Sourdough bread
Sourdough bread is delicious but sometimes it just takes too long to make! I’m not going to pretend that this is equally as good as sourdough made with just a sourdough starter but if you are pushed for time and want to use your starter for the sourdough taste, this is a great option. I found this recipe in Leiths Baking Bible and it’s described as “modern” sourdough. I think the texture is more like a standard loaf.
Although I meant to use some of my brown flour for this loaf I forgot, but I think a loaf made with half sourdough starter, half brown flour would be a good one. I don’t usually put any sweetener in my loaves so was expecting to really notice the honey in this. Maybe I’ve been eating too much chocolate but I didn’t find this loaf sweet at all.
Fresh bread for breakfast
Recipe
Ingredients
225g strong white flour
10g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt
225g sourdough starter
About 100ml water
1 tablespoon clear honey
Method
Put the flour into a large bowl and rub in the yeast. Add the salt and mix well.
Add the sourdough starter, water and honey and mix to form a dough. Depending on how wet your starter is, you may need to add more flour or more water to get the dough to the right consistency.
Turn out onto a surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, until soft and silky.
Put into an oiled bowl:
Leave the dough to rise
Cover with oiled clingfilm or a cloth and leave until at least doubled in size.
Doubled in size
Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and fold over repeatedly on itself to knock the air out. Shape into a round loaf and put on an oiled tin. Cover again and leave until at least doubled in size.
Make three large slashes in the loaf with serrated knife and leave it for around fifteen minutes to recover.
Slash the loaf and let it recover
Set the oven to 200ºC.
Bake for around 30-40 minutes, until well risen and browned. It should sound hollow when the base is tapped.
Sourdough loaf
Put onto a wire rack to cool.
lovinghomemade 
What an excellent post and resource! I love sourdough bread, and it’s something that is easier on those with gluten intolerances, so I’m always loving shortcuts!
Thanks very much for your comment!
I love sourdough bread. Definitely a must-have when visiting San Francisco 🙂
It definitely is!
Thanks for sharing this..I think it’s great that there is a “shortcut” especially when you are hard pressed for time..
It always helps to have a shortcut when you need one!
I’ve had mixed results with sourdough in the past… actually, pretty bad results, to be honest! I like the fact that this bread incorporates the taste of sourdough but the ease of yeasted baking. Nice! The loaf you produced looks wonderful! I will try this method! x
Sourdough is definitely a tricky one to get used to. I think my main mistake at first was to not use the starter at the right point, or to not leave it for long enough to rise. If you forget about timings and just use it when it looks ready it seems to be better. Would love to hear what you think if you get a chance to try it!