One day in December, a friend brought us a delicious loaf of sourdough bread. I asked her for the recipe. She came over and gave me a sourdough start and taught me how to make it. It was so easy and so delicious!
Sour dough start
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 T. salt
5 cups unbleached bread flour
In a bread mixer, mix the warm water and about 2/3 of your sourdough starter. Be sure to leave some of the start in the jar to continue growing.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour and salt. You can add seeds, cheese, herbs, etc, if you like.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Mix until well blended and the dough is coming off the sides of the bowl. Put dough into a large plastic bowl with an airtight lid. (Honestly, I just put the lid on my Bosch mixer and left it in there to rise.) Let rise for at least 7-8 hours. You can leave it for up to 24 hours. The longer you leave it, the more sour the bread will be. Making it in the evening and baking it the next morning works well.
To feed the sourdough starter: Add equal amounts of flour and water to the leftover start. Mix well and replace the lid and keep in the fridge. The start should be fed every week or two even if you are not going to use it.
To bake the bread, preheat a dutch oven (heavy enameled cast iron pan (Le Cruset') in the oven at 450. When heated, put a small amount of water on the countertop and turn out the dough. You do not need to knead the dough. Shape it to fit into the pan. Put the dough on a piece of parchment and lower it into the hot dutch oven. With a sharp knife, cut a large x across the top of the dough. Put the lid on the dutch oven and put it back in the oven. Bake at 450 for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 425 and remove the lid. Bake for another 15 minutes to brown.
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| Sourdough starter |
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