I’m a Bread Geek Now!

I made a batch of sourdough starter a month ago. It was sitting on the counter when suddenly we had to leave town because my MIL was dying. I tossed it in the frig and there it sat for 5 days. Once I returned home I was a bit numb and shell shocked from the dysfunction of family and the stress of a dying loved one, and I didn’t give mind to my starter for another week or so.

To my amazement when I opened the jar it smelled like fermented brew! Some might say, beer with all the yeasty growth going on. It wasn’t ruined after all.

I pulled up several internet sites to help me on my next step and this has been my favorite so far. I’m a visual learner and so these little videos are an added bonus for me.

I’m quickly finding out that this whole bread baking topic is another world in itself and that there are bread geeks out there by the droves!

I’ve been baking yeast breads for over 15 yrs. I have my grain grinder and my Bosch. The extent of being a bread geek ends there.

For some dumb reason I packed my day full yesterday. I worked and weeded in the garden. I made a batch of salsa and canned it. And if things weren’t crazy enough I decided to throw together a batch of sourdough bread and get together some starter for a friend.

The weeding took a few hours and I got some more spinach planted. The salsa also took a few hours chopping and dicing and canning. The sourdough took……..HOURS AND HOURS!

It was 9pm when I pulled my loaf from the oven and to my delight this is what I found.

Oh YES! I’m ready to sign up as a BREAD GEEK now!

Let’s talk bread….as a new Bread Geek, I know that several factors are to be considered.

Did it have decent “spring”…check.

Does it have “crumb”…check.

Does it have crunch…check…..I think about here my geekiness is fading. I can’t remember all the Geek terms to describing sourdough bread. But basically you’re looking for the bread having a final rise once in the oven (spring), you’re looking for all the little holes (crumb) , and your looking for a crunchy crust.  I’m not sure what else they look for, but I’m looking for taste!

I snitched a piece…..yes, at 9pm…..and I paid for it at about 1am….my belly hurt! But it was GOOD!

I used Mary Jane Butters recipe from Mary Jane’s Idea Book. It was a basic no fuss recipe, that included the sourdough starter, water, salt and flour. That’s it. In this whole NO KNEAD BREAD GEEK world, it’s a very no fuss bread. You mix, you only mix and then you let it set and rise.

The funny thing with this “no knead” method or it might be sourdough in general is that the rise stage takes FOREVER and the dough is then so sticky you can’t handle it. Mary Jane’s took 6 hrs, but the bread geeks take up to 8-12 hrs and longer. Frankly, I wanted to go to bed and get off of my feet….so 6 hrs was enough.

I learned a wee bit about sourdough baking from Kay over at Thistledog’s Farm.  And will go back and refresh myself on her baking schedule so I don’t have to stay up till the wee hours of the morning baking bread.

I don’t know if you can see it, but I flopped my dough in a deep cast iron skillet on top of parchment paper. This skillet has a nice fitting lid. Mary Jane’s directions were to just flop it on a cookie sheet for another couple hours rise, which I did until it just sat there flopping wider and wider. That’s when I opted for Thistledogs process using a dutch oven or the like. Mary Jane directs you to put a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of your 500* oven. Cook for 15 min’s at one temp and 15 min’s at another.

Here’s what I did. I was really scared about a 500* oven and PAPER!

I used the shallow pan of water (don’t know if I needed it with the dutch oven method). I baked at 450* (like that would make a difference in a fire!!) for 30 minutes covered and then upped it to 500* for 15 minutes uncovered. Once I pulled it out of the over, I pulled the loaf out very carefully by the ends of the parchment paper and sat it on a cooling rack. Then I peeled off the paper. I seriously was scared the paper had stuck to that sticky dough…I mean this stuff is like a monster kind of sticky! So much so I couldn’t even pull a knife through to make a cut across the top. I was surprised it turned out like it did.

During my healing stage of all that’s wrong with me…no wise cracks you hear!….fermented foods were my choice of healing foods. If the gut is healthy the rest of you will be too. So, once I added grains back into my diet, sourdough was my choice of bread. Having a ferment with every meal is ideal….but for me, sauerkraut isn’t really what I want in the morning for breakfast with my eggs! Sourdough bread on the other hand…..Mmmm it’s good stuff!

As of this morning….it’s now 7am, and pouring rain again, I haven’t heard Joy doing anything out of the usual. It just takes time.