CHARLOTTE'S SOURDOUGH

Sourdough in Style by Charlotte Clif. Photography by Kayla Hollander

Charlotte Clif lives in Hendon with her 5 children, a dog, a cat, chickens and a tortoise. She has been fermenting foods and drinks and baking sourdough for many years. She set up her micro bakery four years ago, and now delivers her kosher certified products throughout Hendon, Golders Green, Finchley, Temple Fortune and Hampstead Garden Suburb. Charlotte also takes special orders and creates a variety of seasonal bakes. For Thanksgiving, her sourdough pumpkin spice loaves are popular and of course, sourdough doughnuts for Chanukah. Made with all natural ingredients, pareve, and fried in neutral flavoured organic coconut oil, the doughnuts are fully fermented and piped full of a variety of fillings. Light, airy and a real treat, they are available gift boxed, with delivery options for local areas. You can check out her Instagram page @ charlottessourdough, or get in touch with her on 07956369102 for more information.

It wasn’t planned! I have a background in Zoology and Environmental Conservation, and have always been interested in healthy, organic and sustainable living. After starting my family and being at home with my children, I began fermenting foods as I believe it has many health benefits. It was also a great way of preserving the produce grown in my city garden and a way to use up the eggs laid by my chickens. From there, Charlotte's Sourdough was a natural progression. I’d been giving loaves to family and friends; they encouraged me to start my own business.

What inspires you to keep growing and improving?

Most definitely the feedback I get from my customers. So many people seem to have gluten intolerances and reactions to eating regular bread. When a customer tells me that she can eat my bread symptom free after avoiding gluten for over 11 years, I’m spurred on to fly the flag for real, fully fermented sourdough bread.

What do you love about it?

Without sounding like an air head, making sourdough feeds the soul as well as the body. It’s very meditative and gratifying; as well as being a continual learning curve. It challenges the mind whilst being endlessly creative at the same time.

What are some of your greatest failures and successes?

My successes will always be happy customers who come back time and time again, with amazing feedback and encouragement. Those who show understanding I also count among my success stories - making sourdough is a nurturing process, so when things don’t go to plan, their patience is part of that process. So much can happen which I can’t control, for example the fuse once blew on my fridge during the night, leading to over fermented and un-bakeable loaves, or another time, on a really hot day, the dough rose quicker than I could shape it.

What has been most challenging for you?

I work alone, so meeting demand has been the most challenging thing for me. I hate to disappoint clients and find it hard to say no, however I’ve learnt the hard way and have now set myself limits.

What are your favourite dishes on the menu?

I make a huge variety of sourdough bread, challah, rolls, focaccia, pizza dough and crackers, as well as seasonal goodies. I vary my menu according to what produce is in season or what Chag might be coming up. My best seller is definitely the malted grains with 5 seeds loaf, but sourdough focaccia on Friday is always a sell-out. Raisin and walnut, olive, cranberry and pecan, turmeric or sun-dried tomato loaves are also very popular. Additionally, I can make most things to order and have had some very strange requests!

As a working mother and wife, how do you balance home and work life?

This is the hardest part of my business and I’m afraid to say, one I really struggle with. I work a full 6 days a week, and often more. With 5am starts and late finishes, it’s not easy. Although I work really hard it’s truly a labour of love. I fit in what I can throughout the day, so that while the dough is rising, I’ll do the laundry and make dinner, or while it’s bench resting or mixing I’ll do the school run. Every second of the day counts!

What are the most exciting parts about the Jewish food business?

To be able to provide the Kosher community with organic, fully fermented sourdough bread is very exciting. While we’re spoilt for choice with great bakeries and their delicious goodies, I offer a different approach. My ingredients are chemical free, natural and nutritious. I’m thankfully beginning to see other like-minded foodies pop up in the Kosher scene and I think there is a real shift towards people wanting a more natural and wholesome option.

Where do you take inspiration from?

I have made some very good sourdough baker friends from across the globe on Instagram. It’s been a great platform for sharing ideas and learning from each other, and I’m just so happy to be able to bring some of that inspiration into the kosher world.

After mixing, the dough is transferred into a lidded container, where it undergoes a stage known as ‘Bulk Fermentation’. The dough is stretched and folded every half an hour or so, over a 4-6 hour period, until it’s puffy, well risen and ready for the next stage.

Pre-shaping the dough into taught rounds helps to build structure and strength in the fermenting dough. The rounds are then rested for 20 -30 minutes, allowing the gluten to relax and aiding the final shaping stage.

The shaped dough is then placed into a banneton before being placed in the fridge for 14-16 hours.

This long and slow fermentation improves the flavour, digestibility and texture of the bread. In the morning, it is removed from its banneton, scored with a lame, and stone baked in a specialist bread oven with steam. 76

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The dough is now ready for ‘Pre-shaping’. It’s tipped onto a floured work surface, cut, and weighed into portions.

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The final shaping stage creates tension without de-gassing the delicate structure of the puffy dough. This is essential for developing good structure; resulting in an open, airy, and well leavened loaf.

Sourdough is not only delicious, but has many other benefits too. The slow fermentation process increases the bioavailability of the grains’ fibre, minerals, vitamins and polyphenols (the latter is an important fuel for healthy gut microbes). Sourdough keeps you fuller for longer, is slow-release, and has less of an impact on blood sugar levels than commercially yeasted bread. Gluten also begins to break down during the process, making sourdough bread easier to digest.