Best. Pancakes. Ever.

I think it's pretty clear that I'm a breakfast fanatic. These are the best. BEST. pancakes I have ever had. I've been on a kick lately of putting sour cream into quickbreads of all kinds, after a really successful experiment involving waffles a few weeks ago. I somehow always seem to be out of sour cream now. Small price to pay for fluffy delicious breakfasts, if you ask me. The quesadillas can live without it, right? Err... not really.

Often with thick pancake batter, you end up with really nice pancakes with a bit of uncooked batter in the middle. It's always so disappointing, and I hate serving pancakes to friends only to find halfway through brunch that they've found themselves a glob of uncooked batter on their plates. That doesn't happen with these. That's only part of why I'm so in love with them, though. You'll understand when you try them.

For the record, since the first time I made this recipe, 2 weeks ago, I've made them 5 times. Damn! I also discovered that pancakes are really really awesome with Nutella and sausage and apples. Not that I'm surprised.

Amanda's Favorite Pancakes

serves 2-3 people, makes roughly six 8" pancakes.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp melted butter

In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, sour cream, and melted butter. Stir gently into the dry ingredients, leaving the batter a little lumpy. Add more milk if needed to make the batter pourable.

Use a 1/3 cup or 1/2 cup measuring cup to pour batter onto a hot, lightly buttered griddle.

You know how to make pancakes, do I really have to explain? Nope. :)

Challah!

When I first moved to New York, I lived in a Victorian house with 5 roommates, most of whom were Jewish girls, one of whom was kind enough to call her grandma and get the family recipe for challah for me. I have tested a handful of other challah recipes in the years since then, but none of them do it for me. One of the best parts of this recipe is that it makes two gigantic loaves without much effort, and they're really soft and tasty. The other best part is that it's great for French toast or bread pudding when it's stale, which is a total bonus.

Challah

3 packages (6 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 cup melted butter
3 eggs + 1 egg for the wash
7 1/2 to 8 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
oil for greasing the bowl

Stir together the yeast, water, and sugar in a very large bowl and set aside to react. After five minutes or so, when it's nice and foamy, add the salt, butter, and eggs and stir to combine. Add the flour one cup at a time. Once all the flour is incorporated, continue to knead for about ten minutes, outside of the bowl. Seriously. Kneading it for a long time is a good thing. This is what makes it soft.

Coat the inside of that giant bowl with oil and place the dough in it, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Remove the plastic wrap and punch the dough down and knead it briefly, then divide in half. Divide the two pieces into four, two slightly larger and two slightly smaller. Divide each of these pieces into 3 and knead/roll into thick ropes about 15" long. Take 3 small ropes and pinch them together at one end. Braid the dough, pinch the other end, and turn both ends under. Repeat with all of the dough until you have 2 large braids and 2 small braids. Set the small ones atop the large ones and place each loaf on a greased cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. At the halfway-risen point, start preheating the oven to 400º.

Beat an egg and brush the loaves with it before putting in the oven. Bake at 400º for ten minutes then turn down to 350º and bake another 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

I recently made a new friend who was silly enough to think she could say "I want to learn to make bagels" and not be dragged to my house and apronned. (If the act of putting an apron on a person isn't a verb, it should be.) She was thoughtful enough to bring another friend with her, and so, over the making of these bagels we new friends bonded. Awwwww. We also got a lot of flour all over ourselves.

It's basically the same recipe as the everything bagels I posted in January. If you want photographic references for the process, check them out here: Everything Bagels.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
4 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp barley malt syrup
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 tbsp honey

In your largest mixing bowl, combine the flour, barley malt, and salt with a pastry cutter. In a small bowl, add the yeast and vanilla to the water, stir well, then pour into the flour mixture. Stir with the pastry cutter until the dough becomes too dense to stir, then start kneading it into dough, rotating the bowl as you go. It will take several minutes for the dough to become smooth, and once it is smooth keep kneading for at least 4 more minutes. Knead in the raisins (good luck!).

