Through the Seasons

Breadmaker

Okay, here’s how the sourdough adventure has gone…

I made 2 sourdough starters.  In one I put flour, water, and yeast.  In another I put flour and water only.  I left both of them out on the counter in the kitchen for about 3 days feeding them both every day.  At that point I put them in the refrigerator. 

It took me 3 tries with the starter with yeast to get it right but once it was right it was great – according to Jonathan which is why I’m trying this sourdough thing in the first place.

The starter without yeast didn’t start at all though so I poured it out and made a new one, again with just flour and water.  I let it sit on the counter, feeding it daily, for a full 6 days.  On Saturday I used it to bake bread and here is the result:

The loaf on the left was the one we kept.  We sampled it before giving the loaf on the right to a couple who invited us over for tea Saturday afternoon.  They had never heard of sourdough so I hope they enjoyed it.

The only problem with sourdough at first is that every day when you feed it, you throw half away first.  Instead of throwing it out I’ve been saving it but now I have a lot of starter.  Because of that I emailed the others in Mbeya asking if anyone wants sourdough starter.  So far I only have one taker.

I’m also looking at other things I can do with sourdough such as:  croutons, bagels, biscuits, unleavened bread, banana bread, pizza crust…  And this morning was pancakes. 

If nothing else, a lot of people are going to get sourdough bread as gifts.  Mama calls it “special bread for Baba Asheri” – haha – so she usually doesn’t eat it when it’s here but I’m going to have to change her mind on that one!  Of course I’ve let her continue to make regular white bread for her family and I probably won’t make sourdough bread extremely often.  We can only eat so much bread without it affecting our waistlines…