Thursday, February 7, 2013

Easy-Peasy Sourdough

This bread is flabbergastingly easy to make. And if you're someone that likes good bread this could literally be a life-changer. And it has saved some friends of mine over forty dollars a month.
You can find a great video on TheStoneSoup
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/10/rustic-sourdough-the-secret-to-making-amazing-bread-at-home-5-ingredients-simple-baking/#
Some notes on variations:
She makes a very wet dough that spreads out into a thinner loaf. This gives you a lot of surface area for a good crusty bread. For sandwiches, though, I add more flour and shape it into a soft oblong loaf that stands up more is a little less pocketed with air holes.
So if you're not sure what you like I would highly recommend giving yourself license to play around with the water to flour ratio. And however you do it, it's soul-soothingly amazing hot with butter.

Wrapping My Hands In Wool...

It's cold, still. It should be cold for another two and a half months at least. I really don't mind, either, as long as I feel like I'm using this time of year differently than other times.
In the summer I don't usually feel like baking sourdough bread in a 500 degree oven for 45 minutes, so I've been doing a lot of that...
In summer I really don't want to spend an hour catching up on the ironing when I could be outdoors, so I'm trying to keep up with the crumbled dress shirts...
And I really don't want to wrap my hands in wool when it's anywhere over 70 degrees, so I've been knitting a sweater for a friend whose baby is due tomorrow.
As you can see, I still have a quarter of the way to go, but it's a little bigger than newborn size (depending on the size of the newborn, I guess), so it can wait a bit. I think I can get it done this week/wkend. Hoping!
So, here's hoping the baby comes hearty and healthy, and when it's a little bit bigger it can be wrapped in raglan wool... hopfully before it's 70 degrees outside.