Sourdough or Friendship Starter

San Francisco Sourdough Bread for a "1-pound" Bread Machine 1/3 cup cold starter,3 cups white bread flour almost 1 cup spring water,3/4 teaspoon salt 1. Place starter and 1/3 cup spring water in bread pan. Add 1/2 cup flour & manually blend with "bread stick"* until no dry flour remains. Mix with machine until mixture is smooth & uniform -- 5 to 10 minutes. (Assist blending by stirring into the corners of the bread pan with the "bread stick".) Let stand in machine for 4 hours. 2. Add 1/3 cup spring water and 1 cup flour. Manually blend with "bread stick" as in Step 1; then mix with machine again until smooth & uniform: 5 to 10 minutes. (Assist with "bread stick" as needed.) Let stand in machine for 4 hours. 3. Dissolve the salt in 1/4 cup spring water and add it to the pan; then the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour. Use the "bread stick" again to moisten all the flour before turning machine on. Let the machine knead the dough until it forms a smooth, slightly tacky ball. Assist the blending with the "bread stick", scraping down the side walls of the pan and adding the scraped-off dough to the ball. (If the dough still seems wet and "pasty" after a few minutes of kneading, sprinkle on another tablespoon of flour -- turning the machine off first to avoid spraying flour around. (If the dough seems dry and crumbly after about 5 minutes of kneading, add a tablespoon of water and continue mixing until a smooth, just slightly tacky ball of dough is formed.) Let stand in the machine for 4 hours, or until the top of the risen dough is close to the top edge of the bread pan. 4. Remove the pan from the machine. With a small knife, "stab" the top of the dough several times, an inch or so apart and about an inch deep. Also stab any bubbles that appear while doing this. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. 5. Remove the hot bread pan from the oven with "oven mittens", and immediately shake the loaf out onto a rack. Allow it to cool at least an hour before slicing.