Creative Angels' Recipe of the Week

NOTE: Barbara Stevenson continues to need recipes and craft ideas to pass along to the parish through the weekly email messages. You can send your submissions to Barbara at bebstevenson@yahoo.com.

So many of us have enjoyed sourdough bread but have not engaged in making it because we thought it too difficult. Well.....here’s a simple recipe for making a sourdough starter. So many new recipes for sourdough are appearing everywhere. Try this and have fun!

HOMEMADE SOURDOUGH STARTER

• 3 - 4 grain flour (unbleached, whole grain wheat, whole grain rye) divided

• 3 - 5 cups filtered water, divided

In a non-reactive glass or ceramic bowl, combine 1 cup of flour with 1 - 1 1/4 cup water to create a pancake-like batter. Cover loosely with a light kitchen towel and leave on the counter. On every following day, add an additional 1/4 - 1/2 cup of flour with equal amounts of water. Add an additional tablespoon of water, if needed, to maintain consistency of pancake batter. Stir to combine, scraping down sides of bowl to keep them clean, then cover again. In warmer weather, use 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water. In around 5 days, the batter will be bubbly and have a pleasant fermented scent. Transfer the starter to a clean 1/2 gallon jar and store in the refrigerator or counter. To replenish used starter, simply add enough flour and water to refill the jar about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way up and keep the pancake batter like consistency.

Making Sourdough Bread

• 3/4 cup fed, active and bubbly sourdough starter

• 1 1/2 cup water

• Just over 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for shaping

• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Pour the sourdough starter and water into a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Whisk together. Add the flour and the salt. With clean hands, combine all ingredients for about 20 seconds until all flour is cleaned off of the sides of the bowl. The dough will feel sticky. Let the dough rest. Put a tea towel on top of the bowl and set on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour. Starting from one end of the dough, lift it up and fold it over itself into the center of the dough. Then rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat, until all sides have been lifted, tucked and folded. Cover the bowl and let sit on the counter. Then, repeat the lifts and tucks 2 more times, each one about an hour apart. Cover the bowl with Saran Wrap and then a tea towel on top. Place in the refrigerator and let sit overnight. Pull the dough out of the refrigerator and clear your countertop. On half of the counter, sprinkle some flour and leave the other half clean. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on the flour side. Do one more round of the lifts and tucks to form your dough. Remove the dough from the flour side, flip it over and set it on the non flour side. Form the letter C with your hands. Use a cupping motion around the dough to create a ball. Rotate the ball with short rotations in a circle. The dough ball should be easy to pick up. It shouldn’t be sticky. Add more flour if sticky. Use a sheet of parchment paper and place the dough on the parchment paper. Pick up the parchment paper and set the dough in a Dutch oven. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on the counter for at least 2 hours. Take the bread that was rising in the Dutch oven out of the Dutch oven. Turn the oven to 450 degrees and place the Dutch oven into the oven to preheat with it. Once the oven is preheated, score your bread. Create one or two slits. Carefully place the parchment paper with the bread on it inside of the Dutch oven. Cover the Dutch oven with the bread inside and place it in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on, and then another 20 minutes with the lid off. Take the bread from the oven. Take the bread from the pot and place it on a cooling rack so it can cool. Let cool for an hour. Enjoy!