A New Adventure in Sourdough

Last week when my Mom came to visit she brought me some of the cookbooks that she didn't want anymore. Among them was one that I was very excited to receive..."Bread Winners Too- The Second Rising" by Mel London. I looked for some sourdough recipes in the book and found several that intrigued me. I was looking to make a lighter, airier loaf worthy of toast and sandwiches and I found a recipe for a whole wheat sourdough brioche bread. So, yesterday I decided to make it and I'm so happy with the results. The above loaf is one of the two that resulted from my efforts and it was well worth it!

Below is the recipe along with my notes about the slight changes I made and the advice I give about making this bread:

Whole Wheat Sourdough Brioche Bread:

Adapted from "Bread Winners Too- The Second Rising" by Mel London

2 cups whole wheat sourdough starter
1 tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups milk
3 large eggs- separated
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon coarse salt
9-10 cups whole wheat flour
1-2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened

1 egg yolk, beaten or 1/4 cup milk or cream for brushing loaves

2 small loaf pans

1. Mix the yeast and warm water in a bowl. Let it set for 5-10 minutes or until it looks frothy.

2. In a large bowl, mix the starter with milk. Beat the egg yolks separately and then add to the dough. Then, add the yeast and water mixture. After that add the honey and salt. Beat in half of the flour.

3. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until fluffy and then fold them into the dough. I beat mine by hand with a whisk but you can also use a stand mixer for this. Add the remaining flour slowly and knead well. If the dough seems too sticky and wet add more flour.

4. Knead on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes or so. Then, put the dough into a floured bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. I let my dough rise about 4+ hours for this first stage. Below is a picture of my dough. I let it rise outside for a while during the time it was sunny.


5. Punch the dough down and work in the butter. The dough will be very moist, but work all of the butter in until it is no longer visible. Make sure it is all absorbed. This will take a few minutes.

6. Spray 2 small loaf pans with non-stick spray or butter them. Form 2 loaves out of the dough and place them in the pans. Cut slits in the tops of the loaves and brush with beaten egg yolk, milk or cream. Place in a warm area to rise another 3-4 hours.

7. Place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500F. Reduce the heat to 450F and then put the loaves in to bake. Bake for about 40 minutes to 1 hour or so. The tops will brown quickly, so during the last half of the baking time put a piece of foil over each loaf. Cool loaves on a wire rack.

My Notes:

The original recipe did not call for yeast. During the first rising period my dough didn't rise much, so I added the yeast after the first rising instead. In my version of the recipe here I add it at the beginning. I think it helps because otherwise the dough is so dense with eggs and milk that the sourdough will take a long time to rise the dough.

Another problem I had that I solved quickly before it was too late was that I had originally formed the loaves into free form circles and put them on baking sheets. During the second rise they spread out and were forming big "pancake-like" loaves. I didn't want this effect so I scooped up the dough and put it into the loaf pans instead. This made the bread much better!

One final note is to double check to make sure the bread is done. You might even take a wooden skewer and insert it in the center. I was fooled by my larger loaf of bread because I sliced 2 slices and we had them with dinner, but when I went to make toast the next morning I noticed the bread was raw in the middle. I promptly popped it back into a loaf pan and baked it 20+ minutes more until it was done. It's never too late to correct your mistakes!


Enjoy your bread and happy baking!

Our Sourdough Saga

As you may know, I (Trista) and my mom Serena have been working with our sourdough starter for quite some time now. We have learned a lot along the way. My mom found out that her starter became stronger with the addition of whole wheat flour. She then shared some of her starter with me and I mixed it in with mine and added a bit more flour and water to it. I have kept it at room temperature for quite some time and it has become stronger as a result. I also did some research and found out that it is necessary to feed the starter once or twice daily (if you don't bake with it that day) in order to keep it going strong. This has made a huge difference and allowed my mom and I to have much more success with our sourdough starters and really enjoy using them!

Here are some of our experiences with sourdough recently:

(Pictured above is Trista's variation on Serena's "Whole Wheat Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread" recipe)

Serena’s sourdough experience on 6/6-7/10

Tried combining a sourdough recipe with the dutch oven beer bread recipe.

Changes:
Left out the yeast
Increased flour
Increased water

Notes:
Dough rose satisfactorily in the first rise of about 24 hours.
In the second rise, I added a warm stone to the bottom to accelerate rise.
The loaf was left in the oven too long, resulting in an overdone, thick and tough crust.
Interior remained moist, but looked as if it needed to rise more.
I added 1 Tbsp per cup of potato flour.

