Time to make the dough, nuts!

So, since our San Francisco trip, I’ve been obsessing about sour dough.  After a little research, I decided to give it a go.  Unlike other breads, sourdough receives it’s trademarked taste from a fermented mixture of yeast, water and flour, AKA “starter.”  And, once you make some, you can keep the yeast happy (and living) by feeding the beast a couple of times a day and discarding or using some of the mixture in recipes.  Right now I’ve got a healthy 2 ½ cups of starter at the ready, perpetually living on my counter top until I tire of sourdough.  Note: it’s not going to happen.  LONG LIVE THE SOURDOUGH!

To that point, thus far, I’ve made 6 loaves…(I may have a problem) two of which were inedible (too salty), and the balance have only gotten more sour after periodic experiments based on tweaks to the starter.  When the yeast eats the flour, the natural byproduct is alcohol, and so there’s a sweet spot as to how long should you let it eat and produce alcohol before you use it in your bread.  I like to get a healthy half-inch of the juice before I introduce more ingredients: salt (in hind-sight use sparingly), more flour, more yeast and some vegetable oil. 

I’ll let you know that I’m not into being a messy guy, so the next part I did, begrudgingly.  But, I’ve been told it’s very therapeutic.  The making of the dough, which is supposed to be on the sticky side, is best when you’re hand kneading.  The first time I lost my wedding ring, but after another bunch of loaves, I carefully remove it and place it in my pocket before getting into the mix.  Actually, to tell the truth, the first couple of loaves I made in the bread machine…and they were good, but not nearly as tasty as the one I made by hand.  You can say the extra ingredient is love…but I say it’s fingernails.  Anyway, after a number of rises and beat-downs of the dough, it’s ready to bake…and this is my favorite part.  After about 10 minutes in the oven, the house starts to smell like freshly baked bread, and everything I did before is totally worth it.  It’s intoxicating.  The resulting loaf, cooled to a temperature just warm enough to melt butter (no margarine or I’ll de-friend you) is nothing short of divine. 

Why am I writing all of this?  Because, I think tonight, I may be making my last loaves, numbers 7 and 8.  It’s time.  As good as it is, and, honestly, as easy as it is for me to do now, I think it’s safer if I end things here, or else I should really set up a sourdough stand in front of my house, quit my job and bake all day.  Wait a minute…that would be awesome.  However, I think I enjoy it like I do because I don’t depend on it for fiscal sustenance.  What would be smart would be to turn my attentions to other fermentation novelties…yes.  Yes.  I see it now…August Fall Pumpkin Imperial Ale.  Time to get a big pot for the next obsession!

 

Starter Recipe:
2 cups of wheat flour

2 cups of warm (preferably filtered) water

1 packet of dry yeast

Mix together

time...about 3-5 days

Note 1: if your mix starts taking on any color other than the original color of your flour (red, blue, etc.) dump it out and try again.  Let's not be nuts about this people...no mold please.

Note 2: use only a glass or ceramic vessel for your concoction.  Plastic = no good.  

Note 3: Cover, but not completely because that baby will explode due to resultant fermentation gasses. 

Bread Recipe:

1 Cup of Starter

3/4 Cup of warm (preferably filtered) water

1 Tbsp of sugar

1 Tbsp of dry yeast

3 cups of bread flour

3 Tbsp of vegetable oil

2 Tsp of salt (I prefer sea salt)

1 fingernail (optional)

Take 1 cup of the starter and place it in a bowl with 3/4 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Then, add 3 cups of bread flour, 2 teaspoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil and kneed and let rise for 30 min, and kneed and let rise 45 min.  Shape and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Bread!