"Amish" Sourdough Bread

Ever since I got my bread machine this past Christmas, I have been buying less bread. I shouldn't have to buy it at all but some weekends I am out of town and I still need bread for the week. I have a couple recipes that I love and make frequently with my machine as my daily sandwich bread. I want to branch out though and try making bread in my baking pans instead of the machine. For some reason, I don't really like the shape that my bread machine makes (I know, I'm weird and picky) but I do like the shape that my baking pans make so I thought I'd give this recipe a try.





I'm not a huge fan of sourdough bread so why did I even bother to make this recipe? Take a wild guess... Yeah, it uses the starter but I also read in the comments that the sugar in the recipe lessens the tartness, so I thought I might actually enjoy this one and guess what, I do love this bread. I can barely taste the sourness so the sweetness does cut it out. If it's too sweet for your daily sandwich bread, then I would suggest possibly cutting it in half. But this bread is soft, sweet, and delicious. Grilled cheese with this bread smells and tastes amazing so I'd imagine that french toast with this would be just as amazing. I'll have to give that a shot this weekend! I'm so glad in many ways that this starter has come into my life.

Just as a note for this recipe, somebody mentioned that starting to make this bread the day they fed the starter did not work out too well so they waited a day so that's what I did. The day after feeding, I put all the ingredients together and kneaded it just a little bit so it would come together and let it rise for two nights. It hadn't risen at all the first night so I gave it another night. Then I split the dough into two baking pans and let that rise overnight and they were definitely ready to bake by the next morning. Once in the pans, it doesn't take as long to rise as the first time. The website also does not provide a time so I just kept an eye on it but I'm gonna say that it was in the oven for about 40 minutes, maybe a little more. Enjoy!

"Amish" Sourdough Bread
From Friendship Bread Kitchen

1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
6 cups bread flour
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn oil
1 1/2 cups very warm water

Put all ingredients in a very large bowl and mix until batter is stiff.

Oil hands with corn oil and knead dough into a mound. Add extra oil to the bowl, cover and let rise over night or until the dough has risen to fill up the bowl.

Remove dough from bowl and knead.

Lightly oil 2 or 3 loaf pans. Cut dough into even pieces and place in the loaf pans. Let dough rise again all day or night.

When ready to bake, preheat and bake at 325° F (165° C) until golden brown.