No, Ravenna with a plastic container on her head doesn't have anything to do with making bread but she sure does look cute!For the past few weeks, probably due to my lack of friends here in Gillette, I decided to take up a new hobby: bread making! Alisa's blog has done a great deal to inspire and help me in this process, so she should also be given due credit. My sourdough story starts with lots of flour, tears and frustration, i.e. creating a sourdough starter. I failed at this more than I should admit considering how "easy" everyone else says this is. Most people don't realize that when someone like me is trying to learn something new, we need precise instructions. Things that would normally be obvious to others, are not so obvious to me. For example, I pondered why the starter smelled so bad and why I was missing the bubbles (oh yeah, you have to FEED it every day). Another time I wondered why the starter just kept getting bigger and why it never seemed to ferment (oh yeah, you have to throw half of it away every time you feed it!). After this last adventure I found that I had used nearly 2 lbs. of whole wheat flour and had enough starter for SIX normal starters, so I kept 3.
Probably one of the reasons that I kept failing, and Alisa commented on this, is how confused I was because of how freaking complicated most people make this process. Example: You can only use non-chlorinated or distilled water, no metal anything, stirring only counter clockwise on odd days etc. Ok, the last one I made up but there are lots of unnecessary rules out there and everyone has their own way of doing it. Seriously, this IS supposed to be easy. Well, after using another pound of flour I finally had three working starters ready to go. I dried one and I have two working starters in the refridgerator.
So far I have made three loaves and they just keep getting better as I figure out the mysteries of bread making. Here is a great site for all things sourdough and for baking with a starter, including a great FAQ section to help solve a sourdough novice's woes.
Probably one of the reasons that I kept failing, and Alisa commented on this, is how confused I was because of how freaking complicated most people make this process. Example: You can only use non-chlorinated or distilled water, no metal anything, stirring only counter clockwise on odd days etc. Ok, the last one I made up but there are lots of unnecessary rules out there and everyone has their own way of doing it. Seriously, this IS supposed to be easy. Well, after using another pound of flour I finally had three working starters ready to go. I dried one and I have two working starters in the refridgerator.
So far I have made three loaves and they just keep getting better as I figure out the mysteries of bread making. Here is a great site for all things sourdough and for baking with a starter, including a great FAQ section to help solve a sourdough novice's woes.
Today's bread; quite a beauty if I do say so myself
My first attempt! Not very sour but a great crust!
8 comments:
Awesome bread Carrie! I have recently taken up bread making too. Not sourdough... but after reading your blog that just might be an option...
Yea for bread making! Your loaves look so yummy.
I never throw out starter. I just add only a little at a time, about 1/4 cup, or two whole cups if I want to use it the next day. If you aren't going to use it regularly, keep it in tne fridge. That way you only need to feed it once a week.
PS - your crust looks fabulous! How did you get such an awesome crust?
Mmmm, sourdough is my favorite. I'll have to check out that site.
Don't worry Alisa, I did eventually figure out the whole starter mess. Now I still have two going, but might be giving two away.
As for the crust, the first one I brushed egg white before putting it in the oven, and I also put in ice cubes. But I think the thing that I have done that has really made a great crust is to brush on either butter or olive oil as soon as I get it out of the oven, but I still always put something on the loaf before baking, sometimes i even just spray on canola oil if I am lazy.
Great looking bread! I have no idea what you are talking bcse I've never attempted to make sourdough bread. so great job!
Way to go! Even though I strongly dislike sour dough bread I loved reading about you making a working starter. There are other nice breads as well, for example a nice english tea bread, I could mail Andrew the recipe.
Way to go! Even though I strongly dislike sour dough bread I loved reading about you making a working starter. There are other nice breads as well, for example a nice english tea bread, I could mail Andrew the recipe.
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