Converting Regular Bread to Sourdough

[CarrolJ]

Donna; I started this thread because I thought that everyone would like to know how you do this. It would be helpful to have for everyone. In fact you might even consider posting a recipe which gives the instructions of how to do it.

[Donna M.]

Good idea, Carrol!

1. Place one cup of your favorite active sourdough starter in a large bowl with about 1/2 of the total flour called for in your recipe. Add all the milk or water to make a stirable thick batter. You don't want a dough, but a batter.

2. Cover the bowl and set aside the mixture in a warm place for 14 to 16 hours. The longer it stands, the more sour it gets. This sponge mixture will get bubbly and light. After this step, you can put the mixture in your bread machine and set it for the dough cycle. Add all of remaining ingredients, using as much flour as needed to make a soft dough.

3. If mixing dough by hand, add all the additional ingredients (such as salt, sugar, oil, eggs etc.) called for in your recipe except the remaining flour. Do not include any yeast or baking soda- omit them! Please trust your starter. If the starter is bubbly and active, the recipe will turn out okay.

4. Add the remaining flour, mix and knead well by hand, adding additional flour only if needed to make a soft, pliable non-sticky dough. Dough will be smooth and elastic but just a bit softer than your typical yeast dough recipes.

5. Let the dough rest 10 minutes, covered.

6. Form your dough into a loaf (or loaves) and place dough in the pan (s) or how your recipe instructs.

7. Let the dough rise, to the tops of the pan (s) or until light and puffy in a warm place. Patience- this takes much longer than standard yeast dough recipes- often many hours!

8. Bake and cool as your recipe instructs. Your bread should have a nice soft interior, a good chewy crust and that special sourdough tang.