Sourdough Bread

I have made a couple of breads in the past, but never one that yielded a typical bread you’d use for sandwiches. For whatever reason, I’ve always been very intimidated by the whole bread making process. I recently visited a friend that loves to bake bread and she assured me it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I was imagining. So, after putting it off for a couple of months, I finally decided to try!

 

I decided to make a sourdough bread, because it is a relatively simple recipe. The hardest part is the whole waiting aspect of it. I found this recipe on King Arthur Flour’s website and used their sourdough starter to make the bread (rather than making my own starter which can take a week). My interest in baking bread was well timed, ZWILLING‘s Knife of the Month for March is the ZWILLING Pro 8″ Bread Knife, and they were kind enough to offer to not only let me try one of the knives out, but are also offering one to give away!  Details after the recipe.

 

 

ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS knives are no joke, they are great quality knives made in Germany for over 280 years. When I moved out on my own, my mom actually bought me a set of ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS knives to get my kitchen started, and I still use them daily!

The ZWILLING Pro 8″ Bread Knife has a serrated edge that effortlessly cuts through hard bread crusts, and cuts neat slices due to its aggressive long prongs. The knife is forges from one single piece of steel, is ice-hardened, and is hand sharpened and polished. The knife is dishwasher safe, but it’s suggested you hand wash it to keep it in great shape longer (dishwashers are really tough on knives).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup “fed” sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups unbleached all purpose flour

 

If using an already made sourdough starter, you’ll have to “feed” the starter prior to starting this recipe. This process takes about 24 hours so be sure to do that ahead of time.

 

Once the sourdough starter is ready, add 1 cup of the “fed” sourdough starter, 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons instant yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 1/s teaspoons salt, and 5 cups unbleached all purpose flour to a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix on low until combined.

 

Cover the bowl and allow to rise for about 90 minutes, until it’s doubled in size.

 

Gently divide the dough in half. It’ll deflate a bit.

 

Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves. Add the loaves to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 425°F.

Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.

Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each loaf using a serrated bread knife.

Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.

 

So I’m not really sure if I let my dough rise as much as I should have but I am still so pleased with the results. I can’t believe I made bread!

The bread has a nice crust with a chewy center. It has a subtle tanginess to it which is the signature of sourdough bread. The ZWILLING Pro Bread Knife cut through the crust perfectly without squashing the inside with ease!

This is a sponsored post from  ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS. All opinions expressed are my own.

 

Because this recipe made two loaves, I wrapped one in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and put it in the freezer once it was fully cooled. It’s so nice to know homemade bread is waiting for us in our freezer when we are done with this loaf!

 

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