Early Colonial Sour Dough Bread


Baking time: About 45 minutes
Prep time: About 6 hours
Makes: 4 loaves

Ingredients

 

Hot Mixture

  • 1 cup     corn meal
  • 1 cup     rye flour
  • 1 cup     whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup   mild olive oil
  • 1 tsp.      salt
  • 2 1/2 cups    boiling water
 

Cool Mixture

Directions

  1. Blend all the ingredients for the hot mixture in a bowl, removing all lumps.
  2. In a large bowl or pan, slowly blend the hot mixture into the expanded starter, a little at a time. The yeast in the starter won't be happy if they get too hot.
  3. Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour and the oat bran, and mix. Then mix in 5 - 6 cups white flour until dough just stops sticking to the bowl.
  4. Put dough on a floured surface (my kitchen table) and knead for 150 strokes, adding flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to the surface or your hands. Form into a ball and place into a large bowl or pan, lightly coated with olive oil. (I use a 15-inch aluminum dish pan, 5 inches deep.)
  5. Cover with a moistened dish towel and let it rise 3 hours in a warm place, at about 80-90 degrees Farenheit, like a gas oven with the pilot light on and the oven door open one inch.
  6. Turn out the risen dough on a floured surface and spank out any big gas bubbles. Form it into four loaves. (I often form it into 8 small loaves and one large loaf.) Put loaves into baking pans that you have sprayed with cooking spray (such as PAM). Return to your warm place and let rise another 1.5 hours.
  7. Arrange pans in 325 degree Farenheit oven, leaving room for air to circulate between pans. Bake for 50 minutes or until the tops turn light brown and you hear a hollow sound when you thump the loaves with your finger.
  8. Remove loaves from pans and cool on racks. They are tasty when hot or great as toast. After 2 hours of cooling you can put them into freezer bags and keep them in the freezer. They should keep for 1-2 months.

 

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