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Basic Sourdough Bread

I’m here to tell you: making bread is easy. I know that some of my friends just shake their heads and say “I could never do that!” But then I see them make an amazing pie crust and I think “I could never do that!” We all have mental blocks.
So here’s a simple sourdough bread recipe so you can get your feet wet.

This is assuming, of course, that you’ve made a sourdough starter. If you had your starter in the fridge, take it out and let it warm up for a few hours. Take two cups of starter and put it in a large ceramic bowl. Add one cup of warm water and one cup of flour. Mix them well and cover with a cloth. You want to let this mixture — it’s called a “sponge” but that’s a weird word and the family makes fun of it so I call it my “sourdough batter.”
You want the batter to sit and ferment for at least 6 hours — 8 or 12 is even better. The longer you let it sit, the better it will be. I try to let mine sit overnight, but sometimes I forget and then I’ll mix it up in the morning and set the timer for 7 hours.

When the batter is done — and it will be a little bubbly and sour-smelling — measure out two cups of the batter into a mixing bowl. I use my Kitchen Aid with a dough hook. At this point the sourdough bread — or the beginnings of it anyway — doesn’t mind the metal of the mixing bowl. It’s the sourdough starter that doesn’t like metal.
To the batter add:
3 cups of flour ( I like to use a mixture of regular unbleached flour, whole wheat flour and rye.)
2 Tbs of olive oil
4 ts of sugar
2 ts of salt

You may need more flour. It depends on so many factors. Start with the 3 cups and add an extra half cup as you go. Don’t worry the whole wheat flour and the rye are not going to make this into whole wheat bread — it just gives a nice flavor and texture.

So mix the ingredients together. When you have a nice stiff dough, put it on the counter and knead it a just a enough to get it into a nice ball. Grease your mixing bowl a bit and plop the dough in. Cover with a towel and let it rise for an hour. If your kitchen is cold, make it an hour and half.

When the time is up, take the dough out of the bowl and shape it into a loaf. I usually use a standard bread pan but you can free-form it and bake it on a cookie sheet. It’s all good.

Here’s the fun part: open your oven and place a shallow pan of warm water on the lowest rack. I use an old brownie pan for this. Put the shaped bread dough on the upper rack and close the door. Let the bread rise for an hour. It takes longer for sourdough bread to rise. This is OK — it’s artisan bread so that makes everything just fine! Some sourdough starters are more vigorous than others and most need extra time to rise, compared to traditional yeast bread.

After the hour is up, take the bread out, toss the water in the sink and put the oven to 400 degrees. Let it preheat and then bake your bread for about 25 minutes. It will have a lovely crust and taste delicious right out of the oven. You, my friend, have made a loaf of genuine sourdough bread! Enjoy.

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