There are two ingredients I am especially fond of. One is sourdough starter and the other is cornmeal. And when I put them together it’s like sunshine in my mouth.

Now I have to admit, sourdough cornbread might not be for everyone. You really have to like the tanginess of sourdough to enjoy it in cornbread. But for those of you who do prize a good sourdough “anything”, this is a recipe you are going to enjoy preparing and eating over and over again. First of all, this cornbread is stinkin’ easy to build. No fancy ingredients required. Don’t even have to get out your mixer. Just stir a few ingredients together, pour the mess in a pan, and throw it in the oven. Bam. You’re done!

And what do you get for this tiny bit of effort? Well, you get a very moist and delicious cornbread that can be eaten for breakfast slathered with butter and honey. Or for lunch with a nice bowl of soup or chili. Or for dinner as an accompaniment to just about anything you wish to serve it with. To my thinking, the definition of cornbread should read “a very versatile bread that can be eaten with every meal”. Pretty much sums it up!

Anyway, we love this cornbread and hope you enjoy it too. Plus it’s one more way to use up your sourdough discard.

So as always – have fun in your kitchen, keep trying new dishes with which to thrill and delight your family, and remember to pat yourself on the back once in a while for a job well done. Life is not easy right now. And good food is probably more important than ever. If nothing else, it’s something for the whole family to look forward to 3 times a day. (Plus treats in-between of course!)

And for all you foodies out there, my dear friend Vicki had been bugging me for weeks to watch a Netflix documentary entitled Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat with Samin Nosrat. Since Mr. C. and I are avid readers, we hardly ever watch TV unless it’s an old British comedy or murder mystery. Even then, only very occasionally. So Vicki had to practically twist my arm to get me to watch this program.

So I decided last night I would watch a bit of it just before bed so that I could talk intelligently with Vicki about the series. Well, two episodes later and well past my bedtime, I was enchanted by both Samin (passionate foodie, chef, and food writer), the foods and countries she visited, and can’t wait to view the other two episodes this evening. Then I plan to watch them again! So much to learn. So little time.  

So if you find yourself with a bit of time, I recommend you turn on your TV and set yourself down with a nice glass of wine, and prepare to truly be entertained. And educated. And possibly enchanted the way I was.

And as always, thank you Vicki for both your friendship and your persistence. I absolutely love the series and hope to incorporate what I am learning into all of my future culinary endeavors.

¾ c. sourdough starter discard

½ c. whole milk  

¼ c. (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 lg. egg

3 T. honey  

¾ c. fine ground cornmeal

¼ c. unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. fine sea salt

Whisk the sourdough starter, milk, melted butter, egg, and honey together in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Don’t over mix. The batter will resemble thick pancake batter.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel, and leave at room temperature for three to four hours (no more than 4). 

When the batter has finished resting, thoroughly coat an 8-inch baking pan with butter.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the pan. Or better yet, take its temperature with an instant-read thermometer. Cornbread is perfect when the temperature reads 195 degrees.

Remove from oven and enjoy hot out of the oven or allowed to cool completely and then warmed slightly in your microwave before serving.

And yes, many people bake cornbread in a cast iron skillet. I prefer a tender crust on my cornbread, but of course you can use a small cast iron skillet if that is your preference. This recipe doubles beautifully.    

OK, I call this whole wheat bread, but it isn’t made with all whole wheat flour. I tried that, and the bread was fine, but just a little too hearty (and healthy) for my taste. However, I did provide the recipe at the bottom of this post for those of you who are purists. But be advised, the 100% whole wheat bread is not for the faint of heart. But it will certainly help you towards your whole wheat badge from the local chapter of the “Indigenous Granola Eaters of America” food club. So there’s always that to consider! But back to this recipe.

First thing I need to admit is that I gave up looking for whole wheat sourdough sandwich bread recipes on the internet. Just plain couldn’t find any recipes that matched what I was looking for. So, being the stubborn pig-headed baker that I am, I winged it based on the 100% whole wheat recipe you find below. And believe me, any resemblance in the recipe for this bread you find below, to what I had originally written out, is mere coincidence. Nothing I assumed would happen, did. Every failure I thought I had created, wasn’t. The final product, that I had prepared myself to throw in the garbage, didn’t get tossed. The bread was actually really good.

