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sliced sourdough bâtard showing open crumbs

Sourdough Batard recipe

Meenakshi
Sourdough batard is a lean bread made with the sourdough starter, that is shaped like an oval or oblong. Batard or Bâtard has a thick crispy crust with a light and soft interior. This recipe is all you need to make a perfect sourdough batard at your home.
5 from 5 votes
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Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 1 hour
Inactive time 14 hours
Course Bread
Cuisine American, French
Servings 12
Calories 100 kcal

Equipment

  • Oval banniton

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for levain

  • 5 g ripe sourdough starter
  • 15 g bread flour
  • 15 g whole wheat flour
  • 30 g filtered water

Ingredients for making the bread

  • 300 g bread flour
  • 218 g water (10 g to be added along with salt)
  • 60 g levain
  • 6 g salt

Instructions
 

Preparing a levain:

  • Start with a ripe and mature starter. Use 5 g of ripe starter, when it is at its peak or stable phase( before falling) and mix in 30 g of water. sire well and add the flour to make a levain. Cover and let it ferment at room temp. for 8-9 hours or until it reaches its peak.

Making dough:

  • When the levain is ready, in a bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour and water. Do not add entire water, retain about 10 grams of water for adding along with salt. Put the dough hook attachment and knead at low speed for 2 minutes or until everything comes together.
  • If you are not using a stand mixer: Using the back of a wooden ladle or your hands, combine the dough until everything is well combined. There should be no dry flour left.
  • Clean the edges of the bowl and cover it. Let the dough autolyse for 1 hour. (You can reduce the time to 45 minutes if you think that the starter is entering the decline stage.)

Combining the sourdough starter into the dough:

  • Add the starter and knead for 2 minutes at low speed until everything comes together.
  • For doing it with hands: Spread the sourdough starter on the dough, use your fingers to poke it into the dough. Now You can further use stretching and folding to incorporate the starter or use the pincer method.
  • Ensure that the starter is well combined into the dough. Now cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Combining the salt into the dough:

  • Now add salt and the retained water. Knead on low speed for 2 minutes.
  • If combining with hands, use the pincer method and keep combining until salt and water are well incorporated into the dough.
  • Transfer to a wide container and cover. Let it rest for 30 more minutes.

Coil folds during the bulk rise period:

  • Now do the first coil fold of the bulk rise phase. Place your hands under the dough and lift it all the way up so that the entire dough is in your hands. Now, put it back in the container while folding its edges under it. This will create folds of dough. Lift it again and repeat. Now, turn the container ninety degrees around and fold the dough and place it back into the container.
  • Cover and let the dough rest for 45 minutes, before doing the second round of coil folds.
  • Repeat the process and do 3 more rounds of coil folds similarly, spaced about 45 minutes apart.

Pre-shaping:

  • 30 minutes after the final round of coil folding, remove the dough onto a lightly floured work surface for conducting a pre-shape. flip the dough on a dusted surface. Stretch the right side and bring it to the center and seal. Now, stretch the left side and seal it while bringing it to the center. Similarly, stretch the bottom side, and while sealing it, roll the entire dough so that all the seams face down. Now dust the surface with some flour and cover the dough. Let it relax for 20 minutes on the counter.

Shaping:

  • Gently flip it and place it on a flour-dusted surface with the seams facing you.
  • Then, flip the dough on a dusted surface. Stretch the right side and bring it to the center and seal. Similarly, bring the left side to the center and seal. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, such that the central seam is parallel to you. Now place your hands under the dough and bring it forward and seal it with your palms.
  • Then, roll the dough between your cupped hands to build tension and give desired length and shape to the batard.

Proofing:

  • When done, gently lift the shaped sourdough batard and place it in the flour-dusted oval banneton with the seam facing upwards.
  • Cover and let it rest and proof at room temperature for about 30 minutes, before putting it in the fridge for the cold retard.
  • Let the dough cold retard in the fridge from 10- 12 hours before baking.