Recipe:
2 cups sourdough starter (whole wheat and water starter)
1 cup water
3 tsp salt
5-6 cups flour, half white and half whole wheat
1 tbsp per cup of potato flour

I mixed the starter with 1 cup of white flour, then added the water and after that was thoroughly mixed in, I added 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1-2 cups of white flour, and then the salt. Check the dough, and add up to 1 cup additional flour – whole wheat suggested.

Shape into a ball and put in a bowl covered with clean towels or plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for a bout 24 hours more or less. Put a piece of parchment paper into a skillet, leaving the edges of the paper overhanging the pan. Remove the dough from the bowl and shape into a round. Place the dough round into the skillet and cover loosely with clean towels or plastic wrap, so there is room for the dough to expand.

At this point you will need to check the dough after about 3 hours. If it is rising, continue rising as is. If it is not rising much or at all, put the pan on a pizza stone. Continue rising 4-6 hours.

Preheat a covered dutch oven at 500 degrees in the oven. Slit the top of the loaf about ½” deep and 6” long with a sharp knife, then lift the bread dough into the dutch oven by the corners of the parchment and replace the lid. Place in the oven and reduce heat to 425 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, remove lid and bake an additional 30 minutes until 200-210 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, or till well-browned on top and golden brown all over.
Suggestions: To make this again, try decreasing the flour a bit. Try increasing the rise time after shaping the loaf.

Trista's Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread Experience- 6-15-10:

I (Trista) followed the above recipe (putting into practice what was learned) that my mom created for whole wheat sourdough bread but I changed it slightly.

Trista's Variation:

1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of Scottish oatmeal

I heated the buttermilk for 1 minute in the microwave. I added the oatmeal to it and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then, I added it to the rest of the bread ingredients.

I let this mixture rise 24 hours.

Then, I transferred the dough to the skillet as outlined above. Because I had to go garden for the day the dough ended up rising for about 8 or so hours.

I then baked it in the Dutch oven in the same way.

It turned out very moist in side and had nice holes in the crumb. It rose nicely and had a nice sour taste to it! I like that it has a lot of whole grains in it yet it is very moist! I think the extra rise time really helped and the buttermilk and oatmeal kept the bread very tender.


Serena's Sourdough Pancakes: 6-15-10


I found a sourdough pancake recipe but I noticed that it had baking soda in it as well as sourdough starter. I didn't want to use the soda because I wanted to see if I could make the sourdough work and leaven the pancakes by itself. So, I modified the recipe by putting in more sourdough starter but otherwise basically following the recipe. I was puzzled by the addition of buttermilk to the recipe but I didn't have buttermilk so I just used sweet milk. I really like the results I got this time. Here is my basic recipe:

Sourdough Pancakes:

Makes: 14 small pancakes

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup flour- unbleached all purpose or whole wheat
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Mix together and either place the bowl allow to come to room temperature. These are the methods I would suggest for this:

-cover the bowl and allow it to rest for an hour or so
-immerse it in a container of hot tap water- making sure that it does not overflow into the bowl
-place it on top of a warm pizza stone
-place it in an oven preheated to 240 degrees F and turned off.

These other methods should cut the time in half.

Bake the pancakes on a hot buttered griddle. Using a quarter cup measure pour onto the hot griddle. Watch for bubbles to appear on the surface and look for the edges of the pancakes to lose their shine before turning them.

Trista's Sourdough Sour Cream Pancakes 6-16-10:

Trista decided to make these pancakes tonight for dinner along with an omelet and some asparagus. Here is her variation to the recipe:

I put a 1/2 cup sour cream and a 1/2 cup milk in the batter instead of 1 cup milk.
I put 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar instead of the granulated sugar

They turned out great! I put the batter in the oven which I turned off after it reached about 200 degrees. I let it rest in there about 30 minutes. This method seemed to work really well! They were sour, moist and smooth and tasted amazing with butter and maple syrup!

Farmer's Market Meal!

Yesterday I decided to make a new dish out of some of the lovely foods that I picked up at the Oregon City Farmer's Market last weekend. I had picked up a pork shoulder roast from Hansen Family Farms as well as sugar snap peas and spinach from Gardenripe among other things. Also, I had made some sourdough bread over the weekend. So, I thought I'd make a Cuban pork sandwich.

I combined two recipes & two cooking methods to come up with a delicious combination. I used a dry rub and then combined with a braising method to create the yummy pork for the sandwich.