The crumb was perfect for sandwiches. The crust was crunchy and would stand up to being stuffed into a sandwich bag. And toasted, then slathered with peanut butter and jam – well just plain yummy. Enough whole wheat and sourdough flavor to bring happiness in every bite. And although the dough required an overnight rise, the required steps to be performed the next day were very easy to accomplish. So all in all – I’m very pleased and will be making this bread for years to come.

If nothing else, this pandemic has forced me to bake bread on a full time basis. And I am truly looking forward to building our daily bread for as long as I can scoop flour out of a container and turn my KitchenAid mixer on go.

So to all my fellow bread bakers, I suggest you make this simple bread for your family. And as always – peace, love, and happy thoughts coming your way from Chez Carr.  

1 c. sourdough starter discard, room temperature

1 c. slightly warm water   

2 T. honey

2 tsp. molasses

2 T. unsalted butter, room temperature (in other words, very soft) 

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 c. whole wheat flour

2-2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour     

Mix room temperature sourdough starter discard, water, honey, molasses, butter, and salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the whole wheat flour and mix with your dough hook. Add enough of the all-purpose flour until the dough doesn’t stick to the side of mixer bowl but much of it remain stuck to the bottom of the mixing bowl. The dough should be a little tacky, but not sticky. (You won’t be able to roll this dough into a ball like you would with most bread doughs. It will not keep a shape. It’s a very soft dough.) Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough sit for 12-18 hours.

Punch down the dough, then scoop it into a lightly greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Pat the dough into the corners of the pan and as flat as possible. Cover with plastic wrap that has been lightly greased. Allow to rise for about 1 hour. About 30 minutes before you are ready to bake the bread, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees. Remove from the oven and carefully turn out onto a rack to cool completely before slicing.

Note: There is a lot of information about sourdough starters on line these days. Great information, but some of it paints a sourdough starter as just a little too precious for me to handle. I’m of the KISS principle. (Keep It Simple Sister) Especially since I only use my starter 2 or 3 times a week. I consider a sourdough starter as simply an ingredient, not an honored guest in my home. Yes it must be fed regularly because it contains living fungus – Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (At least my starter does, because I used active dry yeast to start my starter.) But feeding it twice daily as some references would suggest? Not this kid. Plus I insist that I be able to use my sourdough starter any old time I want, regardless of whether it has been recently “fed” or has happily been residing in my refrigerator as discard for the last 7 days! So most of my recipes are based on a very liquidy starter that has come straight from the fridge. In this recipe however, please let the un-fed starter (discard) come to room temperature before adding additional ingredients.

Because there is so much I don’t know about sourdough starters, I have adopted the following simple rules as the guideline for my own recipes:

When a recipe calls for fed sourdough starter, it means flour and water have been added to my existing sourdough starter within the last 12-18 hours and the starter has been left to sit at room temperature overnight.  

A recipe that calls for sourdough discard means the sourdough starter has been languishing in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours after being fed and has gotten quite liquidy. It looks weak and dormant, with maybe a bit of liquid floating on top.

If my recipes don’t specify FED or DISCARD, it just means that you will need to adjust the amount of flour you use proportional to how thick or thin your starter is to begin with. Always start with smaller amounts of flour than listed and add flour as needed.   

SOURDOUGH WHOLE WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD (no added yeast) – from the holycowvegan.net site

1 c. sourdough starter discard

1 c. slightly warm water  

2 tsp. molasses

2½-3 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

vegetable oil

Place the sourdough starter discard in the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the water, molasses, and 1 cup of the whole wheat flour. Mix well, cover, and let stand overnight.

The next morning, add the salt, vinegar, and 1 cup of flour. Using your dough hook, mix in enough additional flour to produce a dough that feels sticky, but doesn’t really stick to the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading for about 5 more minutes. You want a supple, smooth ball of dough that’s not too firm.

