Heart of the Matter Friday Meme - Recipes

This week's Heart of the Matter Friday Meme is asking for "tried and true" recipes, especially bread, crockpot and meatless recipes. So, I'll play along by posting the sourdough recipe that my family just loves! It's a sourdough recipe, so yes, you do have to deal with a starter. And no, this is not a quick bread recipe that you can just mix up and throw in the oven - when you decide you want to make a batch, it takes a day and half from start to finish.

First, the starter. You can mix this up any time, but it does need several days of settling before you can use it to make bread:

3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs. instant potatoes
1 cup warm water
3 pkgs dry yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water

Put in the fridge for 3 - 5 days (you can even freeze this).

Now, when you're ready to make bread, plan ahead to the time that you want the bread to be ready and back up a day and a half. For instance, if you want fresh bread with dinner on Friday night, you need to begin the recipe Thursday night. Take out the starter and add the following:

3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs instant potatoes
1 cup warm water

Do not use any metal utensils when preparing this starter or the bread. I think it adversely affects it somehow.

Leave out for 8-12 hours. Stir it up, pour one cup of starter into a large mixing bowl, and put the rest in the fridge. The recipe says to feed the starter every 3 - 5 days, but the lady in the recipe says she actually goes 6 - 7 days. If you're not making any bread, just pour out that cup of starter you measured off and leave the rest in the fridge, and do this every few days to keep the starter fresh and usable.

Now you're ready for the next step:

To the starter, add:

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 Tbs. salt
6 cups bread flour

Mix, and leave in a large, oiled bowl. Pat the top with oil and cover with plastic wrap, let rise for 8 - 12 hours.

Push down and knead just a little in the bowl. Divide into 3 or 4 parts and knead each part 12 - 15 times on a floured surface. Put into greased loaf pans, brush tops with oil, cover with wrap and a couple of light dish towels. Let rise in pans another 8 - 12 hours. (You can also put these on a large baking sheet - just make sure there's oil on the sheet to keep the dough from contacting the metal. I love the "artisanal" look of the bread done this way, and the crust is to die for!)

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until brown.



And that's "all" there is to it. It sounds complicated, especially with the long times it takes for the starter and the two rises, but it's very simple really. Just make sure you time it well. Enjoy!

Be sure to visit Heart of the Matter for the rest of today's contributions!