HollysHome Family Life: Playing with Sourdough- Holly's Home Sourdough Bread Instructions

I am not a baker!

This is a blog about how I learned to bake sourdough bread.

I have had a lot of help, and have used a lot of sources.

You can find links to the sources that I found to be the most helpful posted at the end.

This has been a fun experiment, and I want to share what I have learned.

I have a couple of good friends who like to bake sourdough bread.

This recipe comes from my good friend Vicki.

Vicki taught me her method of baking sourdough bread.

The instructions come mostly from her brother-in-law via texts back and forth.

Then she emailed me directions, along with calling me to talk me through those directions.

Vicki got the starter from another good friend, who really is an expert,

but does not have a blog.

You get the picture!

A lot of people sharing information, but no written instructions.

Sooooo!

I typed out all the instructions that I have gotten from my good friend Vicki

and here are the results.

I made a little checklist that you can use to keep track of what step that you are on.

I have found this very helpful when I have made my bread.

I put the recipe on my blog for future reference,

BUT if I can help others at the same time that is even better!

After the instructions I have included a few pictures so that you can see how much fun I have been having.

Here are the instructions:

Link to Sourdough Bread Instructions

PICTURES

Playing With My Sourdough Starter

Here's an example of a sourdough starter that is growing.

The rubber band helps you for a reference of how much the starter has grown since you added your flour and water.

I made sure that I froze some of my sourdough starter just incase I ruined mine.

This way I would not have to make it, or borrow it from a friend.

For my family of four I like to cut my dough into 3 pieces. I find that the paper bowls are just the right size that I need. I place the parchment down first so that the dough is easy to remove and doesn't stick to the bowl. I cook the bread in the same parchment. The bread is best eaten the same day so I save the other doughs to cook at another time. I have found that it will keep for several days in the refrigerator if no one smashes it.

Be sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap.

Since I didn't have a dutch oven I used a pizza stone with a metal bowl.

I have since gotten a dutch oven, but still prefer this method to cook the sourdough bread.

When I visited my grandchildren I decided to make it into Mickey Bread.

I took one of the loaves and cut it in half to make the ears.

Other creations that I have made:

Pancakes

My first experiment was sourdough pancakes. As you can see, I made them Star Wars style for Star Wars Day, of course!

Here's the recipe from my other friend who is an expert with sourdough. I added a couple of tablespoons of sugar to the recipe.

Sourdough Starter Pancakes:

Challah

I have always wanted to make challah bread. This really gave me a challenge. I didn't use enough flour, so I tried to make up for it later, which made the bread dry. I only ended up making one large loaf with six braids. It was harder than I expected, so with the extra dough I made two smaller loaves with three strands each.

These were much easier for me to do.