A READER requested this recipe, so here goes. Sourdough is made without yeast. It is chewy, tangy and, when it comes off, the best bread there is (well, if you ask me). The process is more involved than ordinary bread, but easy enough once you get the hang.

The complicated part lies in the starter, a fermenting batter or levain that replaces the rising effects of yeast. This is made over a number of days and can then be kept more or less indefinitely, if refreshed regularly; or allowed to ‘sleep’ in the fridge until it is needed, when the cold sludge will require fresh feeding with flour and water for two or three days.

Starter:
You will need a large plastic or glass container (a big preserve jar with a sprung lid works for me).

Start by mixing 150g of flour (white, wholemeal or rye) with about 250ml of water (boiled water that has cooled is best). Leave for a day or two, then add the same amount of flour and water and mix; repeat the next day. After a few days or perhaps a week of feeding, you should have an active starter showing signs of fermentation, which is to say bubbling nicely.

Recipe
(I’ve tried a few, this one is slightly adapted from the River Cottage Handbook no 3: Bread).

Makes two large loves.

First stage (sponge):
500 strong white flour
600ml warm water
Ladleful of lively starter.

Mix ingredients in a large bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave overnight. In the morning add 600g strong white flour and 25g salt. Knead for ten minutes. Place in oiled bowl for an hour or so and cover with clingfilm. Remove, deflate dough, fold in on itself and form into round. Return to bowl, cover and leave for an hour; repeat same process twice more, three deflations and rests in all.

Divide dough into two and shape into rounds. Have two clothes such as clean old hankies to hand and rub these with flour and use to line two plastic bowls. Gently place bread upside down in the lined bowls and leave until risen, which may take up to four hours. Preheat oven to highest setting for ten minutes, gently place risen dough on floured baking sheets, score with bread knife and cook for ten minutes, then reduce temperature to 200C and cook for about 40 minutes, remove from trays and return loaves to oven for another ten minutes, placing directly on oven trays. Remove and cool.

Cheating tip:
At sponge stage, add a few flecks of fresh yeast: purists won’t approve, but this livens things up and improves the chances of a better result more likely.

Tip number two:
Place a roasting tray on the bottom of the oven and fill with boiling water as the loaves go in: but do be careful when doing this.