Pour a little of the vegetable oil into the bowl. Using your hands, roll the dough into a ball that is lightly coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for two hours or until doubled.

Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. When the dough is ready, punch it down, shape, and place it in the prepared pan. (To shape the dough, tuck about a third of the dough under from the right, then tuck another third under from the left, and then tuck in both ends. Then gently pat/finesse the dough into the corners. The dough is basically flat at this point.)  

Cover the dough loosely with a light weight tea towel and let rise for two hours. About 30 minutes before you are ready to bake the bread, pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.  

Remove from oven and carefully turn out onto a rack to cool completely before slicing. 

I gave up! I had been searching for a sourdough multigrain seed bread recipe for about 3 months to absolutely no avail. And yes, there are lots of recipes out there. But many call for ingredients that I simply don’t have on hand. Or ever want to include in my recipes. Or are way too healthy for the likes of me and mine. Or vegan. Or gluten free. Or whatever!!! My objection list could fill this whole page. I just wanted a straight forward, simple recipe that included basic ingredients I almost always had on hand. Was that too much to ask? Apparently – yes it was! (And yes, I was being lazy and wanted the perfect recipe just handed to me. Waahh………….)

So yesterday I stopped researching recipes and decided to don my mad scientist’s hat instead. After all, I’d been baking and messing with bread recipes since the early 70s. So why not just take a chance. Start with a basic recipe, add ingredients with sheer abandon, and see what happens? Well, what happened is the recipe you find below. And in all honesty, I wouldn’t change a thing about this bread. Really flavorful, lovely crumb, moist but still slices beautifully, and perfect for either toast in the morning or to imprison the likes of meat, cheese, mustard, and mayonnaise for lunch. In other words – I got lucky!

And the beauty of my sourdough bread is that you can start it in the morning and bake it off later that same day. (That’s what a small inclusion of active dry yeast brings to the table, or in this case, the oven!)

So if you too are looking to build a sourdough sandwich bread that is easy to prepare, includes healthy ingredients, and tastes like it came from an exclusive bakery, then give this recipe a try. And change up the seeds, or add more seeds, if that is your desire. Matters not. We just happen to love fennel seeds, so I threw in a couple of teaspoons for good measure. But poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, or flax seeds would also be delicious. Or some of all the above. Live it up! It’s your bread after all.

So as always – happy baking, stay safe, laugh outrageously every chance you get, and never let down your quest to make the lives of those around you just a little bit better by your presence. Virtual hugs from Chez Carr.

1 c. sourdough starter

¾ tsp. active dry yeast

2/3 c. slightly warm water

2 T. honey

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp. fine sea salt

2 T. flax meal

2 T. rye flour

¼ c. whole wheat flour

½ c. whole oats

2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more if needed

¼ c. sunflower seeds

2 T. sesame seeds, plus more for top

2 tsp. fennel seeds

Combine the sourdough starter, dry yeast, water, honey, and olive oil in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Add the salt, flax meal, rye flour, whole wheat flour, oats, and 2 cups of the unbleached all-purpose flour to the liquid ingredients. Using your bread hook, mix just until combined. Add the seeds and enough of the remaining unbleached all-purpose flour to make a dough that is still a bit tacky to the touch, but basically cleans the bowl. (This process usually takes about 5 minutes.)   

Pour a bit of olive oil over the dough, and using your hands, roll the dough into a ball making sure the entire surface is lightly greased.

Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel, and let rise for 75-90 minutes or until when gently poked with a finger an indentation remains in the dough.

Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. (I use cooking spray.) Deflate the dough, and form into a loaf shape. (I tuck about a third of the dough under from the right, then tuck another third under from the left, then tuck in both ends.) Place in the greased loaf pan and gently pat dough into the corners. (The dough is basically flat at this point.) Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise for 2-2½ hours. (It’s ready when the middle of the loaf is about ½ to ¾-inch above the rim of the pan.)

Lightly brush or spray the top of the loaf with water. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (or seeds of choice). Make 3-4 diagonal cuts across the top being careful not to deflate the bread.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the internal temperature reaches at least 190 degrees.

