Sourdough Bread Recipe

This is so easy and sooooo good!

For the starter:

* Mix 1 Tbs yeast with 2 cups of chlorine-free water (you can allow your tap water to "air out" in a jug for a couple of days) and two cups of white flour.
* Combine these in a glass, plastic, or earthenware container (no metal).
* Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow this mixture to sit at room temperature for at least 48 hours, until it foams and develops a pleasantly sour smell. (The mixture will rise a bit intially, so I wouldn't fill your container more than half full, that way it doesn't overflow.)
* Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. (A general sourdough warning is that if starter turns orange, pink, or any other weird color, throw it out. This is rare though, so don't let that scare you.)

Each time you remove starter for the recipe below, "feed" it with 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups flour. Stir well. Cover loosely and return to the refrigerator.

To make two loaves of bread:

5 1/2 cups flour (1 or 2 cups can be whole wheat, but I haven't tried it that way yet)
2 cups starter (stir really well before you remove starter - it will have separated)
1 Tbsp salt
1 cup water

*Dissolve the salt in the water in a mixing bowl. (I use the bowl for my Kitchenaid mixer.)
*Add the starter, then the flour. Stir, then knead into a ball. (You can use the dough hook for this.)
*Cover with a damp towel and let rise overnight at room temperature. (Needs to double in size. The nice thing about sourdough is this initial rising is not too picky. You can let it get as much as quadrupled in size and it will be fine - some say this makes it better. I set the dough out in the afternoon or early evening and let it rise all the way until lunchtime the next day.)
*The next morning (or afternoon) punch down risen dough and divide in half.
*Shape each half into a round loaf, make an X-shaped slash on each top, and place the two loaves on a greased baking sheet. (You can spray with PAM)
*Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise at room temperature for about four more hours.

*Place a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven and pre-heat to 400 degrees.
*Bake for 35 minutes. (My oven runs hot, so I baked for just over 30 minutes and it turned out perfect. It's pretty light when I take it out of the oven, but then I brush on just a little butter and it turns a perfect, light golden brown!)

* You can use this starter, fresh from the fridge, for weeks at a time. Eventually the loaves start to rise a bit more slowly. Whenever this happens, leave the starter out at room temperature overnight to speed its fermentation.
* Apparently the brand of yeast can have an effect on this bread. (I have one of those big bags of yeast I bought from Costco for around $3 over 5 years ago. I've kept it in the back of my refrigerator and it's still good. If you bake at all, get yeast this way. It costs the same as just a few packets in the store, keeps for a long time, and even if you end up throwing half of it out you've still saved a ton of money.)
* Sourdough baking is less predictable than yeast baking. Sometimes it takes longer than expected for your dough to double in size. If you're not in a time crunch, that's fine. If you are, set your dough over a pan of warm water and it will rise much more quickly.
* Baking once or twice a week keeps this starter fed and healthy. If you are an infrequent baker, you'll need to drain off some starter and feed it at least once every two weeks to keep it alive.

This dough can also be used to make pizza.