Sour dough bread

I have been on blogging hiatus for quite some time, mostly because of being busy, but also feeling unmotivated to write.  The past couple of weeks I have been inspired by friends urging me to blog and share the entries, other friends' blogs, and attending a statewide writers' conference with my third child (roughly in that order).

So I am restart this blog and my other blog too Grace Notes in Chicago and am trying to post daily as much as I can.

Here is an easy sour dough bread recipe from King Arthur Floor, as a kick-start to this blog.  Thanks to my friend Theresa, I have been the proud owner of a sour dough starter for a few months and have been diligently feeding and maintaining the starter, as well as enjoying the taste of fresh baked sour dough bread every couple of weeks.  This is an easy recipe because it "cheats" by using yeast, which yields a softer dough and a quicker rise.  Enjoy!

You can view the recipe from King Arthur's site, or read on:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup "fed" sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions:

1) Combine all of the ingredients, kneading to form a smooth dough.

2) Allow the dough to rise, in a covered bowl, until it's doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

3) Gently divide the dough in half; it'll deflate somewhat.

4) Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves; or, for longer loaves, two 10" to 11" logs. Place the loaves on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.

5) Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.

6) Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each; a serrated bread knife, wielded firmly, works well here.

7) Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.