Bluebeard's sourdough bread

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Cake yeast
¾ cup Water
2 teaspoons Salt
2 cups Sourdough starter
3 cups Flour

Directions

Mix yeast, water, salt, sourdough starter in a mixing bowl. Add flour, 1 cup

at-a-time and turn out onto a floured board. Knead for about 10 minutes and

let

rise in a bowl covered by plastic wrap for 2 to 3 hours - until tripled in volume.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead down again for about 2 to 5 minutes and form into a ball. Place on a baking sheet that you have sprinkled with corn

meal, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise for about an hour - until doubled

in volume.

Make several slashes about ¼ inch deep in the dough. I try to create some

interesting geometric patterns, but you can do what you like.

Preheat your oven

to 450 degrees, brush or spray the loaf with water, spritz the inside of your

oven to create steam and insert your loaf.

Bake for 15 minutes @ 450 degrees then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for

another 25 minutes. To create steam in order to form a nice crust, I use a small spray bottle filled with water and spray the inside of the oven about every two minutes for the first 6 to 8 minutes. This is not necessary, but I

like the crust that is formed using this process much better than if I just allow the loaf to bake normally.

Another handy tip I've run across is the use of a thermometer to see if the

bread is done. At the end of the given baking time, I insert the thermometer

into the thickest part of the loaf and if it registers 190 degrees or better,

the loaf is done otherwise, I return it to the oven and bake it until the internal temperature is at least 190 degrees.

From: Bluebeard #103 @4903 6 Date: 08-14-59

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