Sour Dough Bread Recipe

Make Your Own Homemade Bread

Dec 9, 2008

Save money on bread by making your own homemade sour dough bread.

To make a great tasting home made sour dough bread and save a little money on groceries, you must first make a bread starter. Then, with regular feedings, and a little time and effort, you can have fresh homemade bread!

Sour Dough Bread Starter

Mix together in a quart size jar. Leave out on the counter for 24 - 48 hours. The starter will produce bubbles and start to smell yeasty. Put a lid on the jar and store the starter in the refrigerator.

Feeding the Bread Starter

Every 4-6 days you need to feed your starter to keep the yeast alive. To feed the starter mix together:

Feed the starter in the morning and let it sit on your counter with the lid off all day. That evening you can either make bread or you can throw a cup of starter away. Each time you want to make bread, simply feed the starter that morning. Every third time you feed your starter you can make a double batch of bread if you want to.

Make Home Made Bread

After feeding your starter in the morning and letting it sit all day on the counter, it is time to make bread.

Using bread flour helps the yeast have room to expand, allowing the bread to rise. You can also use white flour if you must, but do not use self-rising flour. Go back to using bread flour if your bread does not rise properly.

The amount of sugar you use in your bread is up to personal taste. Experiment with each amount of sugar to see which you like best. Once all of the ingredients are mixed together, you must kneed the dough for about 10 minutes. If you have a dough hook on a mixer, you can use that to kneed the bread for a little less time and effort. If the dough seems too wet, you can add a little more flour, and if it is too dry spray cooking spray into the dough to moisten it some.

Allow the Bread to Rise

Grease a large mixing bowl with cooking spray or corn oil and place the ball of dough in with a smooth top. Grease the top of the dough, cover and let rise over night. You can place the bowl into your oven and turn the oven light on to help prevent drafts and to add a little heat to help the dough rise. The dough should double in size over night, and in the morning you need to punch it down and divide it into three amounts. Shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Grease the top of the dough again.

Cover the bread pans and allow the dough to rise again, this time for 4-5 hours. After the dough has doubled its size again, cook the bread in the oven (uncovered) for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pans, and allow to cool slightly before enjoying. Placing bread into a plastic zip lock bag while it is still warm will help trap the moisture and keep the bread soft.

Rolling cinnamon, sugar and raisins into the dough before allowing the dough to rise the second time makes a great cinnamon raisin bread. This bread freezes well, and will go stale within a few days if you do not freeze for later use.

The copyright of the article Sour Dough Bread Recipe in Breads & Muffins is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish Sour Dough Bread Recipe in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.