So I have been at it again! What?…you may ask. Looking for the sourdough loaf that is “perfect” to me!
This one turned out really good to me but I am still trying to make it better! But truthfully, do we ever quit trying to improve on the things we love?
The taste was good and the crumb can use some improvement, but overall it was not bad at all! Bread critics would probably find something negative to say about it, but I as the baker and consumer am pleased with how it turned out.
As you can see from this final photo…the ear wasn’t perfect and the blisters could have been better. I, as baker, consumer and self-critic think it is good enough for at least a B+ rating! I will continue on my journey! Happy baking!!!
Who doesn’t want to bake the “perfect” sourdough bread? I have looked forward to that day! So far, I haven’t achieved the perfect loaf! But I keep on trying, and the fun is in trying. If you remember, I said when I started that I was going to be honest about things and even if it was a flop I would let you know! Well guess what? I flopped!! Not only did I flop once, but twice!! Most people learn the first time, but I guess I am too hard-headed to learn, or maybe I was just hoping I had not done something right the first time. Sadly, that was not the case!!!
I did all the stretch and pulls and I did the overnight second rise in the fridge, but none of it helped! It just did not suit me and I think the recipe was not right on some of the measurements! I have a scale and I measured exactly like the recipe called for. But the dough was just not right!! I knew it from that point, but I kept hoping for the best, so I baked it!
It is a cinnamon honey bread so that is the inside view! Y’all, I worked hard on this bread and it is very disappointing to not be satisfied with it!! Will I give up on trying? Never!!! Press on I must!!! I will achieve better results in time so quitting is not in my book!!! So what do you do with that less than “perfect”(not even close to perfect) loaf? Do you throw it out with the trash? Or do you find another way to try and make it better? This is what I did with mine. French toast with honey! So if you find yourself being disappointed with something you bake, don’t quit, keep trying! You will get there eventually!!
For the last few days I have been rehydrating my dehydrated sourdough starter. These are the results! On Day 5 I was baking bread and it is so good!
As you can see by Day 4, my starter was fully active and passed the float test! Here is a photo of the float test! Notice how the dough floats in the water. It is now ready to bake with!!!
So I shaped my loaf. Here is a photo of before the bake. I did not have a bread lame and my cut wasn’t what I would have liked it to be, so I have ordered a bread lame.
Now it’s time to bake that beautiful loaf! So I baked it and it was delicious!! I am very pleased with my starter results and the taste and rise of my bread!
The cut will be better after I get my lame, but the taste is awesome!Crispy, crunchy crust, soft tender inside and classic sourdough tang!Go to my FB page or Etsy shop and order some so you can bake something good!
I don’t know about you, but I love bagels. Today I decided to bake some for the first time. I followed a recipe I found online.
I know they are not pretty, but they taste good! The outside texture was crisp and chewy and the inside was soft and delicious. I didn’t toast mine but I did put jelly on a piece and it was delicious.
For some crazy reason, some people seem to think you can’t combine sourdough with yeast to make bread! They don’t consider it a “true” sourdough bread if it has yeast in it! But my question is…how can they consider sourdough mixed with baking powder or baking soda or both as being a “true” sourdough bread? Baking powder and baking soda are both rising agents just as yeast is! Well I have been baking bread today, sourdough with yeast added, and let me tell you right now, it is delicious!!
I have tried many recipes and did not particularly like the taste of them, so I created my own recipe which I used to bake this bread. I shall call it Sourdough Blend Bread because it uses yeast and sourdough and the combination is absolutely wonderful! I will post my recipe on the Recipe page. If you try it, let me know what your thoughts are about it. Enjoy!! And bake according to your tastes and not someone’s idea of what is right! After all, you are cooking for yourself and your family!
Now available for purchase. This is a 14 gram package of dehydrated sourdough starter. Instructions included and when followed it will make you a wonderful sourdough starter. Order yours today and get started baking digestive friendly baked goods for your family. You will love it! $15 per package with free shipping. To order, click on the following link and I will send you a Paypal invoice. https://www.facebook.com/sublimationsbycarolyn
If you have started sourdough baking and have baked bread or rolls, you may have found out that you had some leftover bread. With only 2 people in my house, that has been the case for me. But does anyone want to throw out the beautiful bread or rolls that were loving made for their family? No!! Too much time and effort, as well as expense, went into baking that bread! So what do you do with the excess? Of course we all have people we like to share with, but even at that there may still be excess bread.
Why not turn that excess bread into something useful? Why not make breadcrumbs? That is what I have decided to do with mine, and let me just tell you…they are some awesome breadcrumbs! I tasted mine and I must say….I love them! So any excess I have will be put to good use! Just crumble your bread and spread in a baking pan, place in a preheated 300 degree oven for 10 minutes, give them a good stir, bake 5 to 10 more minutes or until the bread browns and dries out. Delicious, healthy and quick!
While I didn’t add any seasoning to mine, I am sure you could add in your choice of herbs and spices. Enjoy!
