Granny’s Bread: A Story of Sweet Sourdough

I know, I know. Everyone hates the backstory of a recipe. Just gimme a Jump to Recipe button. (Which btw I have done.) But indulge me a little please. This one’s important.

When I was little, my Granny still had (and used) an old-fashioned wood burning stove to cook with. She had one of the modern varieties too, but I was always impressed with the idea of loading in wood to cook. My awe tripled the day I scuttled into her house and saw the top of the wood-burner adorned with a row of loaves of bread. Not the stuff in plastic sleeves, but genuine fresh baked bread. After being told to “Get in there and cut yourself a piece if you want some,” I did just that and encountered the most amazing bread I have ever tasted in my life. It was light and fluffy and slightly sweet, the tops were flaky and not that icky stuff that ruined a good slice of sandwich bread. I think that moment may have launched my fascination with cooking. Who knew you could make something so amazing for yourself?

Being a very sensible 8-year old child at the time, I asked her how to make this marvelous miracle. “Oh it ain’t hard,” she replied. “You just feed it sugar and potato flakes.” So I left it at that, intending to find out the real recipe later, because it was summer and I wanted to play in the yard with my cousins.

I spent years trying to figure out that recipe. I knew she fed it with “sugar and potato flakes”, but beyond that, I never could be bothered to ask more. Too wrapped up in my own life, I kept vowing I’d ask her for that recipe someday. It’s one of my greatest regrets that I kept putting off asking her until it was too late.

So, I found myself stuck trying to muddle it out on my own. Naturally, I scoured my copy of the family cookbook but the recipe isn’t in there. I tried asking some of the family and and none of them had it either. Which left me only one recourse: Check the Internet.

This was the very early days of the internet when AOL was still the new hot thing. Dial up was the only option to get online and Alta Vista was my search engine of choice. I spent hours slogging through dead ends. Found a reference to Amish Friendship Bread, the kind that goes in a ziplock and gets squished around aaaaaand that was not it either.

At this point, I was very frustrated and determined the only way to bake the bread was to start experimenting for myself. It was an adventure, with any number of terrible results… everything from bread-rocks to the tartest sourdough you could possibly imagine.

After ten years of searching, and fuming, and failures, I finally mastered the recipe. I had three loaves of soft, melt-in-your-mouth bread with just a hint of sweetness and light, buttery, flaky crusts that threw me back into Granny’s kitchen. I was a little girl in awe again. Every time I make this bread, I think of her, and keep the memory alive. I think she’d like that.

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Fair warning: this is not a true sourdough. Nor is it any exact sort of any other sweet bread either. This is trial and error. It’s bread made of memories and love.

Don’t let the wait times or list of ingredients throw you. It’s really not nearly as complex as it looks, and I wonder how I managed to botch it for so very long.

Sourdough Starter: Mix 3 T. dry yeast (or 3 packages) with 1 cup warm water. Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 2-5 days. Feed every 3 to 5 days. Five days seems to work best for me.

Sourdough Feed: Mix 1 cup warm water with 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup potato flakes. Once combined, add to starter. Cover loosely so gasses can escape and set in a warm place to rest for 12 hours.  Personally, I find it easiest to do this first thing in the morning the day before I’m going to bake.

Note: Sometimes the starter will be sluggish and lazy. If you experience a sloth for a starter that just refuses to wake up and bubble, an additional tablespoon of yeast may be necessary to add. Especially if you need the bread in short order and you don’t have time to wait on additional feeds to punt the starter out of bed.

Sourdough Bread:

This is where wait times can be intimidating again. Don’t be scared. If you followed my advice about feeding the starter in the morning, this couldn’t be easier. You’re going to mix your dough up and leave it to rise, then go to bed. Nothing could be easier!

• 6 c. flour (preferrably bread flour)
• 1 c. fed sourdough starter (return the rest to the fridge)
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. oil (I prefer olive, but vegetable works too)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 c. warm water

Mix all ingredients together. Do not overmix, it makes for tough, nasty bread. (Believe me, I know) The dough will be fairly wet compared to other recipes you might be used to. Pour a drizzle of additional oil over the top of the dough, ensuring every exposed portion is coated. Then flip it over and use the oil to grease the entire bowl. You’ll want to make sure all the dough has a light covering to prevent it drying out and sticking. Cover lightly either with waxed paper or parchment paper. You could use a clean cloth towel for this, if you don’t mind a little dough sticking. Put the dough somewhere warm. LEAVE IT ALONE OVERNIGHT. Don’t poke it, prod it, or disturb it. Just go to bed, enjoy some sweet slumber and go back to it in the morning.

In the morning, flip the raised dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, divide the dough into thirds. Knead each loaf 8-10 times or until the dough is elastic. It happens quickly, so don’t over-knead. Place dough into three greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 4-5 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread for 30 to 35 minutes or until the crusts are a light golden color. Brush with a little melted butter if you like. (I certainly do!) Then take the loaves out and let them cool on a wire rack. If you don’t have a wire rack, still get them out of the pans and let them cool on a non-stick surface. Leaving them in the pans will make for soggy bread.

Enjoy these bundles of Heaven for the mouth. I don’t think they need a blessed thing on them to taste amazing. However, a dab of salted butter, apple butter, or my spiced apple jelly are favorites in this house.