Separate your dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball then roll each ball out to a 'snake' about 11" long. Shape the dough into a circle and pinch it together with 1-1/2" dough-overlap. Again, this will not be easy. You can put your hand in the middle of the bagel and knead the seam under your palm.

Set the rolled bagels on a cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. They will rise slowly in the fridge, which is what gives them that wonderful texture inside.

12 to 18 hours later, preheat the oven to 425º.

Boil a quart or two of water and the honey in a wide deep pot (I use my wok). It should have room for 4 bagels in it at a time. Take the bagels out of the fridge and set them on the counter to relax while you wait for the water to come to a full rolling boil. Now might also be a good time to get out the wire cooling rack to rest the bagels on after boiling.

Carefully place 4 bagels at a time in the water. Boil them for about 30 seconds, dunking them with a slotted spoon from time to time. Remove them from the water to the cooling rack, let drip for a minute before placing the bagels on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 14 minutes, or until you start to see a hint of browning on top.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

For the past couple of years, I lived around the corner from a soul food buffet restaurant. I didn't eat there very often (why didn't I? Because I am an idiot!), but when I did I was always sure to get a big ol' hunk of their sweet potato cornbread, because it was unlike any other thing I've ever had. This recipe is nowhere near as good as theirs, but it's still walking distance from my new place and I may just have to go over there and get some and see if I can work out what they did differently. Three times more sweet potatoes, or honey, or some molasses maybe? I wouldn't be surprised. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

Don't get me wrong, this sweet potato cornbread still thrills me. Everyone who had a piece of this batch was pretty pleased with it, one of my friends even vowed to write a poem in its honor. But if you live in Bushwick and know the soul food place on Broadway, it may let you down a little. I, for one, am totally spoiled.

Sweet Potato Corn Bread
3 sweet potatoes
3 tbsp butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup corn meal
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of clove
1 1/4 cups buttermilk*
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Fill a small sauce pot about 3/4 with water and bring to a boil. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into chunks. Add them to the boiling water and cook about 20 minutes, then remove from heat and drain. Add butter, then mash with a potato masher or pulse in a food processor until fluffy. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool to room temperature.
While it's cooling, preheat the oven to 400º. Grease a 9x9" baking pan and set it aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and clove. Mix the buttermilk and eggs into the bowl with the sweet potatoes, then add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined and a little lumpy. Pour into the pan and bake in the center of the oven about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the edges pull away from the pan a bit.
Let cool mostly before cutting or it will crumble beyond repair.

I recommend serving this with breaded catfish and something dark green and leafy.


If you don't have buttermilk handy (most of us don't) you can add about 1 tsp of lemon juice or white vinegar per cup of milk. Just add the spoiler to the milk and set it aside before you do any other prep work and it'll be nice and curdly when you're ready for it.

Pizza

Making pizza dough takes about 10 minutes, plus the 2 hours of rising time, and another 15 minutes to arrange the toppings on them. This recipe makes enough dough for 3 round pies, or two deep dish or rectangular pies. Or you can impress your friends with a buffet of 6" pizzas with topping themes.

Sometimes when I can't decide on any one thing for dinner, I make a batch of pizza dough and go to the grocery store while it rises. I get meats, cheeses, and vegetables that catch my eye with no clear plan in mind, only deciding what goes together as it gets placed on the pies. I use either my tomato sauce or well-blotted finely diced tomatoes and all the cheese I can find, usually a mixture of parmesan, romano, asiago, goat cheese, ricotta, and fresh mozzarella. Yes, I said "and."

