*TEDDY'S KILLER SOURDOUGH*

(RECIPE POSTED BY THEODORE ALTON MCELROY)

With store bought bread approaching $3.00 a loaf and good fresh bakery bread going as high as $6.00 I exclusively bake my own bread in my Regal Kitchen Pro that I bought years ago for like $60.00.
Here are some tips and my killer recipe for sour dough French, my personal favorite.
TIPS:
-Buy your yeast in the 4 oz jars (check the price per ounce compared to individual packets and you will see why).
-Always "prove" your yeast by putting the amount your recipe calls for in a measuring cup along with the amount of sugar called for and add very warm water and let it stand for 10 minutes. If it bubbles up you are good to go. If not, your yeast is too old and no longer active.
-Buy the cheapest generic flour you can find and buy it in bulk, but make sure you have a seal able plastic or ceramic container to store it in.
-USE 4 teaspoons of GLUTEN in your recipe unless you are allergic to it. This will make your bread rise better and restores the product to your flour that was removed.
-After you add all of the ingredients to your bread machine monitor it with a large wooden spoon, If your dough does not completely form up and there is a lot of dry dough still in the bottom, gradually add more warm water and scrape the bread maker to get it to all mix up until you have one nice complete dough ball thrashing around.

CAUTION:
-Do not use any implements other that wood spoons and glass measuring cups. Metal will react with yeast!!

*TEDDY'S KILLER SOURDOUGH*
10 ounces of sour dough starter (you need to make this about a week before hand)
5 - 6 ounces of warm water (use this in the measuring cup with your yeast and sugar)
1-3/4 tsp. salt (important for controlling rise and rate of rise)
4 cups of flour (put this in the bread machine first)
3 tbsp. sugar (in the yeast proofing measuring cup)
2 tsp. active dry yeast (in the yeast proofing measuring cup)
4 tsp. of Gluten (you can get this in the bakery section of Walmart along with the 4 oz jars of yeast)
2 tbsp. of corn meal (optional: this adds some texture and crunch to your bread, my personal favorite)

Set your bread maker to "Basic - usually 3 hours and crust to medium)
Enjoy!