I make a loaf and keep it in the refrigerator inside a sealed plastic bread bag. After only a couple days it gets dry(er) and crumbly. Is there any trick to keep it soft and moist? My sandwich bread recipe is only flour, yeast, salt, water, and olive oil. Thanks!
My father-in-law has been making this bread for years and it makes a nice, soft loaf. The lady he got the recipe from called it "sour dough", but I'm not sure if it meets the criteria for a sourdough. If not a sourdough, what is it?
Ingredients
6 cups Flour – All Purpose
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Salt
1/2 cup Oil – Canola
1 1/2 cup Filtered Water
1 cup Sourdough Starter or/ Simple Bread Starter / or additional Water
2 tbsp Yeast – Active Dry
Procedure
Heat water in microwave (anything above 110º is too hot)
Whisk in the yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar, then set aside until foam appears on top of liquid (This means the yeast is metabolizing)
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Whisk the ingredients until blended well
In a small bowl combine the oil, water/yeast, and starter. Whisk the mixture briskly to form an emulsion.
Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and begin working into dough.
Turn the dough-ball out onto a floured surface and knead until it is smooth and consistent. (If the mixture becomes too dry, add a little water – If too wet, add some flour)
Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil, and place dough-ball inside. Roll the dough so the top-side is also oiled.
Cover bowl with plastic film, (or damp cloth) and wait for the dough to double in bulk…sometimes overnight.
Remove dough from bowl and re-knead to remove any large air bubbles.
Divide the dough into two equal portions and reshape them to fit into loaf pans.
Coat two loaf pans with non-stick spray and place the dough inside.
Place pans in a warm environment to allow the dough to rise a second time.
Allow the dough to rise to ~75% of the desired height of the finished loaf.
Bake for 30 minutes in a 350ºF oven (top should be golden brown and loaf should sound hollow when thumped)
Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack
Remove from pans and leave on cooling rack until loaves reach room temperature.
Starter
Ingredients
1 cup Filtered Water
1 tbsp Yeast – Active Dry
¾ cup Sugar
3 tsp Potato Flakes
Procedure
In a small cup, combine the yeast, sugar and potato flakes – mix well
Heat the water in a microwave until it is slightly warm – anything above 95ºF is too hot
Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the warm water – whisk slowly, until homogeneous
Pour mixture into a container with a loose-fitting lid – to allow gas exchange (If you use a latch-top jar, don’t latch the top closed)
Leave container out on counter for 2-3 days before refrigerating or using for bread
Place unused portion in refrigerator
