Soft Sourdough Bread

2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup sourdough starter (Replenish starter with 3/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cup flour)
3 Tablespoons soft butter
3 Tablespoons honey
3 Tablespoons wheat germ
1 Tablespoon salt
4 cups flour (I use 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups unbleached white)

Stir together yeast, milk, butter and honey. It will be lumpy because of the starter but take heart, it's nothing a little kneading won't fix. Mix in the wheat germ, salt and flour and stir until the dough starts to come together. Dump it out on a floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. This dough may be sticky at the beginning so add flour as you need to work with it. Set the kneaded dough to rise in a large bowl in a warm place. If I am not using my oven, I set it in there with the light turned on. Rise until doubled in size. Gently deflate the dough and shape into a ball. Set on an oiled baking sheet and let it rise again. When it is about twice as big and looks puffy, preheat your oven to 4oo degrees. Bake the bread 25 to 30 minutes or until it is golden brown. Cool the bread on a rack at least 20 minutes before you slice it. Guard it from your family members if need be.

Sourdough Starter:

Use a plastic bowl to make the starter in because very very bad things will happen to the poor little starter if you make it in a metal bowl!!


Into the bowl:

1/2 a cup of soft flour and 1/4 a cup of pure water. Stir with a wooden spoon until the starter is a smooth soft ball. Then cover it with a clean kitchen towel.

The next day it should like (little bubbles on top of the dough).

Again using the wooden spoon and stir in another 1/2 a cup of soft flour and 1/4 a cup of pure water and stir, stir, stir. Cover it with the clean kitchen towel.

Do this for two more days and on the fourth day there will be many, many bubbles on the top of the dough! After four days the starter is good to go…you can make bread!!