First sourdough bread

Sourdough Bread - came out nice!

As you know I really enjoy trying new recipes. One thing I have avoided is sourdough.  I attribute my hesitance primarily to my perceived difficulty of getting the levian (starter) going.  With a three day weekend ahead (Veteran's day) it seemed like the perfect time to give this a try.


Something that I find really appealing about the bread in the picture is the absolute simplicity of making it.






Recipe for bread:


1.5 cups white flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
0.25 cups levian ( sourdough starter )
1.5 cups non-chlorinated water ( easy if you live in country )
1.5 tsp salt


Instructions:


Combine ingredients and allow it to sit for 18 hours.   This is probably best done in a bowl allowing room for the dough to double.  Cover with a cloth for this time, I believe this is called proofing.  


After your 18 hours is done, move dough onto a floured surface, fold it back onto itself a few times until you have a nice round ball. Put back into a clean bowl that has some flour or bran or something in the bottom that will allow you to get the dough out relatively quickly.  This needs to sit again for about 1.5 hours.


Heat up a dutch oven to 475 degrees in your oven.  Once the oven is at 475 degrees pull it out (be very careful it is extremely hot)  Sprinkle some flour into oven lightly covering the bottom.   Transfer the dough into the dutch oven, place the top back on.  Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the top from the dutch oven and cook for 15 more minutes.


Sourdough Starter

The starter is pretty simple but just takes a few days to get rolling.  For four days in a row add  2 Tbs whole wheat flour and 2 Tbs of unsweetened grapefruit juice.  The mixture needs to stay at 75ish degrees. On the 5th day pull 1/4 cup of the mixture into a separate container and add 2 Tbs of flour and 2 Tbs of non-chlorinated water.  That's it.. you have starter.  To keep this around it is pretty simple.  Put mixture into the fridge and once a week move 1/4 cup of the material into a new container, add 2 Tbs of water and flour.  When you are ready to use again, remove from fridge a day or two early and feed it daily with the normal weekly mixture ( 2 Tbs water / flour ).  When you are moving 1/4 cup during the weekly feedings you are throwing out the remaining mixture. 


Give it a try!!


Checkout - www.scientificpsychic.com I found most of my information on this page.