JR's Sourdough Bread

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup sourdough starter (mother)
• about 3 all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups water
• 1.5 tsp salt
• Optional: seeds, nuts, olives, etc to flavor bread

Phase I Directions (processing starter)

1. Place mother in bowl
2. Add 1.25 cups of flour
3. Add 1/2 cup water (room temperature)
4. Stir together using a non-metal spoon; get all the lumps out (use a touch more water if necessary).
5. Cover with plastic wrap.
6. Place in a warmed oven, turned off with the light on (turn oven to lowest setting and when warm, turn it off).
7. After 2-3 hours, the starter should be bubbly and large, take it out of the oven and make dough.

Phase II Directions -- loaves or baguettes

1. Add 1.5 tsp salt to the processed starter
2. Add 1/2 cup room temperature water
3. Add 1 cup of flour (optionally: half white; half rye or other).
4. Optionally add seeds, nuts, flax, cooked rice, sesame, olives, etc.
5. Add flour until you have a blob that you can knead.
6. Tip dough out of bowl and kneed, adding flour as necessary to knead without dough becoming sticky. After it stops being sticky, knead for 5-8 more minutes. (This step requires about 1.75 cups of flour in total.)
7. Place dough in an oiled bowl (coating ball with oil).
8. Cover dough with plastic wrap and put back in warm oven.
9. Allow dough to rise until doubled (about 2 hours).
10. Remove from bowl and shape into loaves or baguettes (be careful not to overknead it -- less kneading produces different sized holes and a french/italian style; more kneading produces even crumbs and a dutch/german style).
11. Put in loaf or baguette pan, cover with plastic wrap and return to oven for another 1-2 hour rising (check if you need to loosen the plastic wrap).
12. Place two racks in the oven.
13. Remove loaf from oven and preheat to 425 (loaves) or 450 (baguettes).
14. When oven is ready, score the loaves then on top oven shelf with 1 cup of water on the bottom shelf.
15. Bake 12-15 minutes for a baguette and 20-22 minutes for a loaf.