Sourdough Bread Recipe
Back before people learned how to dry yeast and package it for sale in your local store, they made bread by harnessing the power of wild yeast. Sourdough bread was born from that process. There are families who still have Sourdough starters that are centuries old passed down from parent to child generation after generation. If you know anything about how to make yeast bread then you can make Sourdough.
If you do a search on the net you can find a lot of complicated starters most of which include yeast. But, all you really need is flour and water.
Sourdough Starter Recipe-
1. Mix 1 cup flour with 1 cup warm water. Use the same temp. you would if you were using packaged yeast. Pour the mixture into a large mouth jar. Place the jar in a warm place and leave it alone for 24 hours. Always mix with a plastic or wooden spoon. Some metals can cause adverse effects on your starter.
2. Divide the starter mixture in half. Dump one half and keep the other. To the half you keep, add 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 cup flour. Repeat the process from the night before.
3. You will want to do this until you get a bubbly surface with a sour smell. It can take anywhere from 3 days to a week. If your in a hurry or its taking longer than expected, you can add a package of yeast, but then it won't be true sourdough bread.
Note* While you are growing your starter, remember you want to keep it between 70 and 90 degrees. Temps 0f 100 degrees or higher will kill your starter. It is about the only thing that can kill it, but it will kill it.
Once you have your starter ready, refrigerate it. If you have gone a week without using it, you will want to remove it from the fridge, divide it and feed it as before, let it sit out for a few hours then put it back in the fridge. Anytime you use it, you will want to add a half cup of flour and a half cup of warm water to what is left of your sponge to continue the life of your starter.
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The Sponge
Making the sponge is just as easy as making the starter.
1. Dump your starter into a plastic or glass bowl. You want to mix in one cup of flour and one cup of warm water. Place the bowl in a warm place and leave it for several hours. You want it to become frothy and smelly before using it or it won't rise correctly.
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The Bread Recipe
2 cups sponge
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 Tbs. Honey
2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
3 cups flour
To your 2 cups of sponge add in everything but the flour. Once that is mixed slowly add in the flour. Once you have in about half the flour you will want to mix it with your hands then turn it out onto a floured board to kneed in the rest of the flour. From this point forward, you will treat it just like regular yeast bread.
Shape the dough into a ball and leave it to rise. I like to use my 4 in spring form pan because it gives me a clear look at how much the dough has risen. But, you can leave it in the bowl or on a floured board. It will take longer to rise than ordinary yeast bread.
Once it has risen double in bulk, punch it down and kneed it again for a minute or so. Reshape the dough into a loaf and let it rise again, this time I suggest you either put it back in the spring form pan, place it on a cookie sheet or on a pizza stone. I usually cook mine on my pizza stone because its more authentic in nature.
Bake at 350 degrees in an non-preheated oven for 30 to 45 min. The bread will sound hollow when thumped when it is done.
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