Pizza Crust
½ cup water (the hottest from your tap)
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
1 ¼ cups warm water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cups all purpose or bread flour
1 ½ tsp salt
olive oil for the bowl


1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl, stir and let stand about 5 minutes until it looks foamy. Stir in the rest of the water and the olive oil.
2. In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt with a pastry cutter or whisk. Pour in a little of the yeast mixture, stir it in, and repeat until they are combined and start to form dough.
3. Either in the bowl or on a counter top, knead the dough by hand until it is smooth and cohesive, this should take a minute or two tops. If the dough is too stiff or dry to become smooth, dip your fingers in water and knead until it cooperates.
4. Form the dough into a ball. Oil the inside of the mixing bowl and place the dough ball in it, cover tightly with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place until it doubles in size, 1 ½ to 2 hours.
5. Once the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap and preheat the oven to 475º.
6. Separate the dough into 3 pieces, roll each into a smooth ball then flatten to a disc. Each of these is enough for one standard pizza crust, but you can adjust the amount of dough used if you want to make thicker or thinner crusts.
7. Cover two of the discs with a cloth while you work with the third. Working from the center of the disc, press down with the heel of your hand, turning the disc a little at a time so that you are working it in a circular motion as you press. Occasionally flip the dough over and press the other side. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter if the dough is sticking. If you are feeling confident, try tossing it in the air with a flick of your wrist to make it spin. Continue to press the dough in an outward circle until it is the size of your pan.
8. Place the dough on a lightly greased pizza pan or cookie sheet. Press it into the pan, again working from the middle to the outside so there is excess around the edges to create a crust.
9. Set aside the crusts while you prepare your toppings: chop the veggies, slice the tomatoes, sautée the sausage, mince the garlic. If using mushrooms I strongly recommend sautéeing them in advance not only to add flavor but to reduce the liquid in them, otherwise you end up with pools of water between the mushrooms and cheese, sometime even a soggy crust underneath; which is neither pretty nor very tasty.
10. The crusts will have risen a little, you can press them back down before adding toppings if you’d like, or prick the bottoms with a fork to prevent bubbles from forming in the crust while baking. Personally, I like the bubbles.
11. Add tomato sauce, Italian herbs, cheese, meats and veggies of your choice. Brush olive oil around the edges of the crust. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until crust is turning golden brown around the edges.

Ciabatta

This was a request by my friend Ana, which unfortunately took me weeks to get around to. I started to make ciabatta a week or two ago but I forgot I had plans that day and had to leave the dough to rise an extra several hours, which turned into very flat, ugly, but tasty bread. This time it worked, because I followed the directions, and it was well worth trying again.
You can form the dough into small loaves for making sandwiches out of, or make one big loaf and enjoy it by the slice. Either way, this is a flavorful bread that won't disappoint.

Be warned! You have to start the dough a full day in advance, and of course it has to rise for a few hours before you bake it, so start this bread about 28-29 hours before you want to actually eat it. For example, if you want to serve it with dinner, make the starter the minute you get home from work and it should be ready when you're done cooking dinner the next day.

It's heavenly fresh out of the oven dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with just a pinch of salt and black pepper, but I've got half a loaf in a baggie in my purse I've been snacking on all day. Bread is so good.

Ciabatta
Makes 4 small loaves

Starter:
1/8 tsp yeast
2 tbsp warm water
1/3 cup room temperature water
1 cup all purpose or bread flour

Combine the yeast and warm water in a medium bowl and let stand til foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and flour, mix well with a pastry cutter for 4 minutes or so. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand a full 24 hours before proceeding.

Dough:
1/2 tsp yeast
2 tbsp warm whole milk
2/3 cup room temperature water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups all purpose or bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

Stir yeast into the warm milk and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy. (Sound familiar?) In a large bowl, mix the starter, warm milk mixture, and remaining ingredients with a pastry cutter until a dough forms, then knead for at least 5 minutes. Lightly oil the inside of your big bowl and place the dough back in it. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Cut two pieces of parchment paper to fit two cookie sheets. Divide and shape the dough into four rectangles about 8" long, two per cookie sheet. Lay them on the parchment paper and add a dusting of flour to the tops. Poke dimples in it with your fingers to give it that nice texture we love so much. Cover with a damp towel and let rise another hour.
15 minutes into the rising, start preheating the oven to 425º.

