Adventures in Country Living: Sourdough Bread

My latest project thats been going on for about six months is learning how to bake homemade bread. As usual, my attempts at these sort of tasks are not only for my families benefit, but its also hands on research for my books...when I say someone lets the dough rise on the back of the stove in my story, I really want to know what I'm talking about.

So this path at homemade bread making has been a ton of fun. It might be responsible for a few extra pounds padded onto me and my family (sorry guys) but there's this thing about homemade bread...when it comes out of the oven and its hot and the house smells amazing, you can't just eat one slice. ( A dear friend of mine who bakes bread regularily for her family says the excitement wears off after awhile and you develope some self control...I don't know about that) I mean, I've never seen anyone sit down with a loaf of store bought bread, undo the twisty tie, pull it out of the bag, and eat the whole thing. It just doesnt have the same effect on the soul as homemade bread.

So now, I'll tell my adventures in the wonderful world of sourdough! There are some misconceptions about sourdough. 1) you don't have to live in San Fran 2) you don't have to be an apron-clad Italian man in a bakery to make good sourdough 3) and although you have to feed your sourdough starter like a pet, its not going to crawl off your counter and attack you while your sleeping (haha) although when it bubbles, it can be a little creepy.

I bought my sourdough starter online (amazon.com, about $6) after researching how to make a starter. But what I didn't realize is that you can make it just as easy. All the online recipes discouraged making a starter from scratch using yeast (hence the amazon purchase) But, after looking in Carla Emery's, Encyclopedia of Country Living, she says it plain: "I hate to say it but there's a certain element of hoax potential in this sourdough business. You don't have to send away for a starter..." (don't I feel dumb!) "...anybody who wants an authentic and usable starter and who lives in a normal (food around and air circulating) environment rather than a totally antiseptic one (an operating room) need only to mix a cup of flour with a cup of water and leave it covered with a light cloth up to 5 days." What will happen then, is wild yeast in the air will be attracted to your flour/water mixture and decide to live there :-) Gross in a cool kinda way!

Well, my sourdough starter arrived, I followed the simple directions of keeping it in a loosley covered container, fed it flour and water occasionally and after a few days, it smelled like beer and looked like bubbling toothpaste (this was all quite exciting for the 3 year old in my household) I got the easiest recipe for 1.2.3. Sourdough bread on youtube and baked up my first loaf this morning. I've worked with a lot of homemade dough in the past and I have to say that this was THE EASIEST recipe I have ever used. It only required 3 ingredients (flour, salt, water) and a slight ammount of brain power which I successfully provided and, voila! For breakfast we're eating crunchy crusted, soft centered, warm, fresh from the oven sourdough bread with melting butter. I think I better go for a jog later.

Now that I know how easy sourdough is and that it did not originate with the goldminers as is a misconception (they simply popularized the bread because it was so easy for those single guys, it originated, supposedly with the Egyptians) I think I will sneak it into my next story. It seems such a practical way for folks to bake, even if you have no baking powder or yeast, you can still have wonderful bread for your family. Salt, flour, water and some wild yeast floating in the air. How easy is that? Oh, and a bonus: If for some strange reason your dough ever flops, it makes great playdough for the kiddies!

Happy Homesteading!