Homemade bread. What more needs to be said? Oh wait, what if I were to tell you it’s homemade SOURDOUGH bread? Oh, yes, it’s SOFT homemade sourdough bread.
Do I have your attention now? Good! Now, go feed that starter and mix you up a batch of this delicious bread. You won’t regret it!
Sourdough Bread
- 1/2 cup active starter
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 cups flour
Start by feeding your starter and let it rise to its peak. You will want to use the starter when it’s full and active, at its peak.
Mix active starter with warm water, honey, oil, and salt. Mix well.
Slowly add in flour, 1 cup at a time. When you get to about 3 cups, sprinkle in the remaining cup of flour, being careful not to add too much to make your dough dry. You will want just enough flour to make the dough pull away from the bowl, but not be too stiff.
Remember, your starter works hard to grow and needs to be treated with a little more care than regular yeast bread. Because of this, you won’t knead your bread very long. A few folds to work in the flour is all that it takes!
Once your flour is incorporated, cover your dough with a damp towel, and another dry towel covering that. I place the damp towel directly on top of the dough to prevent it from forming a dry crust.
Let the dough rest and raise for about 10-12 hours. I usually time my dough so that it can raise overnight.
Once the dough has doubled in size (about 12 hours), form the dough into a loaf size and place in a greased pan (I like to use stoneware pans). Again, cover with the damp towel and a dry towel on top of that.
Let raise once more until doubled in size or until the dough is about 1/2 inch over the top of the pan. This. An take anywhere from 2-6 hours, depending on your starters health.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 min, until the top of the loaf is golden brown.
Let cool and remove from pan. Recipe makes one 9×5 loaf, but can be doubled!
You will want to store the loaf in an airtight zip bag, or bread bag.
We like this with homemade jam, strawberry butter, made into sandwiches and my kids especially love it for grilled cheese!