Thank you Mr. Posey for this great recipe!!
Ingredients:
9 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups hot water (approx)
1 1/4 cups room temp water
1 cup very active sourdough starter (see special notes)
5 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Tupelo honey or natural sugar
Directions:
1. Place warm freshly milled flour in large bowl. Add: salt, buttermilk, honey, oil, hot water.
2. Mix sourdough starter in the slightly warm water and stir well.
3. Dump into flour and mix well.
4. Make sure everything is mixed well. Cover and let sit for 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Uncover and ‘knead’ around bowl 5 to 10 times.
6. Cover and let sit again for 45 minutes. Then do this again. Let sit 45 minutes and knead or roll dough around. You will notice that dough is shinny and gluten is developed.
7. Allow dough to rise for several hours until doubled. Rising at a cool temperature is better.
8. Once doubled, deflate, form into a tight
ball, and let rise again for an hour or two.
9. Deflate, then place bread in oiled pans.
(3 loaf pans or 8 small bread pans).
10. Let double in size and bake at approximately 375° for 35 or 40 minutes.
Hints:
Normally, it takes about 12 hours or more from start to finish to make this bread. If your house is warmer, it will take less time. If cool (which is better), it will take longer. This is all done in one large plastic bowl. Use plastic wrap to cover bowl during rising. Let it rise at least twice before placing it in bread pans for final rising before baking.
When making the dough in the bowl, the right consistency of the dough is when the dough feels sticky like the back of a post-it note. Use warm water on hands to keep it from sticking to hands.
Sourdough starter:
Begin feeding the sourdough starter about a day or two before the actual bread making day. Put the starter in a covered bowl and add about 3 tablespoons of flour and enough room temp water to make a sponge. Not too wet and not too dry. Feed it every 12 hours or so increasing the flour and water a bit at each feeding. (I use all purpose flour to feed the dough, but wheat is fine). When it is nice and bubbly, it is ready to go. It should smell like yeast/alcohol mix.
Enjoy!! MN