Baking:

  • When the dough is ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 500 0F with the Dutch oven and its lid inside. ( to understand the right stage to bake the dough, read this)
  • When the oven is ready, take out the dough from the fridge and flip it over on parchment paper. Now, score the loaf as you like. I am making a straight slash here.
  • Transfer it to the Dutch oven and cover. Bake at 500 0F for 22 minutes and then, remove the lid. Let it brown for another 20 minutes at 450 0F
  • When it has browned to your liking, remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 40 minutes before slicing.
  • Slice and enjoy!

Notes

Recipe notes

  •  Add the herbs and topping at the time of final coil fold. If you add the herbs and topping earlier, it does hamper the development and strengthening of gluten structure.
  • You can add 5 percent of whole wheat flour if you want, but do not add anything beyond that. The hydration level of the dough will change considerably and the overall texture of the loaf will differ.
    Also, if you will use regular all-purpose flour for making this bread, the results might differ.
  • Water: Use filtered water to make the levain. You can use tap water if you are sure that it is chlorine and fluoride-free.
    Use cold or warm water to make the dough depending on your ambient environment.
  • Levain: We need a ripe starter to make levain. The levain should ferment for at least 7-8 hours before reaching its peak. So, I like to prepare my levain in a 1:6:6 ratio.
    You can always reduce the feeding ratio to suit the duration of fermentation you desire.
    To see if the levain is ready: It is a good idea to mark the level of the levain in the jar with a rubber band so that you would know when it has doubled and is near its peak.
    You can do a float test to see if the levain is ready.
  • Preparing the dough without a stand mixer: Please note that while combining flour and water, you might feel that the dough is very dry and you might feel tempted to add more water. But as you will go in with your hands and start to combine the flour with water, you will observe that the dough will become fully hydrated without any need for further water.
    I like to use the Pincer method, which means just going in with your hands and grabbing the dough in your hand, and just squeezing it. Then, leave it and grab some more. Your hands will act as a pincer in this method. We keep on moving and work with our dough for a good 1-2 minutes, or till everything is well combined.
  • Coil folding: The dough might not be ready after the final session of coil folds. In such a case, give the rest of 30 minutes and do another round. You can always do a windowpane test to confirm that the dough is ready for pre-shape.
  • Bulk rise: If you want to increase the bulk rise period for 4.5-5 hours aim for the Final Dough Temp. (FDT) of 76 0 F and determine the temperature of the water using the formula:
    Water temp.= FDTx4 - ( kitchen temp+ flour temp.+ levain temp. +friction factor)
  •  Try to keep a fair idea of your fridge temperature. It will help you in understanding, how much time does your dough needs to proof. Knowing the right time to bake is very crucial to get the oven spring in the sourdough batard. If you restocked your fridge on the day of proofing the bread, it might proof much faster.
  • The score should be at least half an inch deep.
  • You can brown your sourdough bread according to your liking, just increase or reduce the final bake time.
  • Bake it right! Check the temperature of the baking stone or Dutch oven as well. The oven air reaches 500 0F much earlier than the baking steel, or Dutch oven.
  • An optional step: Note the temperature of the Dutch oven and baking stone using an instant-read thermometer. Work out a safe time limit that it usually takes to reach 500 0F for future baking.
  • It is a general suggestion to let the Dutch oven preheat for about an hour before putting the sourdough bread into it.
  • If you bake on a baking stone or baking steel, do not forget to arrange the steam in the oven by placing a tray on the lower shelf with water just enough for the first half of the baking time.
  • Dutch oven does not need any extra arrangement for steam as the moisture from the bread gets trapped inside it and acts as steam. But I still recommend adding a cube of ice under the parchment paper.

    Nutrition Facts

    list of nutrition facts of sourdough batard

Nutrition

Calories: 100kcal
Keyword sourdough batard, sourdough batard bread
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