Sourdough Bread & Starter

Last week I made my own sourdough starter and loaf of bread.  They were beautiful!  The bread was delicious!  The recipe came from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. 

Sourdough Starter

2 c. warm water

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp. yeast

In a ceramic or nonreactive bowl, whisk together water, flour and yeast to make a gloppy or pudding-like batter.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature.  Over the next 24 hours, it should foam and froth and then sink or deflate.  If it deflates before the 24 hours pass, add 1 cup each of water and flour and stir well.  After 24 hours, spoon it into a clean container with a snug cover and refrigerate indefinitely.  To revive the starter for a recipe, measure out what you need and allow starter to again froth and bubble, loosely covered.  If it doesn't "wake up", then feed it with 1 cup flour and water.  Then, once it is active and frothy, measure out what you need for the recipe.  Return unused starter to its container and the fridge.

Bread

1 1/2 c. sourdough starter

1 1/2 c. warm water

1/2 tsp. yeast

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 3/4 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

4-6 c. flour

Stir down starter to deflate it.  Spoon it into mixer bowl.  Hand whisk in water, yeast, oil, salt, sugar and most of the flour.  Stir to make a messy mass and then loosely cover bowl and let stand 15 minutes.  Knead until dough is smooth and resilient but not tough and bouncy.  Place dough in a greased bowl turning once to coat.  Cover and let rise 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hours until dough has doubled.  Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate.  Divide dough in half (or keep as one large loaf); form into two balls.  Gently place balls of dough, seam sides down, on prepared baking sheet (lined with parchment paper).  Cover loosely and let rise until puffy (and 50% larger in volume).  Preheat oven to 475F.  Slash loaves with a sharp knife before baking.  Spritz with water and dust with flour.  (If dough deflates when you slash it, it rose too much but might recover with oven heat).  Atomize oven with a few squirts of water and place baking sheet on lowest oven rack.  Spray oven interior every 5 minutes for the first 15 minutes, cook 5 more minutes.  Turn oven temperature down to 425F to finish baking for 20 more minutes.  Loaf should be browned after a total baking time of 25-35 minutes.  Cool well on a wire rack before slicing.  To store, keep in a loosely sealed plastic bag (which softens crust but keeps bread moist) or in a brown paper bag lightly sealed.