I'm very excited about a new project I'm trying out. Backing up a bit, my mom used to bake homemade sour dough bread ALL the time. It was heavenly - especially if you caught it right out of the oven. I remember it being a process though. That took days! And you have to "feed" your starter and then use it or throw some of it away! You had to keep it alive!! But boy, did it turn out the BEST bread! There were also so many variations you could play with - rosemary bread, whole wheat bread, cinnamon rolls.... YUM.
So, after years of watching my mother bake her bottom off, I've decided to give it a try!! Last week I gathered my ingredients to bring my "pet" to life - yeast, sugar, water, and potato flakes (!?) yes, instant potato flakes! I mixed it and then I let it sit out for 1 day and in the fridge for 3 days!
Saturday night I took it out of the fridge and fed it! Some more sugar, water and potato flakes! Then it has to sit out for 12 hours! I woke up early Sunday morning to mix the bread - bascially 6 cups of bread flour, some of your starter, sugar, oil, and water! THEN you have to let THAT rise for many hours - only to take it out, knead it, put it in bread pans and let it rise AGAIN!!! Then FINALLY getting to bake it for 35 minutes!!!
Whew, it'll have taken me 1 week to make 2 loaves of this complicated but delicious bread! I'm sure it will take me a while of playing around with times of rising and baking. They also say the longer you've had the starter, the better the bread. There's a lot of science behind this stuff!
So if this bread baking adventure gets going like my momma had it going - my friends are going to be enjoying many a loaves of bread! :-) We used to give it away like crazy!
There's my starter and my recipe!! :-)
yummmmmmy!!!! i prefer the bread machine method personally...buti have THOUGHT about making bread from scratch...it'll be a while however!!! good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone out there enjoys this kind of stuff. I just enjoy the eating part! ;)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your new venture!!! :):) HOW FUN!!!
linds....just a minor correction..making bread builds your bottom up if you aren't careful...give away as much as u keep girlfriend!!!
ReplyDeletehow wonderful! i made my own starter last summer and baked and baked and baked. i couldn't keep up once i went back to teaching in august...but the bread just kept getting better with time. you'll love surprising people with your delicious treat! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed Linds! And by the way, I missed your blog posts!!
ReplyDeleteLindsay - Good for you for always trying new and different things, and good luck with the bread! I always loved your Mom's ... it was the VERY BEST! I wish I had a slice right now with my morning coffee :).
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