Sunday, January 18, 2015

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?





7 comments:

  1. OMG - that bread looks absolutely perfect!!! I'm VERY impressed, especially since I am the exact opposite - because of my OCD I HATE having sticky hands, being dirty, any of that fun stuff!!! I volunteer in a first grade classroom and the only stipulation I have is I will NOT do glitter :)

    The closest I've come to homemade bread is in the bread maker my daughter got me a couple Christmases ago - again, I'm IMPRESSED!!!

    Sue :)

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    1. Ahh, I'm so proud of this bread :D

      And the "dirty hands," I've always been a tom boy, probably from growing up with younger brothers and lots of boys in the neighborhood. It makes me feel very un-girly that I love working with my hands and getting filthy. This is a good compromise, baking bread like a good house wife (hehe) while getting my hands dirty :D

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  2. That looks FANTASTIC! And you've got home made marmalade to spread on it! Wow!

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    1. Thank-you and I DO have home made marmalade for it :D So far this has been a very good year, haha... I probably shouldn't base my year around food accomplishments, but still, Yum!

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  3. That looks amazing. The only time I have tried to make homemade bread, it didn't turn out at all....the look was off, the taste was off. Not sure what happened with it, but I have been scared to try again after 10+ years.

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    1. Thank-you! I made a loaf of bread years ago with the same results as you. It was just strange; way too dense, lumpy... I'm guessing that I did not let it rise long enough. I've only just been making bread lately because of a silly plan to become an expert baker this year. I can't believe how well these loaves of sourdough turned out but after 5 loaves of bread this month I'm really starting to get the hang of it. Yay!

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