Sourdough Bread

Bet you thought I would never post the recipe for the bread, it has been so long since I posted the starter recipe.  The weather has been hot and we have been cycling a lot.

As you can see this makes a beautiful loaf.  At first I tried to make the loaf on a flat sheet, the way the recipe states.  I found it spread out too much and ended up more like a flat bread.  So now I put the dough into loaf pans.  This recipe makes 2 loaves.  I used my mixer to mix, stir and knead rather than doing it my hand.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
4 1/4 to 5 1/4 cups bread or all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup very warm water

Directions
Stir sourdough starter before measuring.  Measure out 1 1/2 cups sourdough starter and bring to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, and salt.  Gradually add water and starter to dry ingredients, beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.  Beat 2 minutes at high speed.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth, about 8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top.  Cover, let rise in a warm place until doubled in size,
about 60 minutes.

Punch dough down.  Remove to floured surface, and divide in half.  Shape into loaves and place into greased loaf pans.  Cover, let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

With a sharp knife, make 4-5 diagonal slashes (1/4 inch deep)  across the top of each loaf.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until done.

Remove immediately from the pans and let cool on a wire rack.