Remove from oven and carefully place the bread (after you remove it from the baking pan) on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

And yes, I already have a couple of wonderful focaccia recipes on this site, but they contain active dry yeast. And yeast is still unavailable in some grocery stores. But some good news. If your grocery store carries bulk items, you might find yeast in that section. In fact, the last time Mr. C. was at our local IGA, there was a sign where the regular jars and packages of active dried yeast usually reside that directed shoppers to the bulk section. But there was still no packaged active dry yeast available. They did however have a jar of instant/rapid-rise yeast. So Mr. C. not only bought me a jar of instant yeast, he brought home a little baggie containing bulk yeast. Neither of which I have used to date.

Now I don’t normally use instant/rapid rise yeast, so I thought I better do some research. What I learned was that active dry yeast and instant (or rapid-rise) yeast are the two most common yeasts available to us as home bakers. The two yeasts can be used interchangeably in recipes, but fast-rising, or fast-acting yeast can shorten the rising time by as much as 50%. And basically it’s just as easy to use instant yeast in recipes calling for active dry yeast. Simply use the same amount of instant yeast in your recipe as regular active dry yeast. One difference to note however, is that you don’t need to dissolve instant yeast in water like you do with ordinary active dry yeast. You can simply add instant/rapid rise yeast along with your other dry ingredients. But always keep in mind, if you use instant or rapid-rise yeast in place of active dry yeast, you will need to shorten the rising time specified in your recipe, or at the very least, pay greater attention to the dough as it rises.

So now you know as much about instant or rapid rise yeast as I do. (Actually you probably already knew about instant yeast. I’m the one that needed a good learnin’ on the subject!) Which is to say, I didn’t really know anything about using rapid-rise yeast. But I’m going to learn. And as I discover more about the subject, I will share my knowledge with you. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

I made this focaccia for dinner last evening, and it was so good. Kind of chewy, a faint sourdough flavor, and a lot of garlic power. And although I had played with the dough a lot during the day (you’ll see what I mean when you read the recipe directions), the dough itself was really easy to build. And since I’m pretty much confined to quarters anyway, what better thing to do with my time than play with bread dough instead of thinking about how the world is falling apart around us!

So as always, stay calm, stay focused on what really counts in your life, and if you have any kind of influence with your favorite deity, could you please ask for some additional help here. Mother earth is in dire need of any positive assistance it can get. Thank you.

½ c. sourdough starter

½ c. slightly warm water

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, or more as needed

¾ tsp. sea salt

¼ c. extra virgin olive oil, divided, plus a bit more to oil the dough before letting it rise and to grease the baking pan

3-4 garlic cloves, finely minced 

1¼ tsp. roughly minced fresh rosemary  

fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt

In the bowl of your stand mixer, using your paddle attachment, combine the starter, water, and 1½ cups of the flour to form a thick batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Switch to your dough hook. Add the sea salt, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and as much of the remaining all-purpose flour as needed to form a sticky dough, but one that clears the bowl and clings to the hook after kneading for about 5 minutes.

Pour a bit of oil in the bowl, and using your hands, form a lightly greased ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 3-5 hours.

Every hour punch down the dough and flip it over in the bowl. When the dough is ready, it will have an almost elastic quality. (My dough took a little over 4 hours.)

While the dough is rising, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and cook over low heat, stirring often, until a very light golden brown. (Be careful not to let the garlic burn.) Remove from heat and set aside.

When the dough has finished its long first rise, lightly oil a small rimmed sheet pan with olive oil. Place the dough onto the oiled pan (trying not to deflate too much) and flip it over to coat it with the oil. Use your fingers to spread the dough to a ½-inch thickness. Cover the dough with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour until well risen and puffy.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use your fingers to dimple the top of the dough all over. Brush with the garlic and infused olive oil. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and the roughly chopped rosemary.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. The internal temperature should register at least 190 degrees.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.

And yes, you can easily double this recipe.   

Some of the time, the easiest recipes turn out to be the tastiest. And this recipe from the Red Star Yeast site is a perfect case in point. Because I honestly don’t believe a sourdough English muffin could get any better. There is just nothing about this muffin I don’t like. And frankly, this could not be an easier recipe to prepare. Honest!

