Bill’s Sourdough French Bread

Feed your starter at least 12 hours before making bread.

Combine 2 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add
water, oil and starter and beat 3 minutes with an electric mixer.

Work in additional flour by hand until dough can be handled. Amount will
vary, depending on consistency of starter used. Decant dough to a lightly
floured board and knead until smooth, satiny and elastic, about 10
mintues,working in additional flour in small amounts as needed to keep
dough from sticking to board or hands.

Place in a large, oiled bowl, turning once to coat dough ball; cooking
spray works well for this. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a
warm place until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down and divide into either 2 or 4 pieces, depending on size of
loaves desired. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Roll each piece out into a rectangle and roll up from long side, pinching
seam closed and tapering ends. Place loaves, seam side down, either in
baguette pans or on a baking sheet which has been oiled and sprinkled with
cornmeal. Gash top 1/4 inch deep either along the length or diagonally
every 2 or 3 inches. Beat egg white with 1 tbsp water until frothy and
brush loaves with it. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about
1 hour.

Bake at 375F 20 mintues, then brush again with egg white and bake an
additional
20 minutes.