Food for Thought: Sourdough Bread

 Introducing Food for Thought Thursday. In our family, we love to eat! When I started writing this blog, I realized that many of our fun family traditions involve food and very specific recipes. I thought you might enjoy some of the recipes along with the stories. So here goes…let me know what you think. 

We have a very sweet older couple who live a couple of doors down from us. They are always bringing us treats and goodies. One night they brought down a loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a bag of sourdough starter. This started a wonderfully yummy bread-making tradition at our house! I had to feed the starter about every 5 days or else make bread out of it. It wasn’t long before I had split the starter so I was making four loaves of bread every other day. 

The Gym Rat was in the habit of inviting friends over for Sunday dinner and I became known far and wide for my hot sourdough bread. One of his friends loved it so much we presented him with a loaf for a birthday gift! Grandpa was also very fond of the recipe. This was before he spent much time up here and I swear he could smell it from 30 miles away…I always had an extra loaf for him to take home. This went on for about 9 months and my starter continued to get a little better with each batch. It was April and we were heading on a long-awaited trip to Disneyland (some day I’ll tell you that story). 

Sadly, the Gym Rat had school/work and was unable to come with us, so I asked him to come by the house, feed the dog, make it look like we weren’t gone for a week. I forgot about the sourdough starter and instead of putting it in the fridge like I should have, I left it on the counter. I had it separated into two large Ziploc bags, but apparently they weren’t big enough. So the Gym Rat came in the house, let in the dog, and headed to the shower. When he came back to the kitchen to feed the dog, he discovered that both bags of starter had exploded all over the counter and were dripping on the floor. At least he didn’t have to feed the dog any more; she was doing a great job of taking care of the spilled starter. Sadly, my days as the Sourdough Queen were over just like that (snaps fingers). 

Until now. In addition to getting my bifocals for my 46^th birthday, my amazingly cool Gym Rat bought me a new starter. We just finished off our second batch of bread yesterday. So I am going to give you my world famous recipe and you can let me know if you like it.
Sourdough Bread
1 cup sourdough starter
1 ½ cups warm water
1 ½ tsp salt
½ cup white sugar
½ cup corn oil
6 to 7 cups flour
Mix together everything except flour, then add flour. Knead into a soft dough. Oil the bowl, add the dough, cover with a damp cloth and let rise overnight. 

The next day, knead the dough for 10 minutes (I’m usually a slacker and don’t do it for more than 3.) Divide in half, and form into round disc-shaped loaves. Using a sharp knife, slash an X in the top of each one. Place both on a single greased cookie sheet. 

Allow the dough to double in size (about 4 – 6 hours). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bread is golden brown and taps hollow. Butter tops with cold butter.