Instructions: YEAST IN THE BREAD RECIPE?

Ive been asked "If I just cheat and use commercial yeast in my recipe, will my bread taste ok?" Yes, it will.

EXPAND SOURDOUGH by FEEDING THE STARTER
The night before you want to bake:
To all the starter which is in the jar in the refrigerator, add 3 parts flour and 2 parts water ... e.g. 3 c. flour and 2 c. water. It should be the consistency of muffin batter. Use a big bowl. When feeding/expanding the starter, it sometimes triples and quadruples in size. Cover the bowl with a dish towel (unless youre putting it in the oven, as noted in

"RISING" above . . . then use aluminum foil).

If my starter is threatening to overflow the capacity of the jar because Ive expanded it far beyond the requirements of my recipes, I feed it less, e.g., 1 c. flour and 2/3 c. water.

If Im going to bake a lot, I add more (e.g. 4 c. flour and 2 2/3 c. water). (YES! Math teachers are vindicated . . . you will use algebra in your actual life! The equation is X cups of flour are to 3 as Y cups of water are to 2.)

If its convenient (you DONT need to get out of bed at 3 a.m. to do this), occasionally fan the expanding starter with the towel and stir it vigorously to mix in airborne yeasts and whatever.

The next morning, it is expanded and you can make the recipe.

BAKE BREAD
From the expanded starter, remove the amount called for in the bread recipe and mix up your bread. HEED WELL: Always keep some of the expanded sourdough and put it back in the refrigerator. You have to have something to "feed" the next time you want to bake. I like to have at least 1/2 cup; one tablespoon is probably the minimum. This is the only sourdough thing about which I am compulsive. Once youve got a good starter going, it only gets better.

My starter often continues to expand in a two-quart jar in the refrigerator. Use a big jar until you know what yours will do.

SUGAR?

I added sugar to expand my starter for 24 years before I read the FAQs and learned I didnt need it. It never hurt it.

HOW LONG CAN YOU FORGET THE STARTER IN THE REFRIGERATOR?

That depends.

I got my starter in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and supposedly it was 100 years old then. If true, its now 125 years old! This may be why I can leave it alone for 2 months and it will revive. Ive dried it (I learned that from the FAQs last fall). So far, thats revived too.

DRYING STARTER
Lay a strip of wax paper on the counter where you can leave it all night or for a few days (not a good idea if you live in the South or any other roach territory). Spread expanded sourdough as thinly as you can over the wax paper. It doesnt take much more than a few tablespoons. Let it sit until it dries completely. Remove from wax paper, crumble (or reduce to a powder in food processor) and store in tightly covered jar. I live in a dry climate and keep it in the cabinet. Others advise freezing it. Mines been in the cabinet only since September 1996, so Ill keep you posted on its viability over time.

RESTORING DRIED SOURDOUGH STARTER
In a glass bowl, mix 1 cup warm water (check on your wrist like you do for a baby bottle) and 1 or 2 tablespoons dried culture. Let soak 30 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups flour. Mix well. Let sit 12 to 18 hours. It is ready when it is "lively," i.e. frothy and bubbly.

You may have to feed this (by adding more flour and water in proportions of 2:3) more than once to make it lively. Repeat the steps above.

ADDING STUFF TO BREAD
To adapt a plain recipe (bagels, for example), you dont have to measure things like raisins, shredded cheese, dried apricots, garlic or chocolate chips. Just throw them in. Start with 1/4 to 1/2 cup (perhaps not that much of the garlic : ) and see how it looks.

The only thing Ive had trouble with were blueberries. I used frozen whole ones which made the dough slimy. I added more flour and they were ok.

BAKING STONES:
I went to the local flooring store, bought 6 smooth quarry tiles

(red "flower pot" material) for about $6. Having several is nice because they can be rearranged to fit different loaf and oven sizes. Most direction I received on them said to dust them with corn meal to facilitate removing the bread. Ive found it removes just as well without the corn meal.

Two of them broke after a few months . . . perhaps because I washed them before they totally cooled? The tile man told me theyre fired at 1200 degrees and shouldnt break due to oven heat. Most likely, its a handling problem. The breaks were clean, and I still use them =96 fitting the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle.

I havent looked at all of these . . . just collected them.

baking supplies: yeast, various types of flour, etc.: Natural Foods" heading in the Blue Moon Shopping Mall. Once you are in the Rainbow Natural Foods, there is a heading called "Bread Baking Supplies."

bread: Fleischmanns Yeast World Wide Web site. Recipes and helpful

sourdough FAQs: and search for BREAD+BREADS+SOURDOUGH

sourdough recipes both for bread machines and by hand and a bunch of recipes

sourdough starter recipe: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/ bmedder/: report is that the starter recipe at this site is fantastic. I dont which one that refers to=85there are many.

REMEMBER! Have fun! Its just flour and water!

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