Redding Sour Dough
Wednesday, May 4th, 2005This tasty recipe is direct theft from Thad’s Recipe Collection
The night before making bread, take the sourdough starter from the refrigerator. Put it in a large mixing bowl and mix it with 3 cups of flour (I always use King Arthur white flour…) and 2 cups of lukewarm water. Cover the mixture tightly and set it in a draft-free place for the night. Room temperature is fine.
Next morning, before doing anything else, remove one cup of the mixture in the bowl and return it to your sourdough storage container. Close the container tightly and put it back in the refrigerator. This is your starter for your next batch of bread.
To the starter remaining in the bowl—and thee will be quite a bit of it—add:
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
scant teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of sugar*
mix as well as you can and then add gradually:
flour—enough to make a bread dough, about 3-5 cups. Knead thoroughly, until all the flour is absorbed into the dough, and the ball of dough feels resilient and elastic. This takes 3-5 minutes.
Return the dough to the mixing bown and cover tightly. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2-3 hours. Then knead again, shape into loaves, cover, and let rise again, another 2 hours or so.
Back at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
*Sometimes you can use honey or molasses to vary the flavor.
On the days you make the bread, for the sake of variety, you can use white flour, wheat flour, oatmeal, in various combinations. But it is important always to use plain white flour for the starter.