Bake the loaves one pan at a time in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden.
This bread, like any, will go stale quickly if not stored in plastic bags.

Quick Biscuits

Breakfast! A biscuit with apricot preserves and an unholy amount of butter.
I didn't actually eat it this loaded up, but aren't biscuits pretty with too much butter & jam on them?

Though I have previously professed my love for bagels here, I have to admit that my first love was definitely biscuits. I am a descendant of North Carolina farmers, biscuit making is in my blood. They take no time to make, so they're great for a quick, warm, filling breakfast or last-minute pot luck offering, among other things.

Other options:
Put the dough in a 9x9" square pan (greased) and cut the biscuits into squares or rectangles to serve. You can also use this recipe to make pigs in a blanket, but they're pretty crumbly. I don't mind.

Biscuits
Makes 6 biscuits, Takes about 25 minutes.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into cubes
2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425º.
Add the lemon juice or vinegar to the milk in a measuring cup. Set aside.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the cubed butter and combine by smashing with a wooden spoon or your hands until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add the milk and stir until just combined. Turn out onto a piece of parchment paper and press the dough out flat, about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. The thicker the dough is, the thicker the biscuits (duh). Cut with a circle cutter and place on a cookie sheet, either touching or spread out. Bake about 10 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges.

Serve immediately. They have a shelf life of about 24 hours, and are lovely when toasted the 2nd day.

Banana Bread

Isn't it sad when bananas go black before you have a chance to eat them? NO! Cause that means you have an excuse to make banana bread! Delicious warm moist sweet banana bread. My boyfriend insists on calling it banana cake, no matter how many times I correct him. If you have any banana bread left the morning after it's made, it's heavenly when toasted and buttered, though I recommend keeping a close eye on it if you've got a butter-fiend cat around. I do, as you can see:

That is a Mummy mug, but it's for the Mummy rollercoaster at
Universal Studios, which is totally badass, unlike the movies.

Alternative recipe options: The nuts are, of course, optional, and you can put in any kind of nuts you want but I like pecans the best for most recipes. Walnuts are the second favorite choice. You can leave out the sugar if you're minding your health, it's still plenty sweet from the bananas themselves. You can also substitute 1/3 cup brown sugar or 1/4 cup of honey in place of the sugar. If you use honey, mix it in with the wet ingredients instead of with the dry. Also, if by some miracle the bread goes uneaten for a few days, it makes really wonderful bread pudding. I've only had the opportunity once, but I look forward to making it again. When I do, I'll share it here, of course.


Banana Bread
Prep time 15 minutes, ready in about an hour

3 very ripe black speckled bananas
2 large eggs slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup plain yogurt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp dried ground ginger (optional)
1 handful of whole nuts (1/2 cup?)

Preheat the oven to 350º and spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray (or grease it with butter).
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
In a medium bowl, mash and stir the bananas with a fork until they look kind of like baby food. Add the yogurt, eggs, vanilla and butter and mix with a wooden spoon.
Dump the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir just until the flour is incorporated. Add the nuts and mix in. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about an hour. Check for doneness at 50 minutes. It is done when the crust is brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
I recommend serving it immediately with butter and coffee.

Baguettes & Boules

For sandwiches, crostini, to spread with jam or cheese, there is nothing better than freshly baked French bread. Italian bread is nice, too, but as with most things I like the French version better.

Baguettes
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
Oil for bread pan

