With the time that I have been given over the last three years I have been allowing myself patience for learning new things when I can. Growing up if I didn't get something right the first time I didn't care enough to attempt it again. As I've matured I have accepted this is the course of all new hobbies and fail regularly now, then I try again… and again. I don't think I've perfected one yet.
The children are growing older and becoming less dependent on me, so for now my aspirations are welcoming frequent and loftier tasks. This was the plan from the beginning in this intentional brain of mine. Many of my goals are ways to save money by learning to make items we buy regularly. Money we can sit on or use for something else. Not only does this save us cash, but I can control what ingredients are included. Before I started making bread we were spending anywhere from 20-30 dollars on bread per month. That's as much as my winter/spring water bill, when I put it that way it sounds like a lot! The bread that we buy here locally runs us $4-4.50. It's good bread, and most importantly it is dairy free, which was a must when our babies were tiny because they were allergic to dairy, and we still try to avoid it most meals. We enjoy sandwiches. Tomato, fancy pbjs, stacked high, grilled, with bacon, for breakfast with jam. Any which way. A family of four can put down up to a loaf of bread in a day or two.
I have been making bread for years, but never attempted sourdough, my favorite of all the carbohydrates. I remember long ago my mother gawked at the idea of working with a starter made from wild yeast, or even store bought yeast. It was so hard she noted, that made me a little timid to start, but I found a mentor and was able to make something delicious and versatile. Sandwich loaves are a new ambition of mine, before boule was the norm in my kitchen. In all honesty, making bread made me grumpy for years. It's messy, might not turn out right, messy, takes patience and a good portion of your day due to rising and punching, etc. It was messy. Really messy.
Last year I checked out the Artesian Bread in Five Minutes A Day in hopes of finding a new and less mess method. I liked the idea but I didn't want to use up the fridge space their method requires. When I realized I could make fermented breads I knew that was the way for me. I love fermenting foods. Then I tweaked a recipe that didn't require multiple rises. One rise. I make the bread in the morning, leave it, and then bake it after 5pm. I hardly even kneed my dough, I've found it's lighter that way.
As the south heats up this summer my rises may quicken and the bread will go into the oven sooner than it has over the fall and winter. Each bakers bread will need different things, just like ourselves and loved ones, the growth will vary. This is due to the different types of yeast that will be caught in each kitchen, the heat of the home, the bakers hands, oven temperature fluctuates too. You can develop a new understanding of your home and yourself by making this type of bread. Your patience can be tested, but best of all if your bread doesn't turn out perfectly I have a solution. A cast iron pan and a little olive oil can make a "bad" loaf (and trust me, there's no truly bad loaf that isn't burned) have a wonderful crisp flavor. Just slice and pan fry.
That's a whole lot of words about some of the reasons I make our family's bread. This is an introduction of sorts, bread seems to intimidate many people, especially sourdough. I'd like to do this blog in a series to help break up a plethora of words, that are necessary, and to keep the recipes separate so there won't be a hefty scroll to get to something you may end up using daily. Maybe you already know all of these things about sourdough and are ready to start, or you are confident in your sourdough makings and don't need a recipe for the starter, so I'll see you to that and keep my sourdough recipes all separate for this very reason. Nice and organized.
Why fermentation?
You can hardly find anything at a grocery store that is fermented in today's world. Pickles are made hastily with vinegar, yogurt is no longer fermented and hardly has the lactobacilli that can really strengthen your gut, the way modern humans need after the years of abuse many of us have forced on our bodies. Fermentation of grains is important too, the process breaks down the bran to make it easily digestible and and neutralizes phytic acid.
Sourdough starter has many uses!
Pancakes are a hit with sourdough starter! While it's pretty hard to mess up pancakes I now only make them with my sourdough starter. I have made them for numerous toddlers, some very skeptical adults and everyone asks for seconds. It took me years to get my kids on board with pancakes, and it wasn't until I started making them with sourdough starter that they clean their plates every single time I make them, before they only did so 2 out of 3 times.
Biscuits too! Amazingly easy biscuits taboot! I can hop out of bed when I hear David turn on the shower and get the biscuits out of the oven by the time he has showered and shaved. Minimal mess.
To make sourdough starter you will need:
2 pound bag of flour (rye is preferred and will really help get things going, but you can use any flour- even gluten free!)
2 gallons of spring or filtered water (you won't use all of this flour and water at once, but you'll need it on hand)
wooden spoon
a large mason jar, crock, etc.
1 cups unwashed organic grape or pineapple juice (no sugar added)
cheesecloth or a linen napkin
string or a rubberband
The kids like this stuff so much they scurry to the kitchen during my daily sourdough stir, if they make it at the same time there is no avoidance of a tuft over the sour gooey dough. This has resulted in me using two spoons to stir. I don't argue, as this is an excellent way to get more probiotics in their bellies.
Where did I learn about all of this? Check out Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, and Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz for good fermentation reading. I have also learned a lot from the Wild Fermentation Facebook Group.
Gather your ingredients and join me next week for how to get your own sourdough bubbling!
Update: My sourdough biscuit recipe can be found here, for the pancake recipe click here, muffins here, and chocolate sourdough cake here.