Sourdough Bread and a Relaxing Weekend
Eek…I neglected to post anything last week and Katie totally called me out on it. I have such a backlog of recipes to post, but I’ll save those for a rainy day. 
Yesterday was the first weekend day in a long time where we had absolutely no obligations or prior engagements so it was definitely a veg-out day! I had been jonesing for some homemade bread recently, so I brought my Dad’s sourdough starter out from the depths of the fridge on Friday night.
I let 1 cup of it sit covered over night with 1 cup of flour + 1 cup of warm water.
- 1½ cup sourdough starter
- 1½ cups lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2½ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup warm milk
- 2 tbsp room temperature butter
- 6 cups flour
- Combine all of the ingredients, mixing well to form a smooth dough.
- Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it’s doubled in size (about 90 minutes).
- Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves.
- Place the loaves on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.
- Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each; a serrated bread knife works well here.
- Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes on middle rack, until it’s a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.
Since this was my first foray into making bread, I definitely learned a few things. This bread came out really well, but it’s incredibly dense. I’m also more of a fan of muli-grain, whole-wheat bread, so that will be my next experiment.
I love the idea of homemade bread because you know exactly what’s going into it. The stuff you buy at the store can be so incredibly laden with crap if you take the time to look. Seriously! Next time you buy bread, even whole wheat stuff, check to see if it contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. You’d be surprised how many do!
While waiting for the bread to rise, Kman and I trekked down to our building’s gym to go for a run. I’ve been doing my little Bridge to 10K app and loving it! Yesterday I completed Week 2 Day 1 and felt wonderful. I’ve been running 3 times a week, but only consider a day completed when I do the entire day’s program…if I cut it short, I make myself do it over. 4.3 miles in 45 minutes, not too bad considering I had a month and a half running hiatus for November/December!
Post-run I bundled up to go to ShopRite and BJ’s for some kitchen essentials…namely lots and lots and LOTS of veggies. And some Doritos managed to sneak in there, too 
We finished the night off with a pear/apple/kale/carrot/lime/celery juice which we sipped while watching the movie “Fork Over Knife” on Netflix. I highly recommend watching it. Dad, if you’re reading this…you better check it out!
Now I’m off to whip up a huuuuuuuge batch of tomato soup to tide us over for the week. In the slow cooker, of course. Would you expect anything less?!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!
2 comments
I’d really like to try my hand at bread baking! It seems so fun and delicious! I need to make a sourdough starter for starts though! Good luck with the whole wheat!
Nice Kitchen Aid mixer!!!!!!
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