Uncle Bob's Pretty Good Sourdough Bread

Today's Bread

Starter-

111 grams flour

½ cup warm water (100-110f)

¼ cup sourdough

Then-

302 grams (+) bread flour

1½ TB sugar or honey

1¼ tsp kosher or sea salt (or regular works fine)

1⅛ tsp active dry yeast

½ cup milk or water

1 or 2 TB softened butter

In the morning, mix the starter ingredients together, cover and set in a warm place. Once the starter is active (4 or 5 hours in a warm place) and bubbly, you can make the bread.  All ingredients should be brought to room temperature before use, so I set them out a couple of hours ahead.

Once the starter is ready, pour the ½ cup lukewarm water or milk (no more than about 110 degrees, or you will kill the yeast) into a mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar or honey, and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let this rest until the yeast proofs (you should see it foam and maybe bubble a little in about 5 to 10 minutes, if the yeast is good).

Once you know the yeast is good (if it is not, start over with fresher yeast), mix about one cup of the 302 grams of flour plus the salt and butter into the yeast liquid, along with the sourdough starter. Mix this with a Big Wooden Spoon as well as you can and then continue adding flour until you get a dough that clings and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Dump this onto a large cookie sheet.  Wash and dry your hands, set the remaining flour near the cookie sheet along with the sack of flour you took it all from.  You will probably need more flour as you knead the dough. Put the mixing bowl into the sink and fill it with hot soapy water.

Start a stop watch or set a timer for about 8 minutes.  Start kneading the remaining flour into the dough, dusting the dough with a little more flour each time it gets sticky in spots.  You will probably need a bit more than the originally measured amount, but don’t overdo it.  Only add a little at a time.  The dough will get smoother as you knead it and eventually will have a smooth satiny feel.  The whole process takes about 8 minutes or so, sometimes a little less.

Let the dough ball rest while you finish washing and drying the mixing bowl.  Pour about 1 TB of good quality oil into the mixing bowl, put the dough ball in the bowl and roll it over once to coat the dough with the oil. Cover and place it in a warm place for at least an hour, or maybe 1:20.  Or so.  In a cold kitchen, you might turn on your oven and set the bowl nearby for the warmth.  Don’t get it too near the heat, or you’ll kill it and it won’t rise.  Drink a glass of root beer (or some good red wine) while you wait. Wash and dry the cookie sheet.

After the dough has about doubled in size, turn it back out onto the cookie sheet.  Knead it briefly and form it into a loaf.  Place it into a large loaf pan which has been greased (or buttered) well.  I usually brush an egg wash (one egg or egg white, whisked with a tsp or so of water) over the top at this point, and slash the top once or twice. (Some recipes suggest the wash after the 2^nd rise – but you have to be real careful about that as you can cause your risen loaf to collapse.) Cover it loosely with a piece of saran wrap and let it rise again for about 50 minutes.  If not already on, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the loaf pan on a cookie sheet and bake him for about 30 minutes. If you have an instant read thermometer, check the loaf at about 25 or 27 minutes and if the center reads 190 F or above, your bread is done.  Turn it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.  Then store it in a nice plastic sack until dinner time. 

Of all the breads I make, this one is my favorite.

If you don't have a sourdough mix, they are very easy to make.  It takes a week or two, but it is simply a process of mixing flour and water and letting it rest.  If you want a recipe and instructions, send me a note at trafficschoolbobfortythree@yahoo.com (only use the numerals for the forty-three) - but instructions are easy to find and follow all over the internet.  Once you have it, then you keep it in the fridge most of the time and feed it twice a month (more water and flour).  I made my "Chuck" about a year ago and he is very delicious!

It is also easy to substitute a small amount of the flour with whole wheat flour -- I wouldn't do more than 1/8 or 1/4 cup though.

You could also let the dough rise the last time in an oven-proof med bowl, or free form on the cookie sheet.  Some folks make it as a round loaf with the slash done in the form of an "X" across the top.  I usually just make a standard-shaped loaf.   Another possible addition is 1 TB of wheat gluten when you are mixing the dough.  I don't always do this but the texture is a bit more store-like when I do.


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