This recipe was actually published in a Church cookbook about 6 years ago, is incredibly easy, does NOT require weeks of nasty goo fermenting in your refrigerator, or lots of upkeep. The bread itself is light, and is sweet, not like a traditional "San Francisco Sourdough" tangy bread. I hope that you feel encouraged to do this, as it takes no special skills, and that your family loves it as much as my hubby does!
STARTER:
3/4 C white sugar
3 TBSP potato flakes (I buy the store brand because they are CHEAP!)
1 package yeast (or equivalent from a jar. DO NOT use "rapid" or "fast" yeast)
1 C hot water (it should be almost steaming).
Mix ingredients in the order listed in a glass jar, or plastic container that can be loosely covered in your refrigerator. *IF YOU WANT TO MAKE BREAD RIGHT AWAY - Let starter sit on your counter, loosely covered for 45 minutes. Feed starter, and make dough.*
STARTER FOOD:
Same as above, minus the yeast. Every 3 - 5 days (you can go as long as 8 days without starting over), take the starter out, let it come to room temperature, and feed it. If you choose to make bread, leave it out, and make the dough. If you are not ready for more, take 1 C of starter out, throw it away, cover the starter, and put it back into the refrigerator.
DOUGH:
6 C flour
1/3 C Sugar
1 TBSP Salt
1/2 C Oil
1 C Starter
1 - 2 C Hot Water.
Stir dry ingredients together (I put them in my Kitchen-Aid). Add oil, then starter and let mix. Slowly add water until dough is not quite sticky. Cover bowl with saran wrap, set in a warm place and let it rise until doubled. Once dough is doubled, you have several options...
1 - punch dough down on lightly floured surface.
2 - separate into 2 equal portions, place into greased bread pan, cover and let rise as long as you can possibly wait. I let it rise anywhere from 6 - 10 hours depending on temperature in and out of the house, and how quickly the dough responds to the heat. I will sometimes put it into the oven, and turn on my oven light to speed things up.
3 - once risen to your desired height, bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
4 - Remove from oven, and let sit in bread pans for 5 - 10 minutes, remove, and let cool completely before trying to cut it.
OPTIONS -
you can roll the dough out, sprinkle it with cinnamon (no need to add sugar to this one), roll tightly into loaf shape and put seam-side down into greased pan to make cinnamon bread. You can also add raisins if you want. I personally don't like loose raisins in my bread, but I'm weird that way...
you can also make this into a sweet roll by making balls of the dough, and letting rise. You can make cinnamon rolls as well, by rolling the dough out thinner than for the bread, sprinkling cinnamon, rolling up, and cutting into slices.
I like the bread the best either plain or cinnamon, sliced and toasted with some butter...you can eat it plain, with entrees, or even as a dessert.
I hope you enjoy this, and please feel free to leave posts if you have questions on this one.
