Heather's Sourdough

Sourdough bread

Put your starter in the fridge for 3-5 days (no more than 7 days) The day before you want to make bread, set the starter out and add the following mixture:

3/4 cup sugar dissolved in
1 cup very warm water
3 Tablespoons instant potato flakes

Stir it once and leave it out for 8-12 hours on the kitchen counter. Now you are ready to make your bread. You will need:

6 cups flour 1 cup starter
1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil 1 and 1/2 cups warm water

Place sugar, salt and 4 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Add starter and oil, mix. Add water and mix well. Add remaining 2 cups of flour - stir forming a stiff batter.

Cover with a towel and let rise for 8-12 hours in a warm, draft free spot. When doubled, punch down and roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 3 or 4 times then divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal parts. Knead each part onto a floured surface 8-10 strokes. (I do not use a rolling pin, just lay it onto the floured countertop and start punching and folding, punching and folding till the dough is well kneaded and flour is worked in. Add more flour to your surface is the dough is still very sticky while you are working with it.)

If you are making rolls, pinch off small balls of dough from the kneaded section and pull the dough with your fingers from the top of the ball down toward the bottom side so that the top is now smooth and the bottom is slightly puckered. Place these into a well oiled pan, turning them individually into the oil so that they are well covered. This will allow them to be pulled apart easily after baking. If making loaves, put each larger section of dough into a greased bread pan. This recipe makes an easy 2 loaves and one 9x9 pan of rolls, but you could make 3 loaves or one giant pan of rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise until double, 5-8 hours.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. (If you find the top to be perfectly cooked, but inside is doughy, do the following: start baking bread on convection if your oven offers that option. Also, cover the top of the pan with foil once the top is brown and let it bake 10 more minutes. This will keep the top from over cooking.)

Note: As your starter builds up to 3 cups or more, you can give a cup away, throw one away or make a double batch and freeze the extra loaves. Always keep at least one cup for yourself.