Grandma Bonnie’s Sourdough Bread

The smell of bread baking, it reminds me of home and childhood. My mother is famous for her sourdough bread. She is a magician and can take the same starter and turn it into divine dinner rolls, the world’s best cinnamon rolls and bread of all varieties.

This week we find ourselves in Michigan in a “Polar Vortex.” The cold weather is keeping us inside, but we are cozy in here. There is nothing I like better than simmering chicken soup and baking on cold days so that’s exactly what we have been doing. Sourdough is a fermented food so it is good for your gut. Homemade bread has no preservatives, it freezes well if you want it for later.

I posted about baking sourdough bread on my facebook and had a lot of enthusiastic comments. Here is the recipe for those of you who would like to taste the best bread ever!

Grandma Bonnnie’s Sourdough Bread

Starter:    3/4 cup sugar

               3 tablespoons instant potato flakes

               1 package active dry yeast

               1 cup warm water 

Combine ingredients in glass jar (1 quart canning jar works great).  

Store in refrigerator 3 to 5 days before using.

When ready to make bread, remove starter from refrigerator in the morning and add:

                1/2 cup sugar

                3 tablespoons instant potato flakes

                1 cup warm water

Leave starter out on the counter all day.  Stir occasionally.  In the evening, use 1 cup of the starter to make the dough, then put starter back in refrigerator.  NOTE: If starter becomes less active and bread isn’t light, add 1 package of yeast with above ingredients. 

White Bread Dough

6 cups bread flour             1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar                    1 cup starter

1 tablespoon salt                1 1/2 cups warm water

     Combine ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Dough can be stirred together with a spoon but doesn’t require kneading.  (However, I DO knead it in with dough hooks in my Kitchen Aid mixer).  Place dough in a large bowl and spray the top of dough with cooking oil.  Cover with bowl lid or plastic wrap and leave out on the counter all night.  In the morning, punch dough down and shape into two loaves.

Cinnamon Bread 

Divide dough in half, roll out into a rectangle, sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar and roll tightly to seal.  Place in 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, sprayed with cooking oil.  Repeat with second half of dough.  (You can also add 1 cup of raisins to dough for cinnamon raisin bread.) Let rise about 3 hours, until dough is near the top of the bread pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  

Note:

Use 2 cups of whole wheat or rye flour in place of 2 cups of white flour for delicious wheat or rye bread.

You can also use this dough to make 2 dozen dinner rolls, 2 dozen cinnamon rolls, 2 loaves of French bread or about 18 hamburger buns.