Onto Sourdough Bread

I had been purposefully in denial about it but the verdict is in and facebook eats up an absurd amount of my time. I will not be giving it up but I do need to come up with a way to force restrictions upon myself; yes, I am like a five year old and need disciplining.

Today I've cleaned a tremendous amount in the basement (still a huge ways to go but getting so much done...) and made two loaves of sourdough bread. I'm ecstatic (I'll make another tomorrow). The recipe called for sourdough starter; 1 pack of active dry yeast, 2.5 cups of water, and 1.5 cups of flour. The starter makes three loaves of bread. It is to sit for at least 24 hours or up to four days. I was hoping to give it two days minimum but alas my patience is not what it should be. I gave it 36 hours and now I've two loaves of wonderful bread and so inexpensive. I also think I've finally managed to make a pretty loaf of bread. Yay me, and it's very yummy (the most important part).

Granted bread takes a lot of patience, a decent amount of work, and a good deal of time but by my estimate one loaf of this sourdough costs about 75 cents. 75 cents for a loaf of fresh baked bread with absolutely no chemicals, preservatives, additives, sugar; I could go on an on. I'm so thrilled! If I end up buying a brick of instant yeast and keeping it in the freezer as Lisa's suggested it would cost considerably less even.

I love making bread. Part of this new found passion is probably due to the sprinkling of flour on the table and kneading the dough with my hands. I've been a bit of a mess maker all of my life. I like my hands dirty, whether covered in paint or graphite from artwork, dirt from pulling weeds and working in the garden, goopy flour from paper mache, or now bread dough; there's just something about working with my hands and them being filthy that I love.

Here's today's beauty :)
You can almost smell it, right?