I have seen many different methods of starting and maintaining a sourdough starter. No wonder it is so confusing for new people, trying to get started! Like I have told y’all before…I am 69 years old and I guess in all those years I have learned to be persistent (my husband would call it hard-headed!). I believe that if anyone else can do it…so can I, and I won’t give up trying!
In the title, I said a few weeks later. I know many people count the days, weeks and even hours since they first mixed up their original starter, but I have been too busy trying recipes (some good, some awful!), and I honestly have more to do with my time than count down the days, weeks and hours! I do, however, remember mixing up my original starter. I mixed 1/2 cup all purpose flour with 1/2 cup tap water that had been drawn up to let the chlorine evaporate. I remembered seeing that chlorine and other chemicals in water can kill the natural bacteria that needs to form in the starter. I didn’t see the part that recommended using bread flour instead of all purpose, however my starter did fine with all purpose. (I now use bread flour to feed my starter after I found out that is what gives better results.) But trust me when I tell you…you can develop a successful starter with all purpose flour. I did!
When you use the 1:1:1 ratio, as you should do in the first week, the starter will be thin. After a week of feeding 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup reserved starter, I began to notice bubbles, but not as much as I would have liked to see. Reminding myself that patience is a virtue and Rome wasn’t built in a day, I pressed on! I decided to increase the amount of flour and water when I fed my starter. It created a thicker starter and I began to see more activity in my starter. I followed the recommended ratio of 1 part starter to 2 parts flour and water…1:2:2 ratio. While the activity did increase, and I was steady baking with the discard, it still didn’t show as much activity as I would have liked. So after another week or maybe two, without seeing much change at all, I began to experiment! ( I told you I am persistent!) I decided to increase the amount of flour to make a thicker starter. That is where I am today! I now have a food scale ( which I highly recommend) and I weigh all my ingredients when I mix my starter. My mix this evening was 50 grams of starter, 100 grams of unbleached bread flour and about 75-80 grams of water. A weird mix, I know, but it produced a nice thick starter which seems to work better for me. So let me encourage you to experiment to find that “happy mixture” that will produce the end results you are looking for. Just don’t get discouraged, and don’t quit without giving it your best effort. After all, you and your loved ones deserve the best, and you can do it!!! I believe in you!!!
Have you tried to make sourdough puff pastry yet? Yes, it requires a lot of work, but it is so worth the effort you put into making it! I was absolutely astonished how light and flaky it turned out. And you can add many different toppings, or create many different desserts with it. Here is a quick photo of the dessert I made with my puff pastry.
You see all those layers? Trust me when I tell you, the only problem I had with mine was making myself stop eating them and the fact that they ran out long before I wanted them too! LOL
I used a strawberry topping on mine, but you are limited by your own taste and imagination! Just imagine serving these to family or friends and seeing the look of surprise on their face when you tell them you made it! They turn out that beautiful!! Honestly… I kept looking at mine and thinking, “wow, I can’t believe I made these!”. Were they worth the effort I put in to make them? You better believe it!! In fact, I love them so much I currently have a puff pastry in the refrigerator to make some today. So find yourself a good sourdough puff pastry recipe and start baking a beautiful dessert. You will be so glad you did!!
Each day I think of what I would like to make for the next day! Do you do that too? I am thankful that I decided to start my sourdough adventure, and I must say…it is quite satisfying!! I love creating delicious things for the people in my life, and knowing that sourdough has so many health benefits makes it even better.
I have read that sourdoughprovides nutrients, including healthy carbs, protein, fiber, iron and vitamins like folic acid. The article I read said it may help improve digestion, lowers chronic disease risk such as rheumatoid arthritis, lowers the risks for certain types of cancer and even promotes healthy aging.While sourdough has been around for thousands of years and is the oldest type of leavened bread on record, it is still being enjoyed in many cultures today. The leaven (what makes the dough rise) is a natural formed yeast in the sourdough starter which is made from a mixture of unbleached flour and water. It is a wild yeast that produces lactic acid which is what gives sourdough its distinct tangy flavor, but the lactic acid also serves another purpose. It kills unwanted bacteria, keeping sourdough starter safer from going bad. It makes me feel good knowing that I can bake things that are healthier for my family.
And the smell of fresh baked sourdough is so wonderful. Even the dough itself smells fresh and good to me! I find working with sourdough to be a very therapeutic thing for me. I love the whole process, from feeding my starter to baking delicious things and filling my house with an aroma you can’t buy in a bottle…I just enjoy it all. And the reward of baking a recipe and being overwhelmed with the taste and appearance is priceless! I am sharing with you a picture of a recipe I baked a couple of days ago. I did not follow the recipe completely, but the results was awesome. Don’t be afraid to tweak a recipe to your liking. While I do create many of my own recipes and have shared some on this blog on the recipe page, I still use other recipes I find online and most of the time I tweak them to my own liking. Just enjoy your baking and don’t be scared to alter things a bit. You may be pleasantly surprised! Happy baking!!