Below is the recipe and my notes along with some more photos of the process:

Pork Shoulder Roast- Cuban Style:

Ingredients:

1 pork shoulder roast- 3+ pounds

Salt & Olive Oil Rub:

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons oregano
1-2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

15-20 cloves garlic- finely chopped
1 medium onion- chopped

1/3 cup lime juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 1/3 cups orange juice

Combine the ingredients for the salt rub and rub it over the meat. Let the meat rest, covered in the refrigerator overnight.



Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Take the roast out of the refrigerator. Place the garlic and onion along with some olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven. Put the roast on top of the garlic and onion mixture. Mix the lime, lemon and orange juices and pour them around the roast. It should come up around a quarter of the roast. You will have some left over.

Roast the meat for one hour and fifteen minutes on one side. Flip the roast over and roast for another 30 minutes. Check the level of the liquid. If it starts to get low, replace it with more of the juice mixture. After 30 minutes flip the roast one more time (at this point check for doneness) and if needed roast for about another 30 minutes. If your roast is larger it may need more time to cook.

I refrigerated my roast after this because I was saving it for dinner that evening. It was nice because all of the fat congealed and it was easy to extract the sauce from the pan.


After the roast is done let it cool a bit before slicing. Get the onion, garlic & juice mixture out of the pan and reduce it in a small frying pan for a few minutes over medium heat. Then, slice the meat into thin slices for the sandwiches. Place meat on one side of the bread and then ladle some of the sauce on top. On the other side of the bread I put some spinach, but you may dress your sandwich as you wish.

Enjoy!

Sour Success!

After a lot of research by my Mom and Aunt about sourdough starters and breads I decided to give my sourdough starter a refresh and start anew. The end result was this beautiful loaf pictured above that I made on Monday, May 31st. It was fantastic! It was well worth the wait and the effort to make. Now my spirits are lifted and I have a new faith in my sourdough starter.

Thoughts on Sourdough:

My Aunt had commented to my Mom about how the miners that first discovered sourdough didn't really fuss with it much other than keeping it going by adding flour now and then. This lead my Mom and I to the conclusion that we shouldn't "baby" our starter so much and maybe that is why my bread had not turned out well in the past.

My Aunt said:

"As for "hooch" I believe that term was invented by the sourdoughs and I think they did drink it now and then to get a little buzz on. I think they had to be pretty desperate for alcohol to drink it because it tastes vile. I think (from what I remember reading about it years ago) that some of the old prospectors and like people had starter that they kept going for years. They would start out with a bag of flour and make a well in it and add water and mix it up with the starter they already had and just keep it going that way, in the bag of flour. They took out what they needed to make up biscuits or something along with enough flour for the biscuits and then add a little water to the "well" area, stir it up and then load up the mule and keep on going. I imagine that during the short time there were cattle drives that the cooks did the same thing. I don't know about when the pioneers crossed the US but I would imagine that sourdough starter was easier to come by than baking soda or powder and didn't take up space or add weight if you kept your starter in your flour bag. "

This got my Mom thinking about it too. Last Friday when we got together at her house she had decided to leave her sourdough starter on the counter at room temperature and leave the lid off. I thought this was a good idea because it mimicked what the miners did and it seemed to work well for them. When I got home I decided to do the same thing with my starter. I added a half cup of flour and a half cup of warm water to it to get it going again. After letting it sit around for a couple of days I decided to make bread again. Sunday night I made the "sponge" for the bread and let it sit overnight to develop.

After I had done this I heard from my Mom again about sourdough and she said:

"I am glad your sourdough starter is bubbly again, and that you are feeling encouraged. I have been thinking about sourdough bread and how it evolved, and after checking out several sourdoughs in my recipe books and comparing them with what Echo told me, I think part of the problem is that sourdough recipes have evolved to fit modern life, and we need to go back to basics.

What I mean is, if those old miners carried their starter around in flour sacks with some starter mixed in at the top of the sack of flour, then kept it going while they were off all day doing their mining, it has got to be easier - and more flexible - than the recipes we have seen. All of the recipes in my books expect the bread to have a 2-3 hour rise, for example. I don't think miners were quite so fussy on timing, nor do I think they could be, given the work they did, and given the fact that they moved around a lot trying to find the gold where no one else had a claim, given the fact that they were out in the boonies and couldn't probably replenish their sugar or soda or yeast supply as easily as they could carry around a big bag of flour. If so, I don't think they needed a tablespoon or even a teaspoon of sugar each time they mixed in some more flour and water to replenish the starter. I'll bet that they didn't put it in every single time they replenished, either. Real sourdough had to be hardy and had to be able to keep going in a variety of conditions to fit the lives of miners.

