Making Bread -- The Rest of the Story

This is the final chapter of my bread-making story. (You can click here and here to read the first two posts, which include the recipes for the starter and the Sourdough Bread.)

My last post described how I fed the starter and had to let it sit for 8 to 12 hours. I not-so-patiently waited for eight hours to pass, then I mixed up my first batch of bread.

After I finished making the dough, I put it in a greased bowl, covered it with wax paper, and let it sit overnight.

I woke up early Sunday morning and couldn't wait to see if the dough had risen during the night. This is what I saw when I lifted the wax paper ...

Needless to say, I was pleased and excited!

Then came the fun part -- it was time to turn the dough out into the loaf pans. The recipe said to divide it into three equal parts, but I have only two large loaf pans, so I divided my dough between them (one had a little more than the other one).

Next, I brushed the tops of the dough with corn oil and let them stand for four hours before baking. The smell of my own loaves of bread baking in the oven was heavenly, and, even though they were kind of small, I was happy with the way they turned out ...

We had company for Sunday lunch and ate the largest loaf, and it was delicious. I loved the whole process of making bread -- from making the starter to cutting that first slice -- and I'm looking forward to the next time I make it. I won't have to make the starter again and won't be so apprehensive about it "working," so it should get easier and easier each time.