An Intuitive Bread Baking Lesson....

Ok….I’m back!! LOL

It’s been a long summer and I have done quite a bit of cooking, baking and creating in the kitchen….and I’ve learned quite a bit – being busy means needing to find shortcuts but also something else, that is perhaps far more important.

I don’t really ‘like’ to follow recipes! But let me clarify that a bit better here….I love looking at the ingredients list and deciding if I can make something or other. I enjoy the final product and of course the process in between.

But, being a ‘spiritual’ foodie and interested in this inner connection we should have with our foods – certainly the ones we grow and create ourselves – I am far more interested in putting things together until they ‘feel’ right.

Perhaps the best way to explain this is with my breads….I have long been known to be able to whip up a quick batch of bread and have it come out tasting absolutely fabulous. To be honest….it often amazes me! LOL

Because I really don’t ‘think’ about any recipe…..I just put things together (in this case, flour, water, baking soda or sourdough) and see what happens. It really is quite an intuitive process – but this also means each and every dish may turn our differently.

So….for today’s lesson! LOL An Intuitive Bread Baking Class

Get a bowl – deep and preferably stoneware, a wooden spoon and some water. Take your sourdough starter culture out of the fridge and let it sit for an hour at room temperature.

Next get some flours out of the cupboards and see what you have – I like to mix them a bit especially for sourdough because it is nice if it rises and is soft on the inside – ie. It’s not a brick!

Today I used strong white bread flour, malted grain flour (whole grains) and of course rye for feeding my sourdough starter. I like the malted flour because it contains several dark flours and is made with fermented grains – so the goodness is already present before we even begin.

Into the bowl I pour flour – until the bowl is about ½ to ¾ full. Often about an equal portion of each of the strong white flour and the malted but sometimes a little more white to make a softer bread. Don't measure anything - just fill the bowl to a little more then 1/2 full.

Next, I spoon out my sourdough starter, enough to make at least ½ cup and upwards to 1 full cup if I am trying to keep these sourdough starters freshened. Then I always replenish my starters with 2 -3 tablespoons of rye flour and ½ the amount of water before anything else.

Once the starters are dealt with I can move onto mixing the bread. Which is simple – I pour in enough water to make a doughy substance that is not wet and not dry. Each time this might take a little more or less water. And yes, I use cold water (or whey if I am making cheese that day). 

Then I let nature take it’s course and the  sourdough sponge is placed somewhere warm to rise for the next 18 to 24 hours or so. Again, the length of rising time all depends on the heat in the house, the time I have, the type of bread I want, how active the culture is that day and so on.  

Then I knead it down, add more flour and work with the dough until it is soft and silky. Usually about 10 to 15 minutes or so. Then, back into the bowl for another rise (usually 4 to 6 hours) until it is ready to be kneaded again and shaped for the bread tins.

I bake my breads at 250C for 15 minutes, then turn down the oven to 200C for 20 minutes or so. This seems to work out best (sourdough doesn't rise for me in a fan oven). But each oven is different - so you have to play around with this. 

Is this a recipe? Perhaps or perhaps not…..to be honest when I look at the complicated list of details for making sourdough bread that are on the internet and in the recipe books – my eyes glaze over.

It’s just not that complicated. And neither is life!

April

Sourdough dough after 2 rises....ready to be shaped into loaves

Living Bread - More Thoughts on Sourdough

Still on the bread theme here – but learning lots as I go and having some fun in the process. Every day I have been working on making my own sourdough – and by that I mean getting to know my starter, how it reacts with different flours as well as what it can do.

So far, I am consistently baking a great tasting loaf with the best crust I have ever tasted for a bread. The taste is crunchy, sweet and sort of like it has been fried in butter…I must admit, I never thought a sourdough bread would taste this good!

Inside, the bread itself is not overly sour – I don’t let it rise for hours and hours. Usually my bread is reaching it’s peak at about 4 – 6 hours or so. I have been reading how some people let the bread rise (the first time) for about 18 hours or so.

I will probably try that to see what difference it might make with the taste, texture and result of the bread. Right now I am really enjoying this process of learning, experimenting and seeing where it all takes me.

Either way – it is still not rising in the oven as much as I would like it to. So I have been changing flours around to see if that makes a difference. Usually I do all of my baking with organic whole grain spelt (and have for years)…using different flours such as organic wheat certainly adds a new dimension to baking for me.

