Sourdough bread... for cheaters.

I would consider myself a decent bread baker... after countless lessons from my mom, and the Tassajara Bread Book (AWESOME cookbook by the way) I think I can hold my own in the bread baking arena. With one exception... The Sourdough.
Historically my sourdough bread is, well, not so good. In fact many of the loaves would have worked better as weaponry to be hurled at the head of  foe.

Loren took out the sourdough a few days ago to mix it up and feed it.  But after doing so there was a lot left over and he suggested, "why don't you make some sourdough bread?"  ARG.  So after doing a bit of recipe searching online, I came up with one that looked promising. And you know what? Its good.  It does have some yeast in it... so if you are a sourdough bread purist, you can turn your nose up now... but this is the first and ONLY sourdough loaf I have ever made that is not only edible, but delish!

San Francisco Sourdough Bread

 

makes one large loaf.

4 3/4 c. flour

3 T. sugar

2 1/2 t. salt

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1 cup warm milk (I used powdered)

2 T. butter or olive oil

1 1/2 c. sourdough starter

1 egg, beaten (for brushing tops)

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and dry yeast in large mixing bowl. Add milk and butter or oil. Stir in the starter. Mix in the flour gradually.

2. Turn dough out onto floured surface, knead for 10 minutes.

3. Place in oiled bowl, let rise 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

4. punch down, let rest 15 min. 

5. Shape into loaves, place on baking sheet and let rise one hour. While bread is doing this, preheat the oven to 375. To make a thicker, chewy crust put a pan full of water into the bottom of the oven to create steam while the bread bakes.

6. brush top with beaten egg. Bake 30-40 min.

Enjoy!