Sourdough Bread

I am very glad to report that my first attempt at sourdough bread (real, old-fashioned, slow-rise, no yeast sourdough bread) was successful! I made a half recipe, which was two medium loaves, last night. It's definitely a different taste, but we like it. It's not a bad different.

Here's all I did. Last Friday night I put two cups of rye flour (I used Hodgson Mill's brand which I bought at Walmart) and 2 cups of water in a big bowl. I set it in the oven to keep any bugs out. Then every night for 6 more nights, I added 1 cup of flour and just over 1 cup of water; I stirred it in and moved it over to my other big bowl. (I don't think it matters which order you do those three steps, except I guess the stirring.) I did run out of rye flour on the next to last day (I think), and then just used whole wheat flour. I was following Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions recipe, and she says rye flour makes the best starter. So I bought one box of rye flour and used it up and finished my starter with whole wheat.

Then, to make my bread, Saturday morning I measured out 4 cups (1 quart) of the starter into my other big bowl (the rest I put in the freezer for later) and added some salt; mixed it in good and then added some whole wheat flour. (I'm forgetting the quantities right now; I just made a half recipe from what she says in the book. I could look them up and let you know if you needed them.) Then I kneaded it in the bowl for 10-15 minutes. I cut it in half and put it into my two loaf pans and let it rise for most of the day; I think probably about 7 or 8 hours. Then I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes. And then, yummy! Fresh sourdough bread. I think it's neat that the only ingredients are flour, salt, and water. No yeast, and no oil. (Some of my low-fat dieters may like this feature of this bread!)

I put my leftover starter into two containers, one quart already measured and ready to make two more loaves from, and about 2 cups extra for my next batch of starter. I feel like I will probably be doing both -- baking more bread and beginning more starter -- later this week.

Sally Fallon says the slow-rise breads are the most nutritious. I don't understand much about those details yet. We do still, and will continue to for now, eat the "quick-rise" breads, including the baking powder breads (muffins, pancakes) and the yeast breads (rolls, bread machine loaves), but maybe I can begin to shift us over to slow-rise sourdough. Hey, I'm just proud Try #1 went well. That's a confidence booster!