Sourdough French Bread Abm Amish Bread Starter Recipes

SOURDOUGH FRENCH BREAD

Steps:

• Put ingredients, in order listed, into bread machine pan.
• Set machine for dough cycle and start.
• At end of dough cycle, turn dough out onto a floured surface.
• If dough is too sticky, knead in a little additional flour.
• Divide dough into 2 equal portions and flatten each into a 1 1/2 inch thick oval.
• Fold oval in half once lengthwise and pinch seam to make an elongate loaf.
• Sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet and place the loaves on the sheet seam side down.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees F) until about doubled in bulk.
• Place a shallow pan of hot water on the lower shelf of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Make shallow slashes in tops of loaves with a razor blade or finely serrated knife, held at a 30 degree angle.
• Place the loaves in the oven and immediately spray them and the oven walls with water from a fine mister, and avoid spraying oven light.
• Repeat this spraying 3 additional times at one minute intervals.
• Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes or until brown, but remove pan of water from oven after the first 15 minutes.
• Remove loaves from baking sheet and cool on wire racks.
• *To proof sourdough culture, start with 1/2 cup of culture and stir into it 1 1/2 cups warm water and 1 1/2 cups flour.
• Cover with plastic and let sit 8 to 12 hours (the longer it sits, the more 'sour' your bread will taste).
• At this point, measure out the 2 cups required and proceed with recipe; returning any extra to the starter pot to save in the refrigerator until you want to use it again.

SOURDOUGH FRENCH BREAD

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the Sourdough Starter, oil, sugar, salt and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough additional flour to form a soft dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead gently 20-30 times (dough will be slightly sticky). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1 to 1-1/2 hours., Preheat oven to 400°. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each into a 12x8-in. rectangle. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch ends to seal. Place seam side down on 2 greased baking sheets; tuck ends under. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. , With a sharp knife, make 4 shallow diagonal slashes across top of each loaf. In a small saucepan, combine water and cornstarch. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Brush some over loaves. , Bake for 15 minutes. Brush loaves with remaining cornstarch wash. Bake until lightly browned, 5-10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD STARTER

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
• On days 2 through 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 through 9; stir only.
• Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).

AMISH SOURDOUGH BREAD/STARTER

Steps:

• For starter, dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix with 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar or honey and 1 cup milk (lowfat or 2% milk is OK). This is day 1 of 10 day prep. Use a plastic or glass container.
• Leave starter on the counter covered, and stir daily.
• On the 5th day, add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar or honey (or combination) and 1 cup milk. This is called 'feeding' the starter.
• Continue to stir daily. On the 10th day, add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar or honey and 1 cup milk. Starter can now be divided and given away or frozen. I usually wait a day to bake after feeding starter.
• If you are not baking the next day, you can refrigerate starter, but bring to room temperature on baking day, or the night before, if frozen.
• If you receive a cup of starter as a gift, feed immediately and wait a day before baking, to give starter a chance to ferment, at room temperature.
• To bake: Place 1 cup of starter in bowl of mixer. Put mixer on slow speed using a dough hook, and add all ingredients. All ingredients should be room temperature.
• Add 2-1/4 tsps. yeast, 1 cup water, 1 cup milk, 2 tbls honey, 1/4 cup oil, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 2 eggs, 2 tsps. salt, approximately 6-7 cups white flour. You can add more whole wheat and less white, as preferred.
• Knead dough for 10 minute in mixer. Dough should be slightly sticky, but smooth and shiny and should mostly all be on the dough hook when done.
• Remove dough from mixer bowl to a floured board and knead by hand two minutes, shaping into a large ball. Oil inside of mixer bowl.
• Place dough back into bowl, swirl around in oil, and turn over so all sides are oiled. Press down, cover with a clean towel and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled.
• Punch down and divide into two loaves. At this point, 1 ball can be made into 12-14 rolls. Divide into even balls, (if you have a scale, about 2-1/2 oz. each) place on greased cookie sheet, pressing down to a flat disc. Brush tops with beaten egg white mixed with 1 tbl water and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if desired.
• Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour, or until double in size.
• Preheat oven to 375° and bake rolls for 15-20 minutes, until browned.
• For loaf of bread flatten 1/2 of dough into a rectangle, to remove bubbles and roll up to a log. Roll two sides under and place log seam side down in greased loaf pan. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle with seeds. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Remove from pan and thump bottom of loaf. It should sound hollow when done.
• You can bake 1/2 of dough and shape other half into a loaf, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze. When you are ready to bake, remove from wrap and place in greased loaf pan. Cover and allow to defrost and rise in a warm spot. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with seeds. Bake as usual.

