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You can freeze leftover baked breads and rolls. Cool completely on wire racks, seal in plastic bags, and freeze for up to 6 months.

Homemade Sourdough Starter

Homemade sourdough is a tangy and bubbly living organism used to make all sorts of delicious baked goods. Basic sourdough bread is easy to make, provided you have a healthy, live starter. There are a few ways to make a sourdough starter. You can begin with a wild yeast starter, start with potato water and flour, or use this quick-and-easy version made with a little bit of yeast to jump-start the starter.

Yield:

2¼ cups

Prep time:

10 minutes

1 tsp. unbleached cane sugar

1 cup unbleached white flour, rye

flour, or whole-wheat flour

1 cup warm (not hot) nonchlori-

nated or spring water

1 tsp. instant yeast

1. In a clean, 8-cup glass jar, pottery crock, or plastic bucket, combine unbleached cane sugar, flour, water, and yeast. Cover with a kitchen towel, a loose piece of plastic wrap, or a loose-fitting lid; do not close tight. Set in a warm (70°F to 80°F) place, and let rest, undisturbed except when you stir it once or twice a day, for 3 or 4 days.

2. During that time, sourdough will smell tangy and yeasty and will be bubbly or foamy. It will rise and fall as it gives off gases. This is normal. Stir it down, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Now that you’ve created a life, you need to feed and nurture it. At this point it’s still a baby and needs to be cared for. As it gets older, it will soon be called “Mother” and has to be replenished each time you use “her.” If you remove and use 1 cup starter, put 1 cup back. Replace with ½ cup flour and ½ cup water, mix in well, let her sit out for a few hours, cover, and put her back in the refrigerator. Once a month or so, add some room temperature potato water (cooking liquid left over after boiling potatoes) or ½ 2 teaspoon yeast to help her along. You must remember to feed her often, or she will get moldy and die. Good sourdough smells pleasantly yeasty and tangy. Bad sourdough will have a moldy, musty smell, sometimes accompanying an off-color pinkish or yellow tinge. This means the sourdough has most likely gone bad and needs to be thrown away.

BATTER UP!

As your starter ages, you’ll notice a brownish liquid that separates and floats to the top of the sourdough. This is called hooch and is perfectly normal, provided it smells pleasantly sour. If it smells foul—and you will know if it does—or it turns a different color or grows mold, throw it away and start again. Otherwise, stir the hooch back into the sourdough and feed as directed.

Sourdough Bread

This bread is an excellent way to experiment with Homemade Sourdough Starter. The older the starter, the tangier and yeastier tasting bread you’ll have when it’s done.

Yield:

2 large round loaves

Prep time:

30 to 60 minutes

Bake time:

25 to 35 minutes

Serving size:

1-inch slice

1 cup cold Homemade Sourdough

Starter

1 cup hot water

2 TB. canola or vegetable oil

1 TB. agave, brown rice, or maple

syrup

2 TB. liquid or granule soy lecithin

2 tsp. salt

3 TB. vital wheat gluten

1 cup whole-wheat flour

2⅔ cups bread flour

2 TB. instant yeast

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or spray with vegetable shortening spray.

2. In a large bowl, and using an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment on low speed, combine Homemade Sourdough Starter, hot water, canola oil, agave syrup, and soy lecithin, or blend with a whisk. Add salt, vital wheat gluten, whole-wheat flour, bread flour, and instant yeast, and mix until dough forms a ball.

3. Knead by hand, or in mixer on low speed, for about 5 minutes, adding extra bread flour as needed if dough is too sticky. Stop the mixer, and push down dough if it starts to ride up the hook. Continue kneading 2 to 5 more minutes or until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a membrane when stretched (like a balloon that doesn