Like You're Going to Take MY Bread Baking Advice!

Okay, okay. I understand. Following my post from a few days ago, why in the world would you want to take MY advice on baking bread. I get that. Thankfully for you, however, I have made my mistakes and am here to show you how to avoid some common mess-ups! I completely 100% followed step by step instructions from Laura, another favorite blogger, at Heavenly Homemakers. So, if you feel more comfortable following her directions, feel free to click on over there, honey!

(If you are totally uninterested in bread making, skip this post! Bread making is an aquired appreciation. It comes with age. Not necessarily chronological age, but mental age. Age that paying your own bills, providing your own meals, and possibly marrying only develops. Unless you are the amazing Emily Goff. She likes to bake bread. She is like an amazing grandmother because she appreciates all things amazing. Like collecting butterflies, reading Wendell Berry, and baking bread.)

Sourdough! Most people only know sourdough as an option for their sandwich bread at Schlotzky's Deli. However, sourdough is a type of bread that, traditionally, is leavened naturally. What does that mean, Caroline? Well, it means that instead of running to the store, buying active dry yeast, and kneading it into bread, sourdough takes yeast out of the air over a period of time and uses it to make the bread rise. Fascinating process, it is. I wouldn't be surprised if Jesus ate sourdough bread!

On to the making of the bread Jesus probably ate:

Day one:

-Collect 1 large jar (or bowl). Make sure it's glass. 

-2 cups of whole wheat flour (or rye works well)

-2 cups of cold water

-A stirring spoon (preferably wooden)

-Cheese cloth (or loosely woven fabric)

-a mighty Rubberband

Pour your flour into the clean glass jar. Stir in your cold water. (It will look runny.) Cover your jar with cheesecloth and secure with the mighty rubberband. Keep the starter out on your counter or in another warm (not hot) place. This is how it will catch the natural yeast in the air! 

Fascinating and simple!

Day two:

Retrieve another clean jar or bowl. Uncover your sourdough. It may have a layer of dark liquid (whey). If so, scoop it out or else your dough will be SUPER sour in the end. Pour your entire starter into the new clean jar. This will give it a "fresh start". Once it is in the new jar, add one cup of whole wheat flour and one cup of cold water. Stir. Cover. Let sit. 

Day three:

Do the SAME THING you did on day two! (Skim off whey. Transfer. Add flour. Add water. Stir. Cover. Sit.)

And just so you are aware, sourdough is best baked in glass or stone. If you need to get some glass loaf pans, Pyrex has them for cheap! Pampered Chef has stone loaf pans for not as cheap but they will last you forever. 

Day four, five, six, and seven: 

Guess what. Do the same as you did day 2 and 3. (In case you forgot: Skim off whey. Transfer. Add flour. Add water. Stir. Cover. Sit.) You will actually do this for a total of 7 days. You will bake the bread on the 8th day!

                                 

See how full it gets?

*Tip- I had to eventually transfer my dough to clean glass bowls because the starter got so large! 

                                 

                                 

My "pet" is not potty trained! lame joke...

*Tip- if you want your sourdough bread not so sour, add less and less water each day. For example, I started decreasing my water by an ounce on the fifth day. (The final result was perfectly sour!)

By the way, is it starting to smell? GREAT! That means it's working! This would be a great science experiment for homeschoolers!

The day we have all been waiting for. Behold, day eight:

(Exciting!) Scoop out 2-3 cups of sourdough starter. Place in a glass bowl with a lid for keeping in the fridge for future use. It's like your new pet. 

Pour the remaining starter (which should be about 2-3 cups depending on how much water you were adding the last few days) into another large, clean glass bowl.

                                     

Add two teaspoons of real sea salt. 

                                     

Pour in 1 1/2 cups of cold water to dissolve the salt. 

                                       

Stir. 

Stir in flour two cups at a time. I used about six cups of flour. (This will, once again, be determined for how sour your starter was because of how much water you were adding.)    

                                       

Sprinkle some flour on your counter and begin to knead your dough. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour. Everyone has their own techniques in kneading. Depending on the day, I either go crazy on my dough or pretend like it's sand in a zen garden. It is quite therapeutic. Knead your sourdough for 8-10 minutes. You can consider this your upper body workout.  

                                      

You really knead with two hands. I was just getting gooey flour on my camera with my other hand. 

Place your dough back in the bowl. Cover with your cheesecloth. Now the real magic is taking place!

                                      

                                        

Now, this is important. Let your dough double in size. This can take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. Do not, however, let it triple or quadruple. Your yeast only has so much "umph!" in it. If it over rises, it will not rise again in the oven. 

Once it has doubled (and only doubled) in size, knead the dough for an additional 5 minutes. 

                                    

See two hands kneading. Pretty blue rock, two. 

Divide your dough into slices (I did four) and shape into nice balls. 

Knife. 

Nice ball. Weird hand.

Place dough in a lightly floured pan and, your guessed it, allow it to rise again. Once more, you only want it to double in size. This time it should take about 2 or 3 hours. 

While waiting on the second rise, I diligently clean my engagement ring. I've never taken it off...not even while baking. Jewelers look down on me. Dustin still loves me. 

I also noticed my new sprouting thing. This could either be basal that has returned from the dead or a baby lemon tree from a seed I put in there just to see what would happen. Any educated guesses? 

Once it has doubled, it's time to bake! Set your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit and bake for 1 hour. (Thump your bread. If it sounds hollow, it is ready to be eaten!)

Spread nice, raw butter over your delicious homemade sourdough bread and slip into heaven here on earth!

As far as your sourdough starter you have stored in the fridge for future use (you know, your pet) there are a few things you need to do. Like most pets, it needs "food and water". Once a week, you will want to take out your starter, add one cup of flour and one cup of water, and stir. Let it sit on your counter over night and then return it to its home in the fridge. Your starter will live happily there forever as long as you keep feeding and watering it. 

You can make all kinds of things with your starter. Anything you can imagine that is made out of dough can be made out of sourdough. Pancakes, pizza crust, pretzels and cinnamon rolls are even more nutritious and delicious when made with sourdough. Did I mention, sourdough is the most nutritious bread you can eat! :) Look here for additional recipes and information on sourdough bread! 

Hope you enjoyed. Happy bread baking, 

Caro, Bread Baker Extraordinaire!