Using Your Sourdough Starter

Now comes the fun part! Making Bread!! Give yourself plenty of time for this phase (it is well worth the wait!) You will need some cloths (that are not fuzzy) to cover your dough while it is rising. I use kitchen washcloths that are dedicated to this only. If your kitchen is drafty you may want to warm your oven prior to starting the dough then turn it off and when ready place your rising dough in a glass bowl, in the oven covered with the door shut & light on.

This is the recipe I chose to begin with and what is pictured below http://allrecipes.com/recipe/san-francisco-sourdough-bread/detail.aspx
this is one I am going to try soon: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sourdough-bread-i/detail.aspx

The three phases your dough will go through. Yummy!

Following this recipe is fairly easy, it made 2 loaves & 2 small bread mounds. The only thing I would caution you on is during the second rising time. . . make sure you let it rise in the pan you will be baking it in and allow room for it to double in size without being disturbed. My second go round with this recipe I decided to 'disturb' one of my loaves because it was crowded in the pan (big mistake!) it flattened and never recovered (see below). Thankfully it still tasted good.

My disturbed loaf! turned out to be a great sandwich roll!

Recipe also calls for an egg wash. . .beat the one egg called for in recipe with 1 Tbs of water then lightly brush over top of each loaf. that gives it this beautiful coloring on the crust! I omitted the onions.

You can be creative and use spring form pan for a bread mound or free form the loaves (a bit trickier). My favorite is to bake it in a stone loaf pan or on a round stone with the outer edge of a spring form pan sitting around it to form during the second rising & keep that beautiful round look while baking.

My family & friends have been so happy since I started this. . .they are eating well!

So, happy baking! Feel free to ask me if you have questions. I'll answer or find the answer if I don't know it.

  "Creating Smiles One Recipe at a Time!"