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.

Mrs. Child on Bread

Now here’s an example of real frugality:

“As far as it is possible, have bits of bread eaten up before they become hard. Spread those that are not eaten, and let them dry, to be pounded for puddings, or soaked for brewis. Brewis is made of crusts and dry pieces of bread, soaked a good while in hot milk, mashed up, and salted, and buttered like toast. Above all, do not let crusts accumulate in such quantities that they cannot be used. With proper care, there is no need of losing a particle of bread, even in the hottest weather.” (p. 8 of American Frugal Housewife, 1833)

Right now on my counter are 2 partial loaves of bread, and I doubt if we will get them used before one or the other is infested with mold. I love bread! I want to try every loaf of bread on the store shelves. I want to make bread in my bread machine. I want to have buns on hand when I need them, and packages of Crescent rolls and Grands in the refrigerator. Trouble is that there are only two of us in the house, and both of us are supposed to be watching our weights.

My favorite bread was the sourdough bread I used to make when I still had the “starter.” The smell of that bread rising and baking was wonderful. Eventually I got tired of feeding the starter when I knew I wasn’t going to have time to make the bread, so I threw the starter out. I wish I hadn’t. It’s hard to get real sour dough starter going again. I’ve heard you can do it by putting yeast in some water and letting it sit out on the counter for a couple of days. I’ve also heard that this starter isn’t strong enough to support the weight of the bread. I suppose you can always add more regular yeast in addition to the sourdough starter, but I haven’t tried it yet.

When I’m pretty sure we’re not going to finish a partial loaf of bread or a lone roll, I crumble it up and put it out for the birds. Of course, the birds who mostly profit from this feast are starlings, but I don’t really care. They’re funny to watch, and if they didn’t congregate in such huge numbers, no one would mind them being around. More about starlings another day.

All in all, I’m glad I don’t live in the day when bread was so precious that we had to hoard every single crumb.