Sourdough Bread for Beginners

Today I really had a good time playing with this dough. The recipe is from King Arthur Flour and I followed it sort of. When it came to cutting it into 8 pieces I went crazy with adding sea salt or hot chilies and rosemary I had some pesto so I made one into a braid and one has everything but the bagel topping and Chuck wanted some just plain for a good sandwich. This is my hobby and I truly enjoy myself. So go ahead and take this simple dough if you have sourdough and have some fun adding what you like. This is supposed to be a ciabatta bread but the crumb is very tight. Remember it's a one day bread nothing to make the night before and look at all the different things you can do to impress yours friends when you share some. Don't get me wrong it tastes great! We put some Ricotta Cheese ( that I made yesterday) on some and butter on others. So good with my homemade Ricotta Cheese. Great way to spend a Sunday. Tonight it's leftover vegetable soup and bread. Happy

1 cup fed sourdough starter

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

3/4 cup lukewarm milk

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon salt

6 cups of all purpose flour and a little extra

2 teaspoons instant yeast

Mix all the above ingredients together in a large bowl. Turn out all the dough onto a floured board and knead adding more flour if needed, until it is smooth about 7 minutes. The dough should be some what loose but not oozy.

Cover the dough and let rise for about 2 hours or until double in size.

Dump out onto the floured board and gently deflate, Shape into a rectangle. Divide into six or seven pieces. I used a bench scraper to cut.

Place the dough on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Brush on a beaten egg with a tiny bit of water added.

At this point you can add sea salt, everything but the bagel seasoning, rosemary, hot chilies or pesto.

You can make slashes on top with a wet serrated knife or lame.

Cover and let rise until puffy for about 30 minuted while you set the oven to 425 degrees to preheat.

Spray the bread with water and Bake for 10 minutes and lower the oven to 375 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes.

Keep a eye on them to make sure the bottom is not burning. Turn oven off.

When finished you can leave them in the oven to cool with the oven door ajar.

Try just try to not eat them right out of the oven with some good butter or topped with some home made Ricotta Cheese.