I have been baking easy homemade sourdough bread for a number of years, but have taken breaks from it during periods of moving or limiting carbs from our diet. When we were given the “Stay Home” orders in March 2020, it seemed like a good thing to pick back up as we would have more time to devote to keeping up with baking bread and have a reliable bread source as the bread shelves were scarce. The whole family loves fresh bread and it is healthier than bread sold in stores.

My sister has consistently been baking bread from this sourdough starter she got from a friend over 8 years ago. We always love going to her house because she always has something fresh she has baked. She has shared some of her extra sourdough starter several times over the years to help me get into a sourdough bread routine. She shared some of her starter again to start the sourdough bread baking process in March.

My baking sidekick joined me to share the steps we take to baking the most delicious homemade sourdough bread. I want my girls to experiment and be a part of food preparation now, so they will be confident in preparing food for their own families one day.

Sourdough Bread

Remove the starter from refrigerator and “feed” with:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tablespoons potato flakes

Stir. Keep mixture out of refrigerator 8-12 hours. The mixture will bubble. You may stir the mixture with a wooden or plastic spoon. Do not use metal spoons.

I typically activate starter and bake bread every 7-10 days.

I keep starter in a glass jar with a layer of plastic wrap over the top with holes punched to allow the mixture to “breathe”. You should feed the starter at least every 10 days. If you do not bake bread that often you should still feed the starter and let it sit out of the refrigerator 8-12 hours and pour out 1 cup of the starter then place it back in the refrigerator.

Bread Recipe

• 6 cups flour – bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup starter
• 1/2 cup oil

Measure dry ingredients into large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients until well blended. You may need to use your hands to get ingredients thoroughly mixed. Dough will be rather stiff. Cover with wax or parchment paper.

Let dough rise 8-12 hours or overnight. Dough should be doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down and knead dough a few times on a floured surface. Divide dough into 3 portions. Place extra dough balls into bowl while working with one portion. Roll each portion into a rectangle (about 12″ long and 8″ wide). Roll up jelly roll style, pinch ends and tuck under as you place loaf in greased loaf pan. Make sure the fold side is down.

Cover each loaf with wax or parchment paper and cover with lightweight kitchen towel or cloth.

Let rise 8-12 hours until at least doubled in size.

Bake at 350 degrees for 27 minutes or until golden brown.

Sourdough is an old form of bread leavening. It relies on a mix of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria that are naturally present in flour, rather than baker’s yeast, to leaven the dough.

Sourdough bread contains lower amounts of gluten and its prebiotic- and probiotic-like properties may help improve digestion.

There are many different methods of creating and baking with sourdough starter. This sourdough starter is unlike many starters that you feed flour to keep the cultures active and alive.

When mixing up our sourdough, we typically bake 2 regular size loaves and then with the third part we will experiment with mini loaves, pizza crust, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pretzels, pancakes, and even tortillas.

Have you ever made homemade bread? Do you use traditional yeast or a sourdough starter to help your bread rise?

If you live in the Birmingham area and would like to get started with this type of easy homemade sourdough bread, reach out to me and I will be happy to share some of my starter with you to get started.

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