Monday, March 27, 2006
Sourdough Success
Ok, I will admit I have a bread machine, which may not be the most frugal thing to admit having. It's just that I'm lousy at making bread, but I like bread, good bread, and I don't like to fork over the money for good bread if I can make it myself. Which I can't. So this mental loop led me to ask for a bread machine for Christmas. My mother-in-law obliged and also gave me a giant jar of bread machine yeast. I have faithfully followed directions and have been very successful.
But I knew the yeast jar would eventually run out and the price of yeast in a jar (which of course the bread machine makers claim is the only type you should use) would make homemade bread more expensive than I wanted it to be. I had read about sourdough and thought maybe I could catch some wild yeast in a starter and plunge into months of experimentation.
Didn't have to--a friend passed on a bag of "Amish Friendship Bread" starter and I was off to the races.
I made some Amish Friendship Bread, which, with its package of vanilla pudding as an ingredient, probably isn't very Amish. Then I separated and set aside some of the starter I'm supposed to pass on to someone else (hence, “friendship”), and hoped for the best.
So yesterday I set out a bowl full of 1 cup of starter, 1 cup of flour, and some water to make it thin. I came back to it today, combined it with flour, salt, a little sugar, some oil, a little water, in the bread machine container and set it to "dough". Then I let it rise a while, and lastly, cooked it on the french bread setting.
It is “slow food” to the max. All told, from yesterday's proofing to actually eating bread today, there was a 28 hour process. Of course, only a couple of minutes at the very beginning, and then a few more to put it in the machine, and again to make sure it was a dry enough dough (it wasn't: I am still learning, obviously), and then walk away. So it wouldn't be anything I'd suggest for spontaneous use, but far less labor-intensive than “28 hour” sounds. Just like, actually, the idea that “52 hour labor with Maeve” sounds like a frighteningly long time, but it isn’t—just in fits and spurts. Not to compare yeast bread with my second daughter’s labor.
And oh it was good bread. A little dense (I think the dough was too thin this time--next time, less water), but smelled like beer and the crust was awesome. Tiny little burst bubbles on the surface, crunchy, chewy, hearty, delicious.
Now, of course, I have a bowl of fermenting flour on my countertop. But, for those of you who know me, that would just like me.
But I knew the yeast jar would eventually run out and the price of yeast in a jar (which of course the bread machine makers claim is the only type you should use) would make homemade bread more expensive than I wanted it to be. I had read about sourdough and thought maybe I could catch some wild yeast in a starter and plunge into months of experimentation.
Didn't have to--a friend passed on a bag of "Amish Friendship Bread" starter and I was off to the races.
I made some Amish Friendship Bread, which, with its package of vanilla pudding as an ingredient, probably isn't very Amish. Then I separated and set aside some of the starter I'm supposed to pass on to someone else (hence, “friendship”), and hoped for the best.
So yesterday I set out a bowl full of 1 cup of starter, 1 cup of flour, and some water to make it thin. I came back to it today, combined it with flour, salt, a little sugar, some oil, a little water, in the bread machine container and set it to "dough". Then I let it rise a while, and lastly, cooked it on the french bread setting.
It is “slow food” to the max. All told, from yesterday's proofing to actually eating bread today, there was a 28 hour process. Of course, only a couple of minutes at the very beginning, and then a few more to put it in the machine, and again to make sure it was a dry enough dough (it wasn't: I am still learning, obviously), and then walk away. So it wouldn't be anything I'd suggest for spontaneous use, but far less labor-intensive than “28 hour” sounds. Just like, actually, the idea that “52 hour labor with Maeve” sounds like a frighteningly long time, but it isn’t—just in fits and spurts. Not to compare yeast bread with my second daughter’s labor.
And oh it was good bread. A little dense (I think the dough was too thin this time--next time, less water), but smelled like beer and the crust was awesome. Tiny little burst bubbles on the surface, crunchy, chewy, hearty, delicious.
Now, of course, I have a bowl of fermenting flour on my countertop. But, for those of you who know me, that would just like me.