The reason I am reconsidering the sugar is because modern recipes call for it to feed the yeast. I know from my experience with yeast breads is that some of them have sugar and some don't. They all rise, with or without sugar or honey. So, just as we can get energy from the starch in flour, I think yeast can too. Also, how can the bread be sour if I am adding sugar or honey to it every time? It just doesn't make sense that those old miners or the sourdough starter are so sensitive that sugar is a must.

I am also encouraged by the recipes we have used recently that call for very little yeast and a long rising time. I think we ought to try making the sourdough with a longer rising time. I have noticed that most of the sourdough recipes call for additional yeast, and even some have soda in them, and often additional sugar. That just doesn't fit the image of sourdough for miners to me. I think those additions are so that breads will rise more quickly, such as expected by modern cooks.

If we have the time to let the sourdough bread dough sit around for a few hours, why don't we do that instead? Frankly, I think that fits better anyhow; and I wonder if it also fit the original developers - miners - better too, as they could bake it when they were done for the day, or first thing in the morning before they went to work, or whenever. The dough is just not that fussy when it has a chance to rise slowly. As we know, some of the low-yeast recipes allow 8-18 hours, and I let that one go that I made last Friday almost 24 hours. The temperature of the day would be important, too, and because of the fact that these miners lived in the outdoors, tents, shacks, or houses without insulation, they were most likely hot and cold with the seasons, and the sourdough had to cope with that as well. Anyway, those are my thoughts on sourdough. It will be fun to try some loaves this way and see what happens."

I think that my Mom's thoughts on sourdough are correct. Luckily, I have never added sugar to my starter. I might try letting my bread rise for a longer time as she mentions as well. I am happy that we both decided to "go back to basics" with our starter.

Here is my recipe with my notes below:
Sourdough Buttermilk Bread:

Makes: 2 round artisan loaves

Ingredients:

Sponge:

1 cup sourdough starter

3 cups flour

2 cups warm water

Bread:

2 teaspoons yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 ¼ cups cold buttermilk

4 cups flour

4 tablespoons wheat germ

2 ¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal

Directions:

1. Mix the sponge ingredients and let them sit in a bowl overnight.

2. In a glass measure mix the yeast and ¼ cup warm water. Let it sit 5-10 minutes. Add this to the sponge. Then, add the flour, buttermilk, wheat germ and salt. Mix in a stand mixer or by hand until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

3. Knead 5-10 minutes with a dough hook on a stand mixer or about 15 minutes by hand. It must be very smooth. It will still by sticky. Add flour as needed.

4. Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover and let rise 3-4 hours in an area that is about 70 degrees F. I like it put the bowl in a sink full of warm water. It rises beautifully! As you can see in the picture below:

5. Turn out onto counter, flatten and press out some gas.

6. Divide into 2 parts, and form round loaves. Put the loaves onto baking sheets or stones sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover with a towel and let rise at least 1 hour.

7. Preheat oven to 375. Put a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven. Fill it with warm or near boiling water. This will help steam the bread.

8. Slash the tops of the loaves with a razor or sharp knife. I made a cross shape on the top of my loaf. Bake at 375 for around 40 to 45 minutes. I baked the loaves on my convection oven setting for 40 minutes at 350F and about 15 minutes at 375F.

This bread turned out very moist with a more open crumb than the French sourdough bread I made before. I don't know if that is due to the buttermilk in the recipe or the "new and improved" way of handling the sourdough starter. In any case I am thrilled with this bread! We were able to eat it fresh right out of the oven for dinner on Monday night along with fresh Ling Cod and asparagus from our local farmer's market! What a great meal! I am looking forward to more experiments with sourdough Next time I'm going to try to add more whole grains to the bread.

Happy Baking!

Sourdough Cheddar and Chive Bagels- More Trials & Tribulations...

After harvesting some fresh chives from my Mom Serena's deck box as pictured above I was inspired to make some sourdough bagels featuring this herb. I had never baked anything with chives in it and I was curious to find out how it would taste in a bagel. Since I'm experimenting with my sourdough starter and have successfully made bagels before, I decided to create a hybrid recipe out of a basic sourdough bagel recipe and give it a try. Wanting to also try a plain sourdough bagel I left part of the dough plain. This is an overnight + 2 day process (overnight to rise the sourdough sponge; 1 day to rise the dough, form the bagels and refrigerate them; and 1 morning to boil and bake the bagels.

