I have never made homemade bread – neither with a bread maker or any other way. But, I got a nesting bug. In my first pregnancy, I got the cleaning and organize everything nesting bug. I don’t recall nesting with #2, but apparently this nesting bug is all about “do it yourself”.

With this nesting bug, I had an urge to make homemade sourdough bread. Unbeknownst to me, you need a starter dough for this recipe so here is the one I used:

Please note, this starter recipe was adapted from
.

Ingredients:

1 (1 tablespoon) package dry yeast*

2 1/2 cups water

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

*

Note:

I bought the packages that look like this:

It is hard to tell, but there are three packets together.

Using this really messed up my measurements (that or pregnancy brain or both). Essentially one and a half of these packets would equal 1 tablespoon (by accidentally doubling the recipe, I learned that all three packets equals 2 tablespoons). I would recommend purchasing the jar of yeast rather than packets.

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cups warm water.


Tip:

I would put the warm water in first and then add the yeast to the water. We used a fork to help dissolve the yeast.

Let rest for 10 minutes.

Mix in flour, sugar and 2 cups water.


Tip:

I used my handy dandy stand mixer with the bread hook for mixing in the flour, sugar and water.

Allow to stand, loosely covered (we used a clean kitchen hand towel), in a warm place for 3-4 days.

Note: Our starter was runny and clumpy. After a few days, the smell of alcohol was very strong. At the end of the 4th day, there was a brownish liquid layering the top. From what I have researched, this is normal.

Just mix the liquid in with the rest of the contents. My starter remained runny and was not at all think like I expected it to be. Again, this is normal (according to my research).

Every time the starter batter is used to make bread, set aside 1 cup to be used as a starter for another batch, so when this starter is ready to be made into bread, remove 1 cup and store in a pint jar in the fridge to be used as starter for your next batch of sourdough bread.

When you go to make your next batch using the 1 cup of starter you stored, add 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of warm water. Allow to stand at room temp overnight. Remember to remove 1 cup from this starter to store for use for your next starter.