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 2 to 5 minutes, or until foamy and showing signs of life.
2. Combine flour and salt in a very large bowl using a pastry cutter, then add the yeast mixture and stir.
3. While still stirring, have a helper add the cold water in a steady thin stream and continue stirring until the mixture becomes dough, about a minute. If you have no helper, you can just pour a bit at a time and stir it in before adding more.
4. Knead the dough either on the counter or in the bowl for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and soft. If it is hard to knead, dip your fingers in cold water and proceed with kneading (repeat as needed) until the dough is softened. If the dough is too wet, add a little flour to the kneading surface.
5. Form the dough into a ball and flatten it to a fat disc, then place it in the bottom of the mixing bowl. You should grease the mixing bowl slightly and get some of the oil on all sides of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I usually set the bowl over the warm part of the stove where the pilot heat exhaust is. Sitting it near the radiator also works.
6. Punch down the dough and knead it for about 30 seconds to get some of the air bubbles out.
**If you want to, you can repeat steps 5 and 6 two or three times for varying levels of bread softness. I usually only punch it down once or twice.**
7. Cut or tear the dough into 2 parts and set one aside under plastic wrap or a towel so it doesn't dry while you work the first loaf. Flatten the dough into a large rectangle using your hands, pressing out air bubbles as you go, and fold the dough over itself in thirds (like a letter) lengthwise. Fold the ends underneath and pinch them well to secure them on the underside of the loaf. It should look like a baguette about now. You can make the loaf longer and thinner by rolling it with your hands if you want to. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover, and repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover both loaves and let rise by half, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450, then cut 1/2" deep diagonal slashes down the top of the loaves . Cover and let rise while the oven heats. Bake 20-25 minutes, and throw in 2 or 3 ice cubes after 15 minutes to improve the crust texture. They'll make a nice sizzling sound, but it won't hurt you I promise.


For a Boule
Starting at the end of step 6, Form the whole piece of dough into the smoothest ball you can by making a thick square and tucking the corners underneath, pinching them into the underside dough to hold them there. Place patched side down on a *lightly* greased baking sheet. Cover with a bowl or pot and let rise to double or triple its original size. Once it is huge, turn on the oven to 425 and cut a few deep slashes in the top with a serrated bread knife, cover and let rise a bit more while the oven heats. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, tossing ice cubes into the oven after 15 minutes.

This bread is really great with peanut butter and blueberry preserves.

Everything Bagels, oh my!

I LOVE BAGELS. I mean, I REALLY love bagels. In the fall I moved from New York to Chicago, and before I packed a single box I swore that I would not move if I couldn't learn how to make good everything bagels. After all, once you're used to having a New York bagel every morning there's no turning back. Fortunately, one of the cookbooks on my shelf has a great recipe for bagels and was pretty easy to follow, though I have taken the liberty of rewording the whole thing for my own entertainment, and changing a thing or two (their recipe has too much salt).

When it comes to making things like bagels, or cannoli, or tarts or pies or any other multi-step recipe, I think the most important part is getting past being totally intimidated by the thought of how complicated the recipes sound. Don't be scared! Seriously, the hardest parts of making bagels are 1) kneading the dough in the first place, and 2) making the loops - the dough doesn't want to stick to itself. The rest doesn't actually take much time or effort. I like to make my bagel dough around 5 or 6 pm, and bake the bagels around 8 or 9 the next morning. Making the dough and forming the bagels takes about half an hour, maybe less. Boiling and baking them only takes about 30 minutes, too, so altogether it's not actually that time consuming. Especially since they last for at least two mornings, depending on how many bagels are late night snacks. How happy I was when I figured that out! I make bagels about twice a week now, much to my boyfriend's delight. He's so spoiled.

This recipe is adapted from The Best Recipe cookbook from America's Test Kitchen.

Everything Bagels

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp malt barley syrup
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp dried onion flakes
1 tbsp dried garlic flakes
1 tsp kosher salt
tons of cream cheese


In your largest mixing bowl, combine the flour, barley malt, and salt with a pastry cutter. In a small bowl, add the yeast to the water, stir well, then pour into the flour mixture. Stir with the pastry cutter until the dough becomes too dense to stir, then start kneading it into dough, rotating the bowl as you go. It will take several minutes for the dough to become smooth, and once it is smooth keep kneading for at least 4 more minutes. It's not going to be easy. Bagel dough is very dense and hard, but if it's dry and crumbly add a little more water by wetting your hands and kneading.