Here is the recipe & the results:

Sourdough Cheddar Chive Bagels:

Makes: 7-12 bagels ( my first attempt yielded 7 bagels)

1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3+ cups additional flour
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

cornmeal for dusting baking sheet

1 egg beaten + 2 tablespoons water
+ 1/2 cup or more of shredded sharp cheddar cheese for topping the bagels

1. Mix sourdough starter, warm water, and flour in a bowl. Cover and let sit overnight (I let it sit in a sink full of warm water); the mixture should look bubbly in the morning.

2. To this mixture add the sugar, salt and #+ cups additional flour. Mix well.

3. Knead dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes or knead using a dough hook on a stand mixer for 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double. I let the dough rise for about 6 hours before forming the bagels.

4. Punch down the dough and divide into 7-8 balls. Make sure to have a floured surface to form the bagels on. Roll each ball into a log and form a circle to form the bagel. Place the bagels on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Put a towel over the formed bagels on the sheet and refrigerate them overnight.

5. The next morning bring 2 quarts of water to a boil on the stove. Have near the stove a cooling rack that has been greased with a kitchen towel underneath it. Drop 2-3 bagels into the boiling water at a time. Boil for 15 seconds on each side. Then, remove them with a slotted spoon to drain on the cooling rack.

6. Mix the beaten egg with water. Brush this mixture on the bagels. Then, sprinkle the bagels with the remaining shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

7. Bake the bagels at 350F for 35 minutes. Bagels are finished with they are golden brown and shiny.

My results:

I altered this recipe a bit after baking the bagels this morning because although they are delicious I think that some things could be improved by trying the recipe again. They have a good flavor, and crust but they are a bit too dense. I did end up baking them a bit longer than 35 minutes after I saw how dense they were, but I think that other factors in the recipe contributed to their denseness. Below I'll outline why I think the changes (which have been applied to the recipe above) will help next time I make these bagels.

The initial sponge:

The original recipe called for only 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter mixed with warm water and flour to create a sponge for the dough to be mixed the following day after resting the sponge overnight. I think that that amount needs to be increased to at least a 1/2 cup because my dough did not rise very much.

Mixing in additional flour:

Next, I didn't mix in much more than 2 cups of additional flour to the sponge along with the sugar and salt. I think that additional flour might have helped the texture of the bagels to be a little bit lighter- still dense but not too dense!

Thus, I think that starting out with more sourdough starter in the sponge and adding more flour to the dough would greatly improve these bagels. It was a fun experiment and the chives were a great addition to the bagels. They still stayed quite fresh & flavorful in the finished product.

I think that my next baking project besides pie will involve regular yeast because although I have enjoyed my foray into sourdough baking it is fairly unpredictable. A little respite and time with some regular yeast recipes will restore my confidence so that once again I will tackle another sourdough recipe!

Happy Baking!

Sweet and Sour- Trista's Misadventures with Sourdough Bread

A few days ago I decided to make a sourdough starter. I had used one a few years ago that produced delightful , artisan bread, but it was not sour. So, I decided to try again with a different starter and bread recipe. The bread pictured above is the result of my labors and was baked yesterday. However lovely it was not sour as I had hoped it would be.

I found the recipe for a milk and yogurt based the sourdough starter in "The Best of Sunset" recipe book that my mom Serena gave to me a few weeks ago. Before I had tried a simple water and flour starter. I had high hopes that this sourdough starter recipe would make- as promised- a real sourdough bread.


Possible Reasons My Starter Was Not Sour:

There may be some reasons as to which this did not occur but I cannot be sure as to exactly why. The recipe stated that the starter needed to remain at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit for 2-5 days after the initial 24 hour period in which the starter began. At first, I put the starter on top of the hot water heater because the article suggested that this was an area that was warm enough. However, when I went to check on the jars they were not very warm. So, I decided to put the jars in my slow cooker on the high setting for the remainder of the 24 hour period. In retrospect I probably should have kept it on the low setting- perhaps it got too warm. For the next 2-3 days after I added the flour to the starter I kept the slow cooker on the low setting. Maybe I should have put water in the cooker as well because the bottom of the starter mixture actually "baked". Finally, I might have waited another day or two to let the flavor develop further. I will never know for sure, but I can ponder the possible problems with the starter.

