Pure Sour Dough Bread

Good morning,

It has been quite awhile since I've made pure sour dough bread.  Generally, I use the sourdough as the base, then add eggs, salt, sugar, cheese or cream, etc., to make a light yummy bread, or make a darker/heavier bread with oats or rye.

This time, though, I made bread the biblical way with just flour and water.  I modernized enough to use my bread machine for the first mixing. 

As I watched it mixing, I added just enough flour to get the correct dough consistency. 

Then I took the whole thing out of the machine, put it on the counter and worked it over (kneaded) it for awhile longer before putting it in a bowl in the oven with only the light turned on for a little warmth while the dough rose.

Sourdough takes longer to rise (at least in my house) than bread made with commercial yeast. 

After the first rise, I took it out of the oven and worked it over awhile longer.  I formed it into a ball and returned it to the oven to rise once again.

After that final rise, I scored the loaf with a knife.  I baked this small loaf about 45 minutes.

The bread was wonderfully crusty on the outside and had that distinct sour dough flavor on the soft and chewy inside.  Yum!

But, the favorite here in this house is egg bread so I made a batch of that, too. 

This made for very good eating!

:),
Lois