This is my waaay-easy, almost knead-less bread recipe. It only involves using the starter 7 hours before you make the bread. So sometime in the morning, put 2 ladlesful of flour
in a big bowl. I just used AP flour from Ley. Add two ladles of sourdough starter to the flour in the bowl and one ladle of water, more if your dough is too dry, also 2tsp. of salt. (Remember to add two ladles of flour and 3 of water to the starter and stir well, then put that away.)
Stir up your flour, starter and water, just until well mixed, and cover it with plastic or a towel and let it sit in a warm place. It needs to double in size and that could take as little as 2 or three hours, depending on how active your starter is. You'll just have to check. If you want to leave it until the next day, you ought to put it in the fridge so you don't wear out your yeast. I usually leave it until 2 hours before dinner, so it's just cooked but not hot when it's time to eat.
At this point take it out of the bowl and turn it onto a floured surface. Knead it for a couple of minutes, adding more flour if it's really sticky, until it makes a pretty ball like this. You can leave it in the dutch oven to rise a while, but I found I didn't have to with the starter I used.
Put the ball of flour in a heavy dutch oven with the lid on, and put it into a cold oven. Set the oven to bake at 400F and let it bake for an hour. Take the lid off and let it cook about 15 minutes more. Then, it's done.
Wrap it in a towel when you take it out of the dutch oven. Serve with lots of good butter and wine, or course. Don't you just feel like an earth mama now? Try and not break into "I am Woman". But I know you'll feel like it.
So, to recap:
1. Two large ladles full of starter in a bowl.
2. Two ladles of flour.
3. Three ladles of water.
4. 2 tsp. salt.
5. Mix well, cover, and leave in a not-cold spot.
6. When doubled, knead with enough flour to make into a ball.
7. Put the ball into a dutch oven and cover. You can let it rise a while in the dutch oven or,
8. Put the dutch oven into the oven and set to bake at 400.
9. Leave in for 1 hour, then uncover for 15 more minutes.
10. Try (it's hard, I know) to let it cool down before eating.
Friday, March 19, 2010
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