Sourdough Bread

2 cups sourdough starter (read more about this below)

2/3 cup warm water (90-100F)
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour (I use 4 cups of all-purpose flour + 4 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten)
1 teaspoon yeast

Throw it all into the bread machine in this order. Press the white bread button, then start! Yummy sourdough delicious bread in just a few hours! This recipe makes a 2-pound loaf.

I used a package of sourdough starter from the store, added water to it, then fed it everyday for three weeks until it was nice and sour! I have heard of people making their own sourdough starter. You could probably find a recipe on allrecipes.com.

Once you make the starter, you have to feed it daily before it's ready to use in a recipe. You just remove 1/2 cup everyday and replace it with a mixture of 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup warm water. It smells nasty at first, as it begins to ferment. I tried making a batch of sourdough bread after 7 days of feeding the starter. I didn't think much of it. My batch after 2 weeks was much better. My most recent batch was after 3 weeks. YUM! Everyone concurs it tastes way better than the store-bought stuff. It is definitely worth the 3 minutes it takes to feed it daily.

Some tips I've learned:
Keep the starter in a glass or plastic container in a warm place.
Do not use metal to mix the starter.
When you put 2 cups of starter into your recipe, you should immediately feed the starter 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of warm water.
After you feed the started, you should wait at least 4 hours before using that same starter to make bread.