SOURDOUGH FRENCH BREAD - ABM (AMISH BREAD STARTER)

Steps:

• Place in bread maker in the order suggested by your ABM manufacturer (mine is a "Corner Bakery" and it is supposed to go in as written above.
• Cook on French Bread Setting on Light crust for best results.

WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD FROM AMISH STARTER

Steps:

• Put water, starter and olive oil in mixer's bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Using dough hook attachment, mix on speed 2 until dough begins to form a ball on the dough hook, about 2 minutes. You may need to add a little more water, especially since whole wheat flour really soaks up the moisture.
• Now, increase the mixer's speed to 3 and let the dough hook knead the dough for four minutes on speed 3. If the dough starts creeping up past the guard on the top of the hook, it's because the dough is a bit too dry. Just sprinkle in a little water.
• After the four-minute knead by the mixer, let the dough rest in the bowl for about 5 minutes. This will help further develop the strands of gluten.
• Do a window pane test: Break off a little piece of the dough and roll it into a ball. Gently flatten the ball with your fingers and tease/stretch the dough out as if you're making a tiny pizza, getting it as thin as you can. If the dough is elastic and you can stretch it into a "window pane" through which light shines, the gluten is well developed and you're ready to proof the dough.
• If the dough rips instead of stretches, it's not kneaded quite enough. Give it a quick one-minute knead on speed 3. This is why I left it in the mixer bowl while letting it rest. ;).
• When the dough's ready turn it out into an oiled bowl and cover the bowl loosely with plastic or a damp tea towel. Place bowl in a warm place. I put the bowl in the oven with its light on, along with a bowl of hot water.
• When the dough's about doubled in size (roughly 90 minutes, but this can vary a bit), punch down the dough. Then, it rise another 45 minutes or so to develop more flavor. The second rise helps it develop more flavor.
• Punch down the dough then turn dough out onto lightly floured counter. Gently roll it out into a rectangle about 9" long and 6" wide. With your fingers, roll the flattened dough into a log, retaining tension as you do so. It's important you create surface tension on the loaf as you roll it up. Pinch the resulting seam together and tuck the ends under a bit.
• Place loaf into a greased loaf pan seam-side-down, cover with a lightly floured tea towel, and let rise about an hour. In a standard 9x5" loaf pan, the dough should rise until it's domed a bit above the loaf pan's top.
• Preheat oven to 375°F With a sharp knife or a razor blade, gently slash the top of the loaf about 1/2" deep all along the top. Bake loaf for 30-35, rotating the pan in the oven once about half way through. The bread is done when you can can turn the loaf over in an oven mitt and a thermometer inserted in the bottom of the loaf registers between 190-195°F The loaf will sound hollow if you thump the bottom.
• Note that ovens vary, and you may need to tent the loaf with tinfoil if the top crust is getting too dark.
• Let loaf cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Let the loaf cool *completely* before you slice it.

AMISH QUICK BREAD (USING A STARTER)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand with a wooden spoon until smooth.
• Pour batter into 2 well-greased and sugared 9X5X2-inch loaf pans.
• Bake for about 40 minutes, or until done (You can test to see if it is done, by placing a wooden toothpick in the center of the cake, it if comes out dry, it's done).
• Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
• ~NOTE~If desired, add 1 cup chopped nuts and/or fruit such as apples, dates, cranberries, diced apples or raisins to each loaf.