Grandma LaFerney’s Sour Dough Bread

Contributed by: Donna LaFerney Wheatley

Source: Esther Jean LaFerney (Crocket)

For a number of years, Mama’s Women’s group at the church would make this bread recipe and sell it to folks for their dinner as they left church on Sunday. The recipe originally came from Aunt Priscilla LaFerney, who is the youngest of Dad’s sisters, and one of the best cooks on the planet, though not as good as Mama, of course.

First, you have to have a “Starter”:

Starter for Sourdough Bread

  • 3/4-cup sugar
  • 3 T dry potato flakes (or buds)
  • 1-cup bread flour
  • 1-cup very warm, but not hot, water
  • 1 pkg. (2 1/4 t) yeastNever use a metal spoon or store the starter in a metal bowl! Mix and let stand at room temperature 8 to 12 hours in a covered container. Refrigerate. Give it a stir with a wooden spoon, everyday (or when you think of it).

    Use the starter, or feed it every five days or so. Always leave at least a cup of starter to start the next batch.

    When it’s time to feed the starter, use the above ingredients, but leave out the yeast. To share your starter with a friend, give them at least one cup of the starter and the recipe for feeding it and making the bread. (It makes a fun wedding or housewarming gift to put a loaf of the bread into a new loaf dish, and include the recipe and a cup of the starter with it.)

    Okay, now you have your Starter, here’s how to make the bread.

    Making the Sourdough Bread

  • 1-cup starter
  • 1/2-cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups very warm water
  • 1/2-cup corn oil
  • 1 T. salt
  • 6 cups bread flour. Mama’s original recipe said you could use all-purpose flour, but I don’t recommend that. I have found over the years, that bread flour is important. They’re all the same, unless you can find “King Arthur” brand bread flour. It makes a noticeably superior loaf. For whole wheat bread, you can use 4 cups of white bread flour and 2 cups of whole-wheat flour.Mix all the above ingredients well. Mama uses her big KitchenAid Stand Mixer. When I have made it, I mix all the ingredients, except the flour, together first, and then add the flour a cup or so at a time with a wood spoon until it gets too stiff. Then I turn out the dough and knead it, adding flour a cup or so at a time, until all the flour is mixed in. The dough will be smooth and elastic and not be sticking to your fingers (to the point of adhering to your skin) when there’s enough flour in it. Place the dough into a greased glass bowl, cover with a clean towel, and let it set at room temperature all day or all night (8 to 12 hours).

    Then, punch it down and knead it again for 2 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces, roll each piece out into a kind of rectangle, roll the rectangle up, starting at the narrowest end, and tuck the ends of the rolled dough under to make it into a loaf, with the ends of the roll in the bottom of the pan. Place each loaf into a greased glass or corning ware loaf pan and brush the top with butter. Cover the loaves with tea towels again and let stand another 8 to 12 hours (all day or night).

    THEN bake them at 325 degrees for 25 minutes if you made 3 loaves, 30 minutes if you made two. If the tops start to get too brown, lay a piece of foil over the top in the oven.

    This sounds like a bunch of work, and it is, but it is the most heavenly divine bread you will ever put in your mouth!

    • Jones :: Aug.14.2007 :: Bread ::

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