And what’s not to like about English muffins? They make some of the best toast imaginable. And like this morning, I made a breakfast sandwich with the muffins. At Chez Carr, they are referred to as “egg McPatti’s”. Toasted English muffin, thin layer of sharp cheddar cheese (or cheese of choice), cooked bacon (cuz that’s what I had, but a cooked sausage pattie works great too), and a scrambled egg. Lovely way to start the day. And a nice change of pace from breakfast meat, toast, easy-over egg, etc.

So, what are you waiting for? OK, not everyone has a sourdough starter in their refrigerator at all times. And in case you are one of those people, I have provided you with my recipe for a sourdough starter below. Now you really have no reason not to make these sourdough treasures.

And just think of the money you’ll save making your own muffins as opposed to buying them. And the environmental impact of not using gas to run to your local grocery store. And you can save a mask and set of gloves for another occasion. OK, I’ll stop now. I know for most of you, I’ve whipped this dead horse long enough!

It’s just that I’m so darned excited to share this recipe with you. I’m nothing if not zealous about great food. And this recipe has all the attributes that fire my culinary passion. Hope it inspires you the same way.

As always – have fun in the kitchen. Peace and love to all.

1 c. sourdough starter

1 pkg. or 2¼ tsp. active dry yeast

½ c. water

2 T. vegetable oil, plus more to grease the dough

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 T. granulated sugar

3 c. bread flour

cornmeal

Combine sourdough starter, yeast, water, 2 tablespoons oil, salt, and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle, beat the mixture for 4 minutes on medium speed. Gradually add the flour and knead with dough hook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Pour a little veggie oil in the mixing bowl, and using your hands, roll the dough into a ball making sure the entire surface is lightly greased. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Indentation remains after lightly poking with a finger.)  

Sprinkle cornmeal on a clean surface and pat dough to ¼-inch thickness. (I use a large rimmed baking pan as my clean surface. The pan sides prevent the cornmeal from going everywhere!) Cut into 12-13 circles 4 – 4.5 inches in diameter. And don’t waste the dough that is left after you cut out the first set of circles. Just moosh the remaining dough back together, pat it out, and cut out more muffins. Believe me, you won’t be able to tell the difference between the first and even the third set of cut muffins.

After each muffin is formed, flip it over to also coat the topside with cornmeal. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet at least 1½ inches apart.

Cover the pan with a light weight tea towel and let the muffins rise until indentation remains after gently touching with a finger, about 90 minutes.

Carefully place muffins on a lightly greased (if your griddle is not non-stick), or dry griddle (if yours is non-stick) over somewhere between medium and low heat. (You will just have to figure out the best level of heat on your stove as you go. Not too hot or the muffins will burn before the inside is done. Not too low or you’ll be at it all day!) (On my BlueStar range, straight up “low” works perfectly.)

Bake for about 4-5 minutes on each side or until bottoms are a deep golden brown. (The internal temperature should be 200 – 205 when the muffins are done).  

Place cooked muffins on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage. Lovely toasted, buttered, and spread with honey, jam, or jelly. Peanut butter is also a great choice for these muffins. But my personal favorite – room temperature unsalted butter. Yum.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

2 T. sugar

1 T. or 1 pkg. active dry yeast

2 c. warm water

Combine all ingredients in a glass or plastic juice pitcher using a wooden or plastic spoon. (Don’t worry about lumps because the little yeasty beasties will make short work of dissolving the lumps!) Cover with lid and open the pouring spout as if you are about to pour juice into a glass. (This allows air to reach the starter.) Let ferment 3 days at room temperature, stirring several times daily. After the third day, transfer starter to a covered glass container and refrigerate.

To use, remove desired amount for recipe and replenish starter by stirring in equal amounts of flour and water or follow the instructions for the particular bread you are making. Let stand at room temperature overnight. Return to refrigerator.

If a clear liquid forms on top, stir back into starter. Every time you use, replenish with equal amounts of flour and water. Even if you don’t use every week, replenish every 7 – 10 days with equal amounts flour and water. (First remove about ½ cup of the existing starter. This allows room in your container for the new flour (yeast food) and water.)

