The ultimate comfort food has got to be a warm slice of freshly baked sourdough bread slathered in real butter (the pricey Irish kind). If you’re a carbaholic like me, you would pay big bucks for the best sourdough bread recipe ever.
But what if I give it to you for free? Yep! This is the best sourdough recipe on the planet. All yours for $0. And I’m not even exaggerating, as I am sometimes wont to do.
My mother, who is like a terrier on a bone when she’s figuring something out, developed this recipe after much trial and error. The result is a recipe that makes three loaves at a time.
Fortunately, it freezes well.
I think it makes sense to make three loaves at a time, anyway. You clean up much less often, and I’m all about that! And you have extras to give to someone. I’ve never given a loaf yet that didn’t light up the recipient’s face.
This recipe makes a light loaf of lusciousness and has a “good crumb,” which I think means texture. (Mom throws around those real bread-makers’ terms and I just nod.)
During the pandemic, I shared many containers of my starter. I think everybody was baking bread, brownies, or cookies to have something to do.
If you don’t have a friend who has starter, you can find them online. Or, you can make your own. Here’s a recipe to make it from scratch.
Mom’s Best Sourdough Bread
AKA “Famous KWD Bread”
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 T yeast
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 T salt
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- ¼ cup oil (vegetable or coconut)
- 1 t whole grain improver (if using seeds/nuts)*
- 6½-7 cups flour (may not use this much; save about 1/2 cup for kneading)
Instructions:
- Let the first three ingredients set in mixing bowl until foamy. (Be sure to stir so sugar doesn’t settle on the bottom.)
- Once the first three ingredients are foamy, add salt, sourdough starter, and oil and mix together.
- Knead on floured surface until thumb print pops out.
- Put in greased bowl to rise. Cover with a damp towel.
- Let rise until double in size. (TIP: To rise quicker, if your oven is below your stove, you can set the container of dough on your stovetop with the oven set on 250˚. In the summer, I set it on a table where the sun streams in. In the colder months, I put it on a shelf in our pantry, which is the warmest spot in our whole house!)
- Knead just a few times on a floured surface. Test with thumb print. (When you press your thumb into the dough, it springs back quickly.)
7. Shape into three equal balls. I use
this dough scraper to cut the dough into three parts. I use this kitchen scale to weigh each section of my dough. If you get them close in weight, they’ll be close in size.
8. Let the balls of dough rest for 15 minutes.
9. On a greased surface, spread ball out into rectangle shape.
10. Fold over like a letter. Fold down from top & press to seal. Fold up from bottom & press to seal. Fold in ends. Should be in the shape of a log. (TIP: I gently squeeze along the length of the loaves to pop any bubbles that might be inside.)
11. Place seam side down in three well-greased 9×5 loaf pans. I use these from King Arthur.
12. Score! Use a bread lame to score each loaf. Here’s the one I use. 
13. Let loaves rise until about one inch above the top of the pan. Let it rise in a sunny/warm spot.
14. Bake at 350˚F until reaches 190-200˚on food thermometer. Here’s the thermometer I use.
15. If you don’t have a thermometer (which I highly recommend for every kitchen) bake the loaves for about 30-35 minutes. Cover with a foil “tent”–don’t press it down–after first 10 minutes to prevent top from burning.
16. COOL before slicing. (at least a few minutes…if you don’t, you’ll smush the loaf!)
* Multi-grain option
If desired, mix the following seeds in separate bowl and then mix them in when you add the flour. I’m all for short-cuts, so I buy bags of seeds on Amazon and add chopped nuts!
1 T sesame seeds
1 T poppy seeds
¼ cup flax seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
handful of coarsely-chopped walnuts
FEEDING YOUR STARTER
Feed starter at least every 2 weeks:
½ cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup flour
Before I feed mine, I stir it and then pour out almost half. If there’s a layer of clear or golden liquid on top, that’s okay. It’s what gives the dough its “sour” flavor. If you don’t like that flavor, you can pour a little off before you stir the mixture prior to discarding half. DO NOT use the starter if it is pink anywhere. It’s gone bad. (And I can’t be responsible for bad starter. No tellin’ what it might do!)
I try to feed the starter the night before bread making, and I leave it out of the fridge. But if I forget or just spur-of-the-moment decide to bake one day, I’ll feed it a couple of hours before I start making it.
Stir the ingredients into the starter. It’s okay if it’s a little lumpy. Leave it sitting out until ready to use.
Cover loosely (leave a little crack so air can get through). To store my starter, I use the crock pictured above.
Deeeelishus!
So, there it is…the best sourdough bread recipe ever! Let me know if you make it. Or, better yet, invite me over for a sample! (I’ll bring the butter.)
If you’re a veteran bread baker, do you have any tips for making the perfect loaf? If you’re a novice, hit us with your questions. I have access to the originator of this famous recipe!