Thinmom5's Sourdough Bread

Starter:
1 Tbsp yeast
2 cups chlorine-free water (see instructions)
2 cups white flour

To make bread:
5 1/2 cups flour (1 or 2 cups may be wheat)
2 cups starter
1 Tbsp salt
1 cup water

This recipe makes 2 round loaves. I estimated a total of 16 servings, but a slice at the end of the loaf and in the middle will have different calorie amounts obviously. :) Also, to make the bread, you use roughly half the starter, so that's how I figured calories too.

Starter:

Mix yeast with the chlorine-free water (you can allow your tap water to "air out" in a jug for a couple of days) and two cups of white flour.
Combine these in a glass, plastic, or earthenware container (no metal). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow this mixture to sit at room temperature for at least 48 hours, until it foams and develops a pleasantly sour smell. (The mixture will rise a bit intially, so I wouldn't fill your container more than half full, that way it doesn't overflow.)
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. (A general sourdough warning is that if starter turns orange, pink, or any other weird color, throw it out. This is rare though.)

(Each time you remove starter for the recipe below, "feed" it with 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups flour. Stir well. Cover loosely and return to the refrigerator.)

To make two loaves of bread:

Dissolve the salt in the water in a mixing bowl. (I used the bowl for my Kitchenaid mixer.) Add the starter (stir the starter really well before you measure it out), then the flour. Stir, then knead into a ball. (You can use the dough hook for this.) Cover with a damp towel and let rise overnight at room temperature. (Needs to double in size. The nice thing about sourdough is this initial rising is not too picky. You can let it get as much as quadrupled in size and it will be fine - some say this makes it better. I set the dough out at 4 pm and let it rise all the way until 12:30 the next day.)

The next morning (or afternoon) punch down risen dough and divide in half. Shape each half into a round loaf, make an X-shaped slash on each top, and place the two loaves on a greased baking sheet. (You can spray with PAM) Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise at room temperature for about four more hours.

Place a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven and pre-heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 35 minutes. (My oven runs hot, so I baked for just over 30 minutes and it turned out perfect. A light golden brown!)

Here are some other things to keep in mind:
* You can use this starter, fresh from the fridge, for weeks at a time. Eventually the loaves start to rise a bit more slowly. Whenever this happens, leave the starter out at room temperature overnight to speed its fermentation.
* Apparently the brand of yeast can have an effect on this bread. (I have one of those big bags of yeast I bought from Costco for around $3 over 5 years ago. I've kept it in the back of my refrigerator and it's still good. If you bake at all, get yeast this way. It costs the same as just a few packets in the store, keeps for a long time, and even if you end up throwing half of it out you've still saved a ton of money.)
* Sourdough baking is less predictable than yeast baking. Sometimes it takes longer than expected for your dough to double in size. If you're not in a time crunch, that's fine. If you are, set your dough over a pan of warm water and it will rise much more quickly.
* Baking once or twice a week keeps this starter fed and healthy. If you are an infrequent baker, you'll need to drain off some starter and feed it at least once every two weeks to keep it alive.

This dough can also be used to make pizza.


Number of Servings: 16

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user THINMOM5.