River Cottage

Hugh proves making sourdough can be more convenient than making a loaf from scratch on River Cottage Every Day

Hugh: "This three step process is perfect for those who don't have time to bake a loaf from scratch. You can fit your baking routine into 3 simple 10 minute steps over 24 hours."

• 2 tbsp wholemeal bread flour
• 2 tbsp strong white bread flour
• Small piece rhubarb, about 3cm
• 4-5 tbsp starter
• 300g strong flour (white, wholemeal or a mixture)
• 300g strong bread flour (white, wholemeal or a mixture)
• 10g fine sea salt

How to make sourdough loaf

To make the starter

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour for the starter with enough warm water to make a batter roughly the consistency of double cream. Beat it well to incorporate some air, drop in the rhubarb, then cover with a lid or cling film and leave somewhere fairly warm. A warm kitchen is fine, or a coolish airing cupboard. Check it every few hours until you can see that fermentation has begun - signalled by the appearance of bubbles on the surface and a smell of... well, of fermentation (it can actually smell quite unpleasant and acrid at this stage but don't worry, it will mellow as it matures). The time it takes for your starter to begin fermenting can vary hugely - it could be a few hours or a few days. But make your starter with wholegrain flour (which offers more for the yeast to get its teeth into), keep it warm and draught free and you should be rewarded with the first signs of life within 24 hours.

2. Your starter now needs regular feeding. Begin by whisking in another 100g or so of fresh flour and enough water to retain that thick batter consistency. You can switch to using cool water and to keeping the starter at normal room temperature - though nowhere too cold or draughty. Leave it again, then, 24 hours or so later, scoop out and discard half the starter and stir in another 100g flour and some more water. repeat this discard-and-feed routine every day, maintaining the sloppy consistency and keeping your starter at room temperature, and after 7-10 days you should have something that smells good - sweet, fruity, yeasty, almost boozy - having lost any harsh, acrid edge. By this stage, it should be actively enticing you into baking with it. But don't be tempted to bake a loaf until it's been on the go for at least a week.

If you're going to bake bread every day or two, maintain your starter in this way, keeping it at room temperature, feeding it daily, and taking some of it out whenever you want to create a sponge (see right).

To make the sponge

1. The night before you want to bake your loaf, create the sponge: take about 4 or 5 large tablespoons of the active starter and combine it with 300g flour and about 250ml warm water in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands, then cover with cling film and leave overnight. In the morning it should be clearly fermenting - thick, sticky and bubbly.

To make the dough

1. Add the 300g flour to the sponge, along with the salt. Squish it all together with your hands. You should have a fairly sticky dough. If it seems tight and firm, add a dash more warm water. If it's unmanageably loose, add more flour, but do leave it fairly wet - you'll get better bread that way.

2. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and silky. This takes about 10 minutes, but it can vary according to your own style and level of confidence. Keep going, stretching and folding, giving the dough a quarter turn every few stretches, until it is silky and smooth. Alternatively, use the dough hook on your mixer!

3. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn it to coat with the oil. Cover with lightly oiled cling film, or put the bowl into a large plastic bag, and leave to rise. Don't expect it to whoosh up to twice its original size in an hour, as a conventional loaf does. Sourdough rises slowly and sedately. The best thing is to knead it in the morning, then simply leave it all day - perhaps while you're out at work - in a fairly cool, draught-free place until it has more or less doubled in size and feels springy if you push your finger gently into it; alternatively, you could knead it in the evening and then leave it to rise overnight.

4. Knock back (deflate) the risen dough by punching it down with your knuckles on a lightly floured surface. You now need to prove the dough (i.e. give it a second rising). You are also going to be forming it into the shape it will be for baking. If you have a proper baker's proving basket, use this, first dusting it generously with flour. Alternatively, rig up your own proving basket by lining a medium-sized, fairly shallow-sided bowl with a clean tea towel, then dusting it with flour. Place your round of dough inside, cover again with oiled cling film or a clean plastic bag and leave to rise, in a warm place this time, for 1½-3 hours, or until roughly doubled in size. Then the dough is ready to bake.

5. Preheat the oven to 250°C/gas mark 10 (or at least to 230°C/gas mark 8, if that's your top limit). If possible, have ready a clean gardener's spray bottle full of water - you'll be using this to create a steamy atmosphere in the oven, which helps the bread to rise and develop a good crust. (You can achieve the same effect with a roasting tin of boiling water placed on the bottom of the oven just before you put the loaf in, but the spray bottle is easier - and much more fun.)

6. About 5 minutes before you want to put the loaf in the oven, place a baking sheet in it to heat up. Then take the hot baking sheet from the oven, dust it with flour and carefully tip the risen dough out of the proving basket/bowl, upside down, on to the baking sheet; it will now be the right way up. If you like you can slash the top of the loaf a few times with a very sharp serrated knife, or snip it with a pair of scissors, to give a pattern to the crust.

7. Put the loaf into the hot oven and give it a few squirts from the spray bottle over and around it. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 200°C/Gas Mark 6, give the oven another spray, and bake for a further 25-30 minutes, until the well-browned loaf vibrates and sounds hollow when you tap its base. Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes before you plunge in with the bread knife - it's okay to slice it warm, but not piping hot.