Simple Delicious Sourdough Bread

Everybody thinks there is a secret to making sourdough bread and that it is extremely difficult, well it isn't and here is how to do it.

To start with you need a sourdough starter, very simple.

Take one cup of warm water and one cup of unbleached flour and mix it together in a non- metallic bowl and cover it with a cotton towel and let it sit. It is that simple. After 24 hours, pour half of it out and add one cup of warm water and one cup of flour and cover it let it sit. Do this every day. Soon you will notice bubbles and it is starting to sort of boil up and rise, after 4 or 5 days if it has a slightly sour odor and it raises regularly it is done. The more is raises and the more bubbles the better. If it doesn’t rise and bubble, pour it out and start over.

Now take 11/2 cups of your starter and put it in a non-metallic bowl, add 1 cup warm water, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and mix it together. To that slowly add 5 cups of flour until the dough becomes too thick to mix with a spoon. Turn it out on a floured surface and knead it until it is no longer sticky, you may have to add a little flour. Once you have kneaded the dough for a few minutes, pound it flat and put it in an oiled non-metallic bowl, I use pam to oil the bowl and let it rise, usually 6-8 hours.

After the dough has risen, pour it out on a floured surface, form it into an oblong ball, with a sharp knife, cut two deep X marks into and it is ready for the oven.

Do not preheat the oven. Using a spritzer, spritz a small amount of water on the top and put it in the oven. Put the dough in the oven and set it at 400 degrees and setting the time at 40 minutes.  After 40 minutes check the bread, it should have turned golden brown and crispy. If not let it go for another 5 minutes. Ovens vary in their temperature settings so yours may need an extra few minutes.

When done take it out, let it set for 10 minutes, then dive in to wonderful sourdough bread.

Ah yes, your starter. Ad one cup warm water and one cup flour, mix it together and put in a non- metallic container, I use a porcelain container I bought a garage sale with a top on it that seals fairly tight, and put it in the refrigerator. Once every 7-9 days take it out stir it, pour half of it out, and add the same portion back in and let it sit for about 8-10 hours and put it back in the refrigerator. I like to take about 1/3 of my starter in a jar and freeze it so I always have something to start from in case something happens to the fresh starter in the refrigerator.