For the past three weeks I have been cultivating a colony of yeast into a sourdough starter. The colony, as you may recall, is much like a pet. And my pet, Pepe, has not always been a good pet. For a while Pepe went on a wild alcohol binge. One of the by products of the yeast fermentation process is alcohol, and apparently Pepe likes his hooch. For about a week, each day, when I would go to feed him, he would smell like your soused up uncle Tom who hasn’t seen a sober day in 10 years. But, with a little tenderness, and some tough love, I was able to wean Pepe off the hooch. And this Sunday, with Pepe back to full health, I cooked part of him up into a nice loaf of No Knead Sour Dough bread. And boy was Pepe delicious. My wife and I almost ate the whole loaf in one sitting.

Here is how I turned Pepe from sour starter to sour delicious. 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 1/2 cups white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups purified water
• 1/4 cup starter [Pepe]

 - Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. The dough should be shaggy. If your starter is a little runny, you might add a touch more flour, to ensure a good shaggy dough.

 - Cover bowl and let sit for 15 hours. After 15 hours the dough should be roughly two to three times bigger, have a sweet sour smell, and be a bit more wet.

 - Pour dough out onto a floured surface or onto a Silpat. P.S. I have a love for the silpat. That doesn’t make me any less of a man does it? Sprinkle lightly with flour and cover with a cotton cloth. Let sit for three hours.

 - Heat oven and cooking dish with lid to 450 f°.  Make sure to use a heavy bottom dish. I use an enameled dutch oven but pyrex will also work.

 - Once the oven and dish are searing hot it is time to get baking. Spill your dough right into the dish. I just kind of scrape it off the silpat. It is not elegant in the least. I am sure real bread bakers would roll their eyes at my neanderthal technique.

 - Cook for 30 minutes at 450. Uncover. Cook for another 10-15 minutes until top is a nice golden brown.

 - Remove from oven. Be careful not to burn yourself. It hurts. Slice up the bread and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

KjO