In season in October: Pumpkin, Apples and Plums. See what to cook
  1. Start
  2. Baking & Desserts
  3. Liska's San Francisco Bread
Baking & Desserts · Recipe No. 126

Liska's San Francisco Bread

A quick, easy sourdough bread with a soft crust and an airy, moist crumb, adapted from Liska's San Francisco bread recipe.

2 min read

This is one of my favorite breads. I searched for a long time for a sourdough bread that is quick to make. Until now I made breads that you had to start the day before, and then wait quite a while for a finished, fragrant loaf. True, all the breads I've baked so far are delicious and worth the wait, but sometimes I forget to prepare the starter, or I don't have the time, so a bread like this comes in handy. Another plus is that it's simple to make, has a beautiful, open, slightly moist crumb, and can be baked in any pan you like. Like Liska, I use a square 24x24 cm pan. That's the way I like it best. You can easily add things like flaxseed or sunflower seeds or other extras to this bread. It's great for beginners. Thanks to its soft crust, my daughters like it too. They're always complaining that my breads have a crust that's too hard and they can't chew it (someday they'll learn to like those too )

The downside: you need quite a lot of sourdough starter to make it. Also, it disappears very quickly.

Liska's San Francisco bread

Liska's San Francisco Bread

The recipe comes from Liska and I'm quoting it from her, with my changes in parentheses.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp dry yeast

  • 200 g whole wheat flour (I used whole grain spelt flour)

  • 400 g white wheat flour (I used spelt)

  • 1/2 tbsp sugar

  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used red balsamic cream di Modena)

  • 1 1/4 tsp salt

  • 250 g rye or wheat sourdough starter (I used rye)

  • 375 ml water

  • for brushing: an egg mixed with 2 tbsp cream

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water and set aside for 15 minutes.
Then add 375 g of the white flour, the sourdough starter, salt and vinegar. Mix, cover and set aside until it doubles in volume, about 30 minutes.

Add the remaining flour and knead into a loose dough. Pour it into two loaf pans or a square pan with 24 cm sides and set aside to rise.
Brush with the egg and cream mixture.

Preheat the oven to 230°C (445°F). Once it's hot, put the bread in and bake for 10 minutes.
Then reduce the temperature to 200°C (390°F) and bake for another 35 minutes.

San Francisco bread according to Liska

You can also make this bread in a bread machine. I don't have one, so I haven't tried it, but Liska says you just mix all the ingredients together (without making the starter first), set the dough aside to rise for about 3 minutes, transfer it to the pan, brush it with the egg and let it rise.

Enjoy!