Sour Dough and I

I have a long love-affair with sourdough bread. Unfortunately, I don't have much luck getting my affair going again. Years ago I made bread and biscuits and pancakes all the time. The aroma was stunning.

I sent to Goldrush (through the internet) and got some starter yeast. It looked just like dried yeast. At first things went just fine, but then the whole thing seemed to slow to a crawl, and there weren't many bubbles. I thought maybe I was feeding it too often. Then maybe I wasn't using the right combination of flour/water/etc. Maybe it was too cool....or too warm. Or maybe I stirred it too much.

Today Mrs. Depleume sent me a site that is the cat's pajamas (to quote a new term). It's got pictures that show what the stuff is supposed to look like. And it tells how to get started, how to know if the stuff needs more food, and what each stage of the mixing of the bread should look like. There's also pictures of the finished product. Never in all my infatuation with Mr. Dough did I ever have a loaf that looked that beautiful!

I notice that she talks about a few pieces of equipment that I don't have: bell, stone, Wal-Mart plastic spoon, and a couple I don't recognize and can't recall. Maybe if I get all the equipment, I'll be successful again.

So tonight I fed my starter a hefty dose of flour and water and put it in the oven with the oven light on. Now that I know what Sour Dough likes, I may be able to have successful bread again.

For those of you who want to visit the wonderful sourdough bread site, I've included it in my list of good sites on the right pane of this blog.