Use in any of your favorite bread, muffin, or pancake recipes.

I am truly a sucker for really good rye bread. Especially if the rye bread has an extra little something in it to enhance the earthy flavor that rye flour imparts to bread. That’s where the tartness from the sourdough starter comes in, along with the savory goodness provided by a touch of onion and a tiny bit of dill seed. Altogether this combination is unbeatable. Now, something you should know right off the bat. This is not a dark, heavy on the rye, bread.

This bread is blessed with just a light touch of each of the strong flavors that intermingle to produce this delightful loaf. So no worries that the onion or dill will be overpowering. You might even wonder if they are really there at all. But that’s the beauty of this bread. It’s just perfectly balanced.

Now I have been very remiss with all of my recent postings for bread. A few years ago, I actually went so far as to create a post entitled “Bread Baking 101”. Now granted, I didn’t address baking with a sourdough starter in that instructional post. But I did provide a fairly brief but comprehensive overview of ingredients used and “how to” directions that should be of assistance if you are a novice bread baker.

But as helpful as my post might be, there are far better instructional sources out there that take you step by step through the process. My sister-in-law Katie clued me in to the video tutorials presented by Breadtopia. I have watched a couple now and they are very informative and very well done. And of course there are fabulous videos by my favorite chef – Chef John from Food Wishes. (The man’s a genius!)

Anyway, my point is – there’s no reason not to make your own bread. So please don’t be intimidated by bread baking even if you and your kitchen are not on a first name basis. Bread is very easy to prepare, and a lovely homemade loaf is so much cheaper than store bought. Plus you know exactly what goes into the preparation. Of course you might miss the flavor of preservatives or other additives with names you can’t begin to pronounce. And that’s too bad. But take my word for it – you’ll get over it! Remember – He/she who never undertook anything never achieved anything. Or in the common vernacular – nothing ventured, nothing gained! In other words – go for it!

And as always – peace, love, and happy baking to all.

1 T. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing on dough before baking

1/3 c. finely chopped onion

2 c. sourdough starter

2 T. unsalted butter

¼ c. water

2 tsp. kosher salt

4 tsp. dill seed

1 c. rye flour

3 T. vital wheat gluten (I use Bob’s Red Mill)

2 c. white bread flour

fleur de sel or other coarse flaky salt, opt.

Slowly sauté the onions in olive oil until they become translucent. Meanwhile pour sourdough starter into the bowl of your stand mixer.  

When the onions are translucent, remove from heat and add butter, water, salt, and dill seed. Cool to lukewarm and stir into starter.

Add the rye flour and mix well. Add the white flour gradually, until you have a very satiny and soft bread, about 7-8 minutes. Shape into an elongated loaf.

Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and let rise, covered, in a warm place for 1½ to 2½ hours, or until about doubled in bulk. (Rising time will vary according to your starter, but rising always takes longer with breads made with just a sourdough starter than with breads made with active dry yeast).

Make 3-4 diagonal slashes on top of loaf with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Don’t press too hard. Let the cutting implement do the work. (You don’t want to deflate the dough.) Lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle with fleur de sel. (Not too much.)

Bake in a pre-heated 375 oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 205 – 210 degrees.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before slicing.

OK, this is the easiest bread I have ever made. Four main ingredients and just 1 long rising. None of this let the yeast proof, mix the dough, let the dough rise till doubled, shape the dough, rise again, then bake. Just mix the dough, shape it, let it rise, and bake it off.

The first time I made this bread, the crust, internal texture, and taste was outstanding. But the top crust didn’t brown. So I baked another batch, raised the temperature from 425 to 450 degrees, and turned on the convection option on my oven for the last half of the baking time. This time the baguettes came out a light golden brown. In other words – fabuleux!  

