If you have and use a sourdough starter that you like then this recipe should make a lighter and softer crust bread without a lot of work.

2 cups active 'proofed' starter
3 to 5 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Place two cups of starter in your 6 quart mixer bowl
attach the bread hook to the mixer
add one cup of flour and the 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
begin mixing on low speed
keep adding flour until the mixer pulls the dough away from the sides of the bowl

Your dough should be tacky at this point and you want a tacky dough - not dry!

Remove the hook and bowl from the mixer
scrape the dough from the hook and place plastic wrap over the bowl.
Allow the dough to double in size at room temoerature - this can take 1 to 4 hours.
Roll the dough out of the mixer bowl with a spatula onto a floured surface
Dust the dough as you knead it to keep it from sticking to your hands and the counter.
oil two bread pans, bottom and sides
pinch the dough into two parts as equally as you can
Place each half into a bread pan and brush the tops with warm water
let it rise to over the top of the pan keeping the top moist
preheat your oven to 350F to 375F
bake the bread for approximately 30 minutes and then brush the tops with butter
bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
remove from the oven and butter the tops and sides to the top of the pan.
let the loaf cool for at least 20 minutes in the loaf pan.
Remove from the pans and place on a cooling rack (or cut the heal off and eat it with a generous coating of butter)
Once it is cooled to room temperature place in a zip-lock freezer bag to keep the crust from hardening.

This bread is great for 'Texas Toast', French toast, and cold roast venison sandwiches.
It also adds a new dimention to peanut butter and honey sandwiches and garlic bread for pasta.

If you don't have a starter then I can post how to build a starter using just water and flour.

I love a nice sourdough loaf. Must look into the "proofed starter" and how to maintain one.

This is the starter recipe that I use:
It's less a recipe than it is a process but here it is:

You will need:
1 bottle of water. (no chlorinated water should be used - the chlorine will kill the yeast before it can grow)
some whole wheat flour. (I grind mine from hard winter red wheat but you can use any flour)
a glass or glazed stone ware jar. I prefer glass because you can see the starter working as it matures)

The process:
In the clean jar (I sterilize the jar in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes but I doubt it is necessary) mix two tablespoons flour with two tablespoons of water. Stir it and cover with cheesecloth or loosely with plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
24 hours later:
stir in to your mixture two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of water. Let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Keep doing the additions for a total of seven days.
By the end of the seventh day you should have a starter that is bubbling away an hour after you add flour and water to it.

To use the starter, the night before you want to make something add the amount of flour and water to make the same amount of starter that your recipe calls for: If it says you need a cup of starter you add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water to your starter the night before.

To store starter for up to a month store it, after feeding it (as above), in the refrigerator with a piece of plastic wrap over it loosely - don't seal it because it needs to breathe. The cold will make it dormant and you will need to bring it back to room temperature and feed it before you use it again.

To store starter for longer periods of time keep it at room temperature after feeding for two to three days (longer periods make it more "sour"). Spread it thinly onto waxed paper on a cookie sheet and let it air dry. You do not want to heat it above 120 degrees as that will kill the yeast. When it is completely dry you can place small quantities (1/4 oz or less) into paper envelopes and freeze them unsealed in your freezer. Don't freeze the wet mixture as that will kill the bacteria that makes it sour, though the yeast will survive freezing. To reactivate the starter add it to 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup 110F water mixture. Within 2 hours you should see the bubbling that tells you it is working (proofing).

There is a dark liquid that forms on the top of your starter - stir it back into the starter when you feed it (every two to three days at room temperature) as that is the stuff that makes it sour.

If the starter ever doesn't proof when you feed it then take a couple of tablespoons of starter out of it and add two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of warm water to it. Wait twenty four hours and continue the process until you get a good starter back.

Remember that you need to save 1/2 to 1 cup of starter before you add any other ingredients to it or you will not have a good starter.

Starters can die or lose the sour taste if you ignore it too long or use it too often. I have two separate starters so I rotate their use. I store mine in the frige right after feeding it. Every year I dry some starter and put it in an envelope to store it in the pantry. This way I can revive an old starter when necessary. I have several years of stored starter and I ocassionally use the oldest one to add to the starter. It keeps the starter "original".

Cool...thanks Paul

Vince,
You are welcome!

It has taken me about 12 years to come up with that bread recipe. I started by following the recipes that added all kinds of things - oil, sugar, black pepper, even yeast! Who would put baker's yeast in a sourdough recipe? The starter is saturated with natural yeasts If you add yeast you get bread that tastes "yeasty".

You do need to add salt - without it the bread doesn't taste right. Oil was added to make the bread feel moist and to keep it from drying out but my sourdough bread doesn't last long enough to dry out. If you don't eat it as fast as we do then put it in a plastic bag to keep it moist. If you find droplets of water then get a new bag or you will end up with moldy bread.