Finally, the Bread!

This recipe came from my mother and her good friend.  As with the starter, I am unsure of its origin, but I have seen other similar recipes.

Sourdough Bread - makes 2 loaves

1 & 1/2 cups sourdough starter
1/3 cup sugar
1 & 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup oil (I use canola)
1 tsp salt
Mix ingredients well in a large bowl.  Add 6 cups of flour and knead.  Set in large bowl, cover with a wet (nearly dripping) towel, and allow to rise overnight or at least 8 hours.  Punch down dough and knead with a little more flour.  Divide and put into 2 greased loaf pans.  Set in a warm place and allow to rise 1 hour, until doubled.  Baste with melted butter and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. 

The Fella took these pictures, which explains the better quality.  He has the fancy camera, while I have the lame Point-And-Shoot.  For this batch, I used 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, and 3 cups whole wheat flour.  We love the taste of the wheat flour, but I must warn you that the dough will not rise as much due to the weight of the flour, and sometimes it takes mine a full 24 hours to rise.  I do have a recipe for official "whole wheat sourdough bread," and it includes dry yeast in the ingredients.  I assume this is to give the starter some extra "oomph" in order to rise sufficiently.  If you don't mind having tiny sandwiches, then you can just substitute 3 of the 6 cups of white flour for whole wheat. 

Mixing the starter, water, oil, sugar, and salt.  I have this wonderful bread spoon that has a hole in the middle.  Unfortunately, I don't know where you can find them.

The dough will be quite wet - put at least another cup of flour on your counter for kneading.

I sprinkle more flour over the top.  This is just a mason jar that I put a lid on from the cheap grated Parmesan canister and use for kneading flour.  I don't want to get dough in my flour bin.

To knead, fold the top half of the dough over and toward you.

Press down with your palms and the heel of your hands.  I highly recommend taking off the watch.

Next, fold dough over from the side.

Turn, and press again.  Continue this process, working in the flour on your board until the dough feels smooth and elasticy. It should not be sticky.

Form into a ball by turning the edges underneath.

Return it to the bowl.  Most sources say to put it in a clean bowl, but I don't have another one large enough, and I find that the bits of dough on the sides get incorporated to the dough ball as it rises.  My bread has never failed because I used the same bowl.

Covered, and ready for lights out - good night!

The dough should more than double in size when finished with the first rise. Be patient! Sometimes my dough rises in 12 hours, sometimes 18. This took 24 hours.  It depends a lot on the freshness of your starter, the temperature and humidity, and the type of flour used. When I do this with all white flour, the dough will be over the edge of the bowl.  Punch this down and empty onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead lightly and flatten a bit.  I like to form a large rectangle and then divide it in half.

To form loaves, roll edges together, pressing out air bubbles and then turn under the short edges.

Put into prepared/greased baking pans.  I could not live without these two Pyrex pans.  I simply use cooking spray. Leave to rise another hour and brush melted butter over the tops before baking.

I was not impressed with the lack of rise on these loaves.  Squatty sandwiches are lame.

This one also cracked across the top.  It might be because I didn't form the loaves very carefully or didn't work out some air bubbles.  Annoying, but still tasty.

 

Please comment and let me know if you try out the sourdough recipes, or if you have a starter and would like some additional recipes.  I have this lovely book from the 70s:

I would love to share some of the goodness!

Thanks for reading.