and I have so much joy in my mom making it from my sourdough starter 🙂
oh yes, I keep reading those stories too. I thought they were all made up!! Good work on your bread baking.
Sherry
I also thought they were made up, until it happened to me!
Great story about the plane. That’s a lot of work for a small loaf. But with a sourdough starter it does make sense to bake often rather than baking more and freezing. The bread in the photo does not look like it came out of a browney tin?
I will edit the recipe to say to shape into a boule! Thanks for pointing that out 🙂