The Sweeter Side Of The Slice:

Although there were issues with the sourness of the final product, the starter did work quite well as a bread "sponge". As pictured above it bubbled quite nicely in the bowl for around 8 hours before I started making the dough for the second and third rises. Because of this bubbling and because I tasted some of the dough and it was sour I had high expectations that the bread was going to be real sourdough bread!

I have replenished my starter by adding equal amounts of flour and milk in case I want to make any more breads that call for a sourdough starter. Although they may not be sour- their texture will be quite nice.

I am including the sourdough starter recipe as well as the bread recipe as I adapted them from the book. You might want to try your luck at this starter and see what results.

Milk and Yogurt Sourdough Starter- Adapted from "The Best of Sunset"

Ingredients:

1 cup skim milk (non fat milk gives the most sour flavor)
2 tablespoons low fat yogurt
1 cup all purpose flour (add later)

Heat the milk to 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and mix in the yogurt. Pour milk into the warm container ( I used a large canning jar with a metal lid), cover tightly, and let stand in a warm place where the temperature is between 80F and 100F. If the temperature is above 110F the bacteria may be killed and the starter will not get bubbly.

After 18-24 hours, the starter should look like yogurt and a curd will form. If any clear liquid appears, stir it back in. If the liquid is a pink color you will need to throw the starter out and begin again.

Once the curd has formed, slowly stir in 1 cup of all purpose flour into the starter until it is smoothly blended. Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place until the mixture is very bubbly and has a good sour smell; it should take 2-5 days.

Each time you use your starter replenish your supply by adding equal parts of warm skim milk and all purpose flour to replace the amount of starter you used. For example if you use 1 cup of starter add 1 cup of warm milk (90 to 100F) and 1 cup of all purpose flour. Cover and let stand several hours after mixing or until the next day. Then, refrigerate it until you use it again.

Make sure to warm your starter overnight or for 4-6 hours before starting your bread baking process.

Sourdough French Bread- Adapted from "The Best of Sunset"

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (about 110F)
1 cup sourdough starter
Around 8 cups all purpose flour- I use unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons each salt and sugar
6 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup water, stirred together

Sponge:

In a large bowl, combine the warm water, starter and 4 cups of the flour; stir until the mixture is smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at about 85F until very thick and bubbly- 6 to 8 hours or until the next day. I kept my sponge warm by putting the bowl in the sink and adding the hottest tap water I could to the sink. I periodically changed the water to make sure it remained warm.

Make the Dough:

When your sponge is ready mix in the salt, sugar, ,and about 3 more cups of flour or enough to form a very stiff dough. Then, mix the dough either with a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook or by hand. If you are using a dough hook mix in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour until the dough pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl. If you are mixing the dough by hand spread part of a cup of flour onto a board or the clean counter. Scrape the dough out onto the board or counter and knead it until it is smooth and elastic- about 10 to 12 minutes.

First Rising:

Place dough into a greased bowl and turn over to grease the top. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled- 1 1 /2 to 2 hours. I like to either put the bowl back into the sink with warm water or use the "warm" setting on my oven for this rising.

Form the Loaves:

After this first rising- punch down the dough and knead it a bit on a lightly floured board. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. I formed my loaves into rounds which I prefer but you can also make a long log loaf if you wish. Sprinkle 2 baking sheets each with 3 tablespoons of cornmeal. Place the formed loaves onto the baking sheets.

Second Rising:

Cover loaves with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I let these rise in the oven on the "warm" setting- or you can heat your oven to around 200F, turn it off- and then use the ambient heat to let the loaves rise. When the loaves are done rising- take the plastic wrap off.

Bread Preparation & Baking:

Adjust the oven racks so that there is one at the lowest position & two evenly spaced above it. Place a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack Just before you bake the bread pour hot water- (about 1/4 inch up) into the baking sheet to create steam while the bread is baking.

In the meantime- in a 2 to 4 cup saucepan, bring the cornstarch and water mixture to a boil while stirring and let cool. Cut slashes on the top of your bread with a very sharp knife before baking. Then, brush the loaves with the cornstarch mixture.

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Then, brush each loaf again with the cornstarch mixture. After this, rotate the bread loaves from bottom rack to top rack so that they will bake evenly. Bake for 20- 25 minutes more until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap them.

Enjoy your amazing bread!!

Coming soon....recipes for using fresh chives and rhubarb from the garden this spring!