And we are enjoying all of this homemade bread – well, our bread has always been homemade, but now we have different tastes, flavours and textures for each meal. One thing about my sourdough, and perhaps everyone else’s – the taste changes each time you bake with it….

The bread has become a dynamic, living part of our meals. Amazing! 

April

Sourdough Olive bread made with organic whole grain spelt flour

Bread - the stuff of life!

I am still working away at making the perfect sourdough and I think (ok, I want to believe!) I am getting there. I probably have a long way to go yet, but I will bring you up to speed on what I am doing so far.

My sourdough starter culture is great – it’s a only a few weeks old, but it smells wonderful, grows (doubles, then triples) whenever I feed it and ask it to do something. It is made from organic rye flour and clean well water.

I have followed several books with directions on how to make a great sourdough bread…only to have everything go well until I put it in the oven to bake. Then it bakes up really nicely (we love the crust) but doesn’t rise the way I would like it to.

The bread dough rises all along each stage…then when I place it in the oven it falls flat. I have been reading what other people are saying about this, and have tried their suggestions, but so far – nothing has worked for me.

So – now I must resort to using my own intuition!!! LOL

My gut tells me that first of all it was too cold, so I can upped to heat and placed some hot water in a pan underneath the rising loaves. Then, that my starter culture was still young and for the most part, this is the process a person goes through to get to know their own bread. It is also the flour I am using - organic whole grain for the most part. 

The bread I have made is quite edible and we all enjoy the taste – it’s just not rising like I want it to.

Therefore – my conclusions at this point – are that it’s all good. My starter culture is walking me through the bread making process teaching me how to understand it, watch it and be a lot more in touch with what is taking place inside as well as outside as it grows along with my new skills.

I am learning how to ‘read’ the culture – when it tells me to bake, to rest and perhaps even which flour to use. Life for me just arrived at a new level and has become a whole lot more interesting!

Bread – the stuff of life…..

April

Sourdough Starter and a Healthy Gut

This week I have been busy watching my sourdough starter culture grow – it is fascinating to say the very least and such a lesson on life. I am interested in trying my hand at sourdough for a few reasons but there's no time like right now to get going with it.…

Actually I just love to cook, bake and eat – so that’s reason number one right there. I also love bread – good bread and I must say I get the most wonderful comments on my Irish Soda Bread from all over. And I wanted to expand out my bread experiences.

Then there is the adventure aspect of learning something new and doing something from the absolute beginning – then seeing it turn into a final product. One that only you and your own hands produced.

I love that part of it far more then anything else. I like that the starter culture which grows is mine and most likely unique to me, my family and the place where I live.

It has our own unique bugs in there – and that reflects the health of our guts. Which after many years of detox, healing, fasting, cleanses and being very careful with our diets are finally about as whole as they are going to be.

Right now I am eating a wider range of foods (all homemade) then I have ever eaten, organic, fresh, real and wholesome. And my energy is good, my digestion is good – I can actually sense more ‘life’ in my gut.

It feels different. Especially after this last cleanse – 30 days on water and herbal tea. Of course I would be different, it was life changing and I would recommend it to anyone. (supervised by a nutritionist might be better!)

So, back to my sourdough starter….on day 1, I placed some rye flour and some water (clean well water) in a jar, stirred it for 30 seconds and put the lid on. Then left it in the warmest spot in the kitchen for 24 hours.

Day 2 – I took out about ½ of the mixture and added another 2 -3 tablespoons rye flour and 2 tablespoons water, stirred for 30 seconds and then left it to stand for 24 hours in the warm place.

On day 3, I did the exact same thing. Then on day 4 it had bubbled up (you can see the air bubbles), it smelled sweeter – I threw out a little more then ½ of the mixture and then replaced it with more rye flour and water.

No, I was not fussing about exact measurements. I just added what looked like enough (the flour feeds the culture) flour and water and then stirred. I always use a  clean spoon for everything – the flour, then the water and stirring.

By day 5 I had a growing sourdough culture that was easily doubling in size (or nearly triple) in the 24 hours. It smelled slightly fruity and nice….on day 6 I used it for the first time….

And as of right now I have a sour dough bread rising (it’s a slow process) in the warm spot. I will keep you posted on how this goes…and my recipe tomorrow!

April

Sourdough Rye Starter