Now I must say, I am truly excited about sharing this French bread recipe with you. First of all, like I said, it’s super easy to build. But the most wonderful part is how perfect this bread is for bruschetta and crostini. (And yes I know bruschetta and crostini are Italian dishes, and I’m advising you to bake a French bread.) The fact is – the texture is perfect anytime you want to use bread, either toasted or untoasted, as a base for other ingredients. But I have to tell you, the texture is not that super soft, fine grained quality that you find in some French breads. Which is fine with me. I prefer a more rustic, chewy mouth feel anyway. And I don’t for one moment miss the big holes that are often found in Italian baguettes. (Don’t get me wrong. I love crusty Italian baguettes. Just not for bruschetta or crostini.)

Italian baguettes often have holes as part of the texture we all know and love. But big holes allow bits and pieces of tomatoes, for example, to fall through and land on your lap. This bread is simply the perfect combination of slightly chewy, but with a crumb that happily supports ingredients either being dolloped, spread, or layered on top of the slices. In other words – perfect for bruschetta and crostini.

I really can’t wait to serve this bread to guests. Toasted and topped with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Or pâté. OMG – this bread will be fantastic spread with pâté. Or soft cheeses. The list goes on and on.  

Now we can get really adequate baguettes at our local grocery store sometimes. If we are lucky enough to hit the grocery store at just the right time. But they are expensive, and like I said, not always available. But because these homemade baguettes are so darn easy to make, I don’t have to worry about obtaining fresh baguettes ever again. Not when I can spend 15-20 minutes building a product that is perfect and always available.

And of course, you don’t have to use these baguettes just for bruschetta. I toasted some slices this morning for breakfast, and they were perfect with our easy-over eggs. And the other evening I served a few slices with an Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper infused extra virgin olive oil. Delicious.

And last night I made bruschetta with slices of this amazing bread. Toasted the slices, scraped the toasted bread with a garlic clove, drizzled on some extra virgin olive oil, and topped them with diced tomato, chopped fresh basil, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Felt like we were back in Italy. (Close as we’re going to get this year. Boo coronavirus!)

And I can’t wait to use one of these baguettes as a roll for a subway style sandwich. And homemade croutons. This bread, cut into ¾-inch squares, sautéed in a bit of olive oil and butter, and finished with a light dusting of granulated garlic is going to produce perfectly delicious croutons. Caesar salad, here we come!

So if you too are a bread person, but don’t want to spend a lot of time or money in the preparation, this is the bread for you. Happy bread baking to all.

And yes, I love my new 15 x 13-inch 4 gutter baguette loaf pan. Worth the money just for the convenience. And yes this recipe can easily be doubled. (See picture below.)

½ c. sourdough starter

½ c. slightly warm water  

½ tsp. fine sea salt

2 c. fluffed* bread flour, or a tiny bit more if needed

Combine the sourdough starter, warm water, salt, and most of the flour in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using your dough hook, mix and knead until the dough is still a little sticky, but the bottom of the bowl is clean. (You will probably need all of the 2 cups of flour.) Form the dough into a ball and cut in half.

Place a small amount of flour on a clean surface and flour your hands. Shape each piece into a long baguette shape. I finish forming the baguette by rolling it in the flour until it is about 10-inches long. (Don’t use too much flour. Just enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the shaping surface.)

Place the formed baguettes onto a parchment paper lined baguette pan (only if your baguette pan has holes in it) or a greased baking sheet. If your baguette pan does not have holes, give it a light coating of cooking spray, but no parchment paper required.

Cover lightly with plastic wrap that has been lightly greased with cooking spray and let rise until double in size in a warm place, 3-4 hours. Don’t over rise the baguettes. Mine took a little over 3 hours to rise on my kitchen counter. (The counter I use to rise bread is lighted. Don’t know if the light helps, but I feel like it contributes to making my bread rise really nicely.)

Bake baguettes in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a very light golden-brown. Turn your oven to convection half way through the baking process. Remove from oven and place on a wire cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before serving. If you don’t have a convection oven, not to worry. However, it might not get as golden brown. Who cares! It will still taste delicious.

*How to fluff flour: As you’re spooning out the flour, lightly stir up the flour in the container, and gently shake the flour as you fill the measuring cup. Then level off the measuring cup with a table knife or other straight edged implement.