Sourdough Bread Good! Make your own.

Contrary to some people’s opinion

making bread is not slavery—especially sourdough bread

Here’s one of many recipes for homemade sourdough bread

Famous bread guru, James Beard, wrote that making sourghdough bread is a fickle process…not worth the trouble.

Nonsense.

Making sourdough bread is not slavery—it’s an art form. Those who make sourdough bread join a 3,700 year-old history. The first recorded civilization that made sourdough bread were the Egyptians (circa 1500 BCE). During the California gold rush, miners flocked to the first sourghdough bakery each morning for this bread. Some real California sourdough culture, called Mother Dough was made prior to the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and is still used today.

Although sourdough bread takes a long time to make, most of the process involves stirring the starter and waiting for the bread to rise. You may not be successful on your first try, but it’s well worth the effort to practice until you create a delicious loaf.

Tip: You can easily make sourdough bread even if you work long hours. Make the starter on Tuesday, the sponge on a Saturday, and finish the bread on the following Saturday. Do not use a bread machine. unless you consider your hands a machine. If you make the starter or sponge in bread machine and the bread won’t taste as good.

Step One: Make the starter—approximately 1-1/2 weeks

The starter takes some time, but is easy to make. You only need to do this once if the starter is successful. You can keep the starter for years for future loaves. In San Francisco, there are heirloom starters that date back to the mid-18th Century. The longer you keep and replenish the starter (see below), the better the bread. (There are numerous starter recipes around the internet made from apples, hops, potatoes, etc.)

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (approximately 100-115 degrees^oF

Heat one cup eachwater and milk and add a teaspoon of salt. Place warmed mixture in a large storage bowl at least 3 times the size of the contents: a good glass bowl works best. Leave the mixture in a warm place. Stir the contents daily until the mixture smells extremely sour, usually three to five days.

Make sure you stir every day If the mixture separates, that’s just part of the process: stir it again and leave it until the next day.

After three-five days, combine yeast, one-half cup of warm water (hot water kills yeast), and a teaspoon of granulated sugar in a small bowl to proof the yeast. If the yeast is active, the mixture will rise and have little bubbles on top. If the yeast proofs, add the yeast to the sour mixture. If the yeast is active, the culture will increase in volume and little bubbles appear on the surface. The final starter process takes one week, but all you need to do is stir the starter daily.

Here’s a completed starter; it looks a lot like un-lumpy beer mash:

NOTE: After you make a successful starter, for each cup you use, add one cup each water and flour. Store the starter in the refrigerator and stir it once a day whether you use it or not. You must also add 1/2 cup flour and water each week to preserve the starter for future loaves.

Step Two: Make the sponge: approximately 12 hours

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup starter (see above)
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups (approximately) unbleached, all-purpose white flower

The night before or several hours before baking, combine the warm water, starter, sugar, and salt in a large, non-metallic bowl, then mix in one cup of flour at a time. The mixture should be smooth and somewhat sticky. Cover the sponge with a towel or plastic wrap, and let the sponge stand in room temperature for several hours or overnight until the sponge doubles in bulk. (If you live in a very hot or cold climate, put the sponge in an unheated oven.)

Step Three: Make the bread

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Sourdough sponge mixture (see Step 2)
• 1-3 cups unbleached white flour

After you proof the yeast in sugar and lukewarm water, (see Step 1 above) add the mixture to the sponge. Add a cup or so of flour to the sponge. When the dough becomes less sticky, turn the contents of the bowl out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in additional flour until the dough is fairly stiff and looks somewhat like the following:

Step Four: Let it rise!

Sourdough bread requires three risings, so you don’t need to do much more than turn on the stove.

1. After you finish kneading the bread dough, place the mixture on a buttered aluminum foil, cover with a towel, and let the dough rise for two hours or until it’s doubled in bulk.

2. Punch the dough down, and return it to the buttered foil. Cover the dough again and let it rise for 45 minutes to one hour.

3. After you let the bread rise a second time, divide the dough in half and shape the loaves like French bread and place on a buttered baking sheet or aluminum foil. (If you prefer, you can use well-buttered bread pans.)

4. Allow the loaves to rise one hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 400^o F; place a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack.

6. When the over reaches 400^oF, lightly slash the loaves diagonally across the top and put them in the oven

7. Bake the bread for 30-40 minutes. The loaves are done when you tap them lightly on the top and you hear a hollow sound.

8. Cool the bread on a rack or a counter.

Keep the bread in the refrigerator. Sourdough bread freezes well and tastes best when heated or toasted.

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