Separate your dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball then roll each ball out to a 'snake' about 11" long. Shape the dough into a circle and pinch it together with 1-1/2" dough-overlap. Again, this will not be easy. You can put your hand in the middle of the bagel and knead the seam under your palm.

Set the rolled bagels on a cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. They will rise slowly in the fridge, which is what gives them that wonderful texture inside.

This is important! See these dough balls and bagels?
They're my first ones, ever. These are bad examples. The bagels I make these days look much better but my new kitchen doesn't have the same nice light, so I can't show you until the weather improves. Your bagels should be smoother than these. I didn't knead this batch enough, and the dough was too dry in the first place. Your dough shouldn't look this powdery, ok?

.....many hours of sleep or movies or work later......

Now for the fun part! No, really!

Preheat the oven to 425º.
Boil a quart or two of water in a wide pot at least 3" deep. It should have room for 4 bagels in it at a time. Take the bagels out of the fridge and set them on the counter while you wait for the water to come to a full rolling boil. Now mix your seeds and salt and dried flakes in a deep plate or a bowl. I like to use a pie pan, personally. Now might also be a good time to get out the wire cooling rack to rest the bagels on after boiling.

Carefully place 4 bagels in the water. Boil them for about 30 seconds, dunking them with a slotted spoon from time to time. Remove them from the water to the cooling rack, let drip for a minute and dip them face down in the seeds, being sure to stir the seeds up after each bagel because the salt and poppyseeds tend to settle to the bottom. Place the bagels seedy side up on the cookie sheet and bake for about 14 minutes, or until you start to see a hint of browning on top.

I don't know about you, but I have not yet managed to bake bagels without burning myself, because I HAVE to try to eat one the second they come out of the oven. 425º is pretty hot.
These bagels will keep for up to 3 days. I find they get tougher in a cookie tin, soggy in a ziploc bag and are better stored in a paper bag. If anyone has better luck with some other means of storage, let me know!

Sourdough For Starters

To start this blog, I bring you a hearty dense and delicious sourdough bread. Up to a week in the making and worth it, this bread is surprisingly simple as long as you remember sniff-test and feed your starter every day. This is a four-step process: 1) make a starter. 2) turn the starter into sponge. 3) turn the sponge into dough. 4) bake it.
















1) To start your sourdough starter:

Mix 1 cup each flour and warm water in a plastic container, and stir them well. Put a lid on it, set it aside, and the next day open it, stir it, dump out half, and replace it with 1/2 cup each of fresh flour and warm water. Repeat until, after a few days (anywhere from 3 days to a week) it smells really sour and has gotten bubbly and frothy. On this day, do not pour any out, for you are ready to make bread!

2) Sponge!
Pour your starter into a large plastic or glass bowl and add 1 cup each of flour and warm water. Stir it well and set it in a warm place for several hours (6 to 12) to ferment. The longer it sits, the more sour the bread will be. When it is frothy and leaning toward pungent, it's ready. You can start your sponge in the morning and make the dough when you get home from work, or do it in the evening and let it ferment overnight.

3) Dough!
For the dough, you will need:

• 2 cups sponge
• 3 cups unbleached flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

Transfer 2 cups of sponge into a large bowl. Put the unused sponge back into your plastic container and put it in the fridge, with a hole in the lid to let all the air from fermentation out - if you don't poke a hole, the lid might pop off and make quite a mess. Trust me on this.

Add the olive oil, sugar, and salt to the 2 cups of sponge, mix well, then add the flour a cup at a time. As the dough solidifies, if you find it too dry or crumbly to form a proper dough, dip your hands in water and knead with wet hands. Once you've got the bread at a good consistency, set it aside in a warm place, covered, and let rise until doubled.

Once it has doubled, punch it down, knead it a little, form the loaf shape of your choice (I like a big boule, personally). Cut deep slits in the top and let it rise double again before baking.

4) Baking!
Turn on the oven when you put the bread in (do not preheat) and bake at 350º for 35 minutes or until the crust is golden.