Bread

1/2 cup water lukewarm
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg yeast
3/4 cup milk lukewarm
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups bread flour (can use all-purpose flour, but use a little less, as bread flour is lighter) yellow cornmeal.

Stir together water, sugar, & yeast & set aside. Dissolve soda in 1/2 T warm water in large bowl. Add warm milk, salt, & 1 cup flour. Beat with wire whisk until smooth. Beat in yeast mixture and remaining flour. NOTE: Batter should be thick and sticky, but smooth. NOT at thick at normal bread dough. Spray two pie pans with non-stick spray and dust with cornmeal. Place 1/2 dough in each pie pan. Don't need to spread out the dough, it will spread by itself as it rises. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Spray top of dough with non-stick spray and bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Spray top of bread again to keep soft. Let cool 1 hour before slicing for sandwich. BUT this is great straight from the oven with just butter.


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Sourdough

1/2 c. sourdough starter
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast (or 1 pkg)
1/4 tsp baking soda, disolved in 1/2 tsp cold water
10 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) bread flour
1 c. lukewarm milk
1/2 tsp salt

Put the sourdough starter, sugar, yeast, salt and milk in bowl (I use a big commercial mixer for this, but it is soft enough to do with a wooden spoon). Mix well. Add all of the flour, and keep on mixing. Add the soda/water mix. Stir some more. You don't need to work out a lot of gluten in these things, just get it mixed very well. It will be very sticky, almost more like a batter than a bread. Put about 1/4 to cup of the mix into each of 6 (I use Corningware 5" round bowls) ovenproof pans, which have been sprayed with Pam. Cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper that has been Pammed, let rise 1 to 1&1/2 hours. Remove plastic, spray bread with Pam. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Remove immediately from pans (or bowls) to a wire coolong rack. Let them cool AT LEAST an hour before you try to use them. Also, they don't keep well, they become very crumbly aftr about 3 days, so don't make them too far in advance.

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Rolls

1/2 Cup Water, lukewarm
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
3/4 Cup Milk, lukewarm
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 1/2 Cups Bread Flour
Yellow Cornmeal, stone-ground

In 8 oz. measuring cup, stir together first 3 ingredients and let mixture stand until it bubbles to top of cup. Dissolve baking soda in 1/2 Tbs. warm water. In medium bowl, combine warm milk, salt and soda-water mixture with 1 cup flour, beating with wire whisk until smooth. Beat in yeast mixture and then remaining flour, switching to sturdy spoon. Batter should be thick and sticky but smooth, with all flour thoroughly dissolved. Put dough in 2 small pie pans that have been sprayer with non-stick spray and dusted with cornmeal. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap that has also been sprayed. Let rise about an hour. Remove plastic wrap and discard. Spray tops of buns with non-stick spray and bake on center rack at 375F about 20 min. or until golden brown. As rolls cool in containers on rack for 20 min., spray tops with more non-stick spray to keep crust soft. Let cool 1 hour before slicing and filling with sandwich meats and cheeses.

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