My sourdough starter has been in the refrigerator for a week and decide make some good use of it by making a loaf. I used the Basic Savoury Bread Dough from  Andrew Whitely's book Bread Matters.

The original recipe call for a sponge using fresh yeast but I decide to use my sourdough starter to make a leaven. I also added a little bit of instant yeast to my final dough because I don't think I have time to wait for the final rise without the help of yeast. I was pretty happy with the final result.

The sponge
1 tablespoon of my sourdough starter
125g Water
75g Strong White Flour
50g Standard Flour

I made this sponge early in the morning before I go to work and leave it on the counter for 10 hours.

The final dough
225g Sponge
225g Strong White Flour
4g Salt
15g Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
105g Water

The filling.
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
pizza paste
grated cheese

http://afterhoursbaker.blogspot.com/2011/05/sun-dried-tomato-and-cheese-loaf-with.html

A friend of mine, who is a great baker, sent me this recipe that she adapted from a clipping that she cut out of the Chicago Tribune in 1994. She's getting ready to move and discovered it when cleaning out her files. She had kept it for 15 years but never tried it (just how many of us have recipes lying around for decades that we've never tried?) The recipe from the clipping was from The Bread Book by Betsy Oppenneer.

I just made half of the recipe but I was really sorry that I didn't make the full batch because this is such a delicious bread with a lot of interesting flavors, a nice soft crust, and a powerful aroma that was even present upon opening the loaf up the next morning. It made my whole kitchen smell like a bakery.

400 g water

14 g instant yeast

625 g bread flour (I used KA--you might need a little more flour depending on how wet your olives and tomatoes are)

42 g dried milk powder

18 g sugar

7 g salt

1 egg, beaten

180 g pitted Kalamata olives, cut in half or thirds (I used a drained 6.5 oz. jar of TJs)

8 oz. julienned sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained (can use reconstituted dry pack if you prefer; I used an 8.5 oz. of TJs julienned sun-dried tomatoes)

25 g chopped fresh parsley (fresh basil would also be delicious)

8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Egg wash

Combine water, yeast, flour, dry milk, sugar, egg, and salt in mixer bowl. Mix with paddle just to combine. Add in tomatoes, olives and parsley at the end being careful not to break them up too much.

Let dough rest 15 minutes in covered mixer bowl. Turn out onto lightly floured counter and knead a few turn to form a ball. Place in oiled covered container and let rest another 15 minutes. Do a stretch and fold. Return dough to bowl. Wait another 15 minutes and do a 2nd stretch and fold.

Return to covered bowl and let rise until double (about an 1 1/2 hours--I can't remember exactly how long this took).

Divide dough into two equally sized balls and roll each out into a cylinder about 12" long and 1/4" thick. Sprinkle each rectangle with half the feta, and then cut the rectangle in half length-wise.

Roll up each strip of dough tightly to form a long cylinder, and then roll each cylinder back and forth until each is 24" long. Braid two cylinders together and then coil them to form a round loaf.

Place each loaf on parchment, spray lightly with pan-spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let proof until almost double, about one hour.

Place oven stone on rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375º F.

Just before baking, brush loaves with egg wash. Bake directly on stone for about 35 minutes until center reaches 190º F.

Makes two round loaves (can also be baked in loaf pans).

We cut a few slices of the bread when it was still warm (we just couldn't wait; it smelled so good). The reason why part of the slice is missing in this shot is because my husband pulled off one of the bulbs and ate it before going to bed. (Geeze, Jim, you wrecked my picture!)

It also makes great toast. I had it for breakfast and lunch!

--Pamela

Hello all!

I made this recipe http://www.cookingbread.com/classes/class_no_knead_bread_ta.html this weekend and it turned out FANTASTIC!  This was my first no-knead bread in a dutch oven (just purchased it that day).  The look and taste was exactly what I expected.  I couldn't have had a better experience with it.

Tim