Sourdough Bread - 1st Time

To those of you with lots of real homemaking or simplicity experience this may sound silly... but I've been so excited the past week watching my sourdough starter re-hydrate and get to doing exactly what the pamphlet from the website said it should!  It bubbled up right on schedule, it formed the liquid on top just as anticipated. It even has that sourdough smell.  So today, I made bread.  Yes, it's true... I am a sourdough virgin no longer.

Last night before I (finally) went to bed, I decided on the Alaska Sourdough Bread from the Carl Griffiths 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Pamphlet and per those instructions, took 1 cup of starter and in one of my biggest Tupperware bowls combined it with 3 cups of flour and 2 1/2 cups of water.  This sat inside my oven with the seal on the bowl and the light on in the oven overnight to form the sponge that is the basis for bread.

To the remaining starter, I added 1 cup flour, 1 cup water and 1Tbl sugar and set it back in the fridge.  And yes, I know I didn't perfectly follow the feeding instructions for starter but this morning it's doing just what it should so I'm gonna be happy and go with it.

Today when I was ready to dig into making up my bread dough, I added 4 Tbl canola oil, 1 Tbl salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup sugar and enough flour that it made a ball that pulled cleanly away from the bowl and off my fingers.  The recipe calls for 5 more cups but I didn't need that much.  It only needed a touch more than 3 cups to form a beautiful, smooth, elastic-y dough.   Put just a touch of oil on top of the dough ball to help condition it and prevent it from drying out, snapped the seal back on the bowl and set it back in the oven (with the light still on to keep it just barely warm) to raise until doubled.

Next, I divided the dough into fourths and shaped into balls for those traditional round sourdough loaves.  Then covered with a damp tea towel and set them in the oven to raise a bit.  When they were getting close to size, I set them on top of the range and brought the oven temperature up to 375F.  Then I cut the expansion slashes and set them inside to bake for almost an hour.  In my research I read that moisture in the oven is what makes sourdough bread nice and crusty so I also put a cake pan with about 1 inch of water on the bottom shelf while they baked.

The result?

Oh yes!  I AM a domestic godess!!

I've linked this post the the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #48 at White Wolf Summit Farmgirl.

and A Country Saturday #3 at Life on a Mini Farm.

The Sourdough That Wasn't...

For the past couple of weeks I've been wondering what happened to the sourdough starter I ordered...  Now I know.

Pre-printed on the back of the envelope, here is what the Post Office has to say about it:

DEAR VALUED POSTAL CUSTOMER:

I want to extend my sincere apologies as your Postmaster for the enclosed document that was inadvertently damaged in handling by your Postal Service.

We are aware how important your mail is to you.  With that in mind, we are forwarding it to you in an expeditious fashion.

The U.S. Postal Service handles over 202 billion pieces of mail each year.  While each employee makes a concerted effort to process, without damage, each piece of mail, an occasional mishap does happen.  We are constantly working to improve our processing methods so that these incidents will be eliminated.  You can help us greatly in our efforts if you will continue to properly prepare and address each letter or parcel that you enter into the mailstream.

We appreciate you cooperation and understanding and sincerely regret any inconvenience that you have experienced.

YOUR POSTMASTER


Pfft

I think they should at least comp the 4 stamps this mishap cost me.  It took 2 to send the request to Oregon Trail Sourdough and 2 on the SASE that the Post Office destroyed.

Back to the drawing board on this quest...  And after much searching I've decided to give this recipe a try and make my own starter.

• Step 1. Mix 3 ½ tbs. whole wheat flour with ¼ cup unsweetened pineapple juice. Cover and set aside for 48 hours at room temperature. Stir vigorously 2-3x/day. (“Unsweetened” in this case simply means no extra sugar added).
• Step 2. Add to the above 2 tbs. whole wheat flour and 2 tbs. pineapple juice. Cover and set aside for a day or two. Stir vigorously 2-3x/day. You should see some activity of fermentation within 48 hours. If you don’t, you may want to toss this and start over (or go buy some!)
• Step 3. Add to the above 5 ¼ tbs. whole wheat flour and 3 tbs. purified water. Cover and set aside for 24 hours.
• Step 4. Add ½ cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 to 1/3 cup purified water. You should have a very healthy sourdough starter by now.

It comes from the Breadtopia website.  As does this information about the care and feeding of a sourdough starter.