Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Sourdough Sandwich Bread

1 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 cup Sourdough Starter
3 Tbsp grapeseed oil
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
3- 3 1/2 cups bread flour

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in the water.  Let stand until creamy about 10 minutes.

In large bowl of stand mixer, combine the yeast mixture with the sourdough starter, the grapeseed oil, honey, salt and 2 cups of the flour.  Using the dough hook, combine ingredients on low speed until well mixed. Add the remaining flour a little at a time while mixing, until the dough has pulled together away from the sides of the bowl.  Continue "kneading" until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes).

Butter a large bowl and place the dough into it, turning to butter all sides of dough.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350^F.  Butter a 9x5" loaf pan and form the dough into a loaf.  Place the dough in the pan and bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

This makes a large loaf of bread that's perfect for slicing to make sandwiches or toast!  

Rustic Sourdough Bread

So, now that I'm retired, I decided I'd start making my own bread regularly (instead of the chemical laden store-bought stuff).  I bought some starter from the King Arthur Flour site (supposed to be a descendant of one that's over 250 years old!) and I've been "feeding" it for the last couple of days.  The instructions were a little scary, but I did it!  I have a beautiful batch of starter in my very cute King Arthur crock - at least, I think it's beautiful!  It smells kind of yeasty and just a little sour...and good!  I almost feel like I know what I'm doing!

Rustic Sourdough Bread

1 cup "fed" sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups luke-warm water
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
5 cups King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour

Combine all of the ingredients, kneading to form a smooth, soft dough.  I threw it all in my Kitchen-Aid mixer and turned it on for about 5 minutes.  You're supposed to add additional flour if needed, but since I'm not entirely sure if I needed more, I just went with the 5 cups.

Rub some butter in an large bowl and put the dough into that.  Now, at this point I think I might could have used a little more flour, because it was just a tad sticky, but I got it in the bowl and managed to turn it over once so it looked kind of smooth on top.  Then I covered it with a piece of aluminum foil and let it rise for 90 minutes.  It was definitely doubled in size!

Divide the dough in half and shape into two oval loaves.  I would rather have tried putting them into loaf pans, but figured I'd stick to the recipe the first time.  I rubbed a little flour on my hands before I tried shaping the dough into ovals and that seemed to work fine.  Place the loaves on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.  I opted for parchment-lined and I even sprinkled a little bit of cornmeal on there before I put the loaves on it.  I read that somewhere else and it sounded kind of cool...sooo, I went with it.

Cover (I used a couple of paper towels) and let rise until very puffy, about 60 minutes.  Success!

Preheat the oven to 425^F.  Slash the tops and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  I'd also read somewhere that you should put a pan of hot water in the bottom of the oven to create steam and that you should occasionally mist some water over the bread while it bakes.  I put in a pan of water, but the misting was too much for me to handle without advance planning.  I don't have a mister bottle, but I guess I'll have to go buy one now!  I checked mine at 25 minutes and it was done!  Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

Check it out!

I have bread!  Nice fresh, home-made Sourdough Bread!   I'm so proud I could spit!  I rubbed a little butter over the tops because John told me that's how his Mom used to do it.  Aren't they pretty?

And they taste so much better than the Sourdough I buy at Publix!  I'm calling this one a winner!