Email to Stella      

Starters: Blue Ribbon Sourdough Bread & Starter

Source of Recipe

aol member recipe boards


List of Ingredients

SPONGE:
1 cup milk base sourdough starter -- room temp
2 cups hard wheat or bread flour
2 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
BREAD:
3 3/4 cups hard wheat or bread flour -- (3 3/4 to 4 1/2)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda


Recipe

The night before baking make a sponge. Mix sourdough starter, flour and warm water in 3 quart glass bowl with wooden spoon until smooth. Cover, let stand in warm draft free place at least 8 hours but not more than 12.

Add 3 3/4 cup of flour, sugar, salt and baking soda to the sourdough sponge. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth and flour is completely absorbed. Turn dough onto floured surface: knead vigorously, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add more flour if needed to control stickiness, but not more than the remaining 3/4 cup. Place in a clean bowl. Cover with floured plastic wrap and let rise until more than double in bulk. Punch down and divide in two, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Shape into 2 round loaves. Let rise bottom side up on floured pastry cloths until double. 30 minutes before bread is to go into the oven, line lower middle rack with six unglazed quarry tiles or large rectangle baking stone. Set a baking pan at the bottom floor of the oven.

Fill baking pan 1/2 full with water. Preheat tiles to 375¼F. Invert loaves onto a sliding board that has been sprinkled with corn meal. You can use cardboard or plywood if you want. Heat a metal object and carefully drop into the pan of hot water to activate steam. I use an old cast iron skillet. Close the door and let the oven fill with steam. Quickly slash tops of loaves with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Open oven and quickly slide the bread on to the hot tiles. Bake 10 minutes. Remove bottom pan and bake 40 more minutes. Open oven door slighlt, but leave the bread in the oven 10
minutes before removing bread. This waiting times dries out the interior and keep the crust crisp. Remove to wire rack to cool. Note: This bread can be baked on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal but the tiles give a better bakery quality bread.

Sourdough Starter: Heat 1 cup skim or low fat milk to 90 to 100¼F on a thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in plain (unflavored) low fat yogurt. Pour into warm container. The container should be a glass jar or ceramic. Cover tightly, and set in a warm place. It is important to find a warm place to put the starter. Ideally it should be 80 to 100¼F. Above 110 it will die and below 70 it does not grow well.
Some good spots are on top of a water heater or refrigerator near a pilot light. After 18 to 24 hours, starter should be about the consistency of yogurt (a curd has forms and the mixture does not flow readily when the container is slightly tilted). If it turn pink. throw it out and start over. After a curd has formed, gradually stir in 1 cup all purpose flour into starter until smooth.
Cover tightly and return to a warm spot until mixture is full of bubbles and has a good sour smell: this takes about 2 to 5 days. During this time, if a clear liquid stir it back into the starter but if it turns pink; spoon out all but 1/4 of the starter: then blend in a mixture of 1 cup each warm milk and flour. Cover tightly and let stand until bubbly and sour smelling; then it is ready to use.
To store, cover and refrigerate. Makes about 1 1/2 cups starter. To maintain an ample supply, replenish your starter every time you use it. Do this by adding a mixture of 1/2 cup warm milk and flour. Cover, let stand several until bubbly then store in the refrigerator. If you do not bake often (one a week) you should discard about half the starter and replenish it with warm milk and flour. Always use wooden spoons with sourdough starter.

If your starter is less than six month old you might need to add a packet of yeast to the warm liquid of your recipe. This will not be necessary if the starter is very active. The more you use it, and the older it gets, the better it will be.