Day 4: Sourdough

When I was unemployed, I decided I would try to make bread for us instead of buying a loaf at the store every week. I read Make The Bread, Buy The Butter by Jennifer Reese so I knew that it was a wise financial decision. And let's be honest, I had the time.

Great book. I also make the hummus and the homemade cheese crackers a lot

I couldn't even get a job at the local burger place (and I applied twice in one day). Damn you recession!

Craig's favorite bread is sourdough and I read that sourdough was a better choice for people with diabetes concerns (paternal grandmother had it; uncle and father too) so sourdough was easily the choice for my first homemade bread attempt. I had a bread machine before but that's really dump some ingredients in a machine, let it do the work, come back three hours later for a funny shaped loaf of bread. I wanted to have the kneading, rising, true baking homemade bread experience.

I bought my sourdough started from King Arthur Flour (http://www.kingarthurflour.com; $8.95) and used it a lot. Gave portions away. Made bread loaves, bread bowls, sourdough pretzels, and pizza crust. One of my favorite recipes for a crusty bread with no kneading but that required a good amount of time can be found at http://www.instructables.com/id/Sourdough-Bread/. Delicious.

Then I got a job with crazy hours and my dedication to the sourdough fizzled away. With it went the quality of my sourdough. It's like an animal, apparently you really do need to give it some food, water, and a little TLC every once in awhile. I tossed the neglected starter and vowed someday to start anew.

That day was today.

This time, I made the sourdough myself. Two cups flour, two cups warm water, 1 packet of dry yeast. Mix and let it set in a non-metal container with room to rise for 4 to 8 days.

Stay tuned to day eight or day twelve when the item I make will be a loaf of bread ;)