BREAD: Project Sourdough~Basic Recipe

Some people have plants in their offices. In my studio, today, I have a living ball of sourdough on a slow rise to keep me company.

BASIC SOURDOUGH BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

2 c active sourdough starter* (wild yeasts, all purpose flour, water)

1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

2 c bread flour.

That's it! Following usual bread making methods: stir, knead, rise, punch down, rest, form, rise, bake, EAT.

This little ball-o-dough will be 6-8 oval sourdough sandwich rolls before the day is done.

No matter how much I have to do during the day, the slow rising of dough is a calming ostinato played in mellow tones on a double bass. The smell of the yeast and flour says "home" and "sustenance" to my soul. The whole process is a sort of working meditation.

The picture above was not staged, except to pull back the damp towel from the top of the bowl. This is what the work surface just inside my studio door often looks like. That is, when it's not covered with piles of papers.

CHALLENGE: In the picture, see if you can find [clockwise from L]: a computer speaker, a Kleenex box (my students don't use handkerchiefs like I do), a paintbrush, a pottery bowl, a sumi-e board, a box of 96 crayons, a pink pearl eraser, an unfolded paper clip, a few remaining Hard Rock Cafe promo stickers, a 4x normal size larynx model, hand sanitizer, a pile of 3x5 cards, a 3-hole punch, a file cabinet, 3 packets of tiny star & smilie stickers, a zip-lock bag full of misc stuff & pile of papers to be sorted.

In the hour since I took the picture, the dough has nearly risen to the top of the bowl. Soon, I'll form the rolls and leave them to rise while I lessons. Baked in time for dinner.

*My sourdough starter has been in our family for 60-70 years, when it was passed along to my father's brother by an very old man, one of the original homesteaders in Idaho. Follow the link to directions for making your own.

BREAD: Project Sourdough Day 4~Garlic Oregano Breadsticks

The house smells like an Italian bakery today.

But I'm beginning to feel a little like Seymour Krelborn in "Little Shop of Horrors."

Every day I give the sourdough starter a little water to drink and a little flour to eat ...

... and it grows.  

Because I decided four days ago not to throw away the surplus every time I feed the starter, our kitchen is now being overrun by baked goods.

First eight large sandwich rolls.  Then two loaves of cinnamon bread.  Now a dozen 14-inch garlic oregano breadsticks.

Or is that Bread Schticks!

Tomorrow I'm forming the extra into a ball and putting it in a bowl in the refrigerator for 24 hours to rise very, very slowly.  I need a break!

I'm beginning to remember why I got stir crazy the last time I worked to wake the sleeping the sourdough starter.

Here's what I added to the basic sponge today:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

2 large cloves fresh garlic, peeled and pressed

The  starter seems to be taking over the leavening process.  Tomorrow's loaves will be made without any added powdered yeast.

I have no energy for a detailed explanation of the process this time.

Just: mix it, knead it, put it in a greased bowl, let it rise, punch it down, let it rest, cut it into 12ths, roll these into logs then twist and stretch, place them on two baking sheets  sprinkled with cornmeal, let them rise, bake at 400F for about 15 minutes switching top and bottom sheets midway through, cool on a rack.  Eat!

This turned out really well.  As have the other improvised bread recipes.

Tomorrow I'll post about the book, "Ratio," that's provided the knowledge and therefore the courage to become an experimental baker.

BREAD: Project Sourdough Day 3~Cinnamon Loaves

I inhale deeply.  The house smells of cinnamon and bread.

Sourdough Cinnamon Loaves were today's use for the surplus flour/water/yeast mixture produced as I continue to reactivate my long-dormant Idaho sourdough starter.

This time I used the ingredients from a recipe for basic sweetbread dough, though in slightly different proportions.  I cut all of the additions by about half from the original recipe.  I don't like a cinnamon bread that's too sweet or too buttery because I can't eat as much of it at one sitting.

All this week I've got a schedule that looks like Swiss cheese.  I can't work on anything that requires focus for many hours at a stretch.  I can't get covered with dirt in my garden or clay in the pottery studio because I'd soon have to get cleaned up for some obligation where I have to be presentable.

Baking bread as a creative activity works well around such a schedule.  Hands on time comes in small increments of 15-20 minutes and rising time can be controlled somewhat by placing the dough in a comparatively warmer or cooler environment.

I know a busy mom from an Italian family who mixes up a ball of dough first thing in the morning each day, places it in the refrigerator to rise very slowly all day, takes it out when she gets home and makes it into pizzas, or plain Italian loaves, or bread sticks, or herbed rolls.  Quicker than a trip to the grocery store.

So here was the process for today.

After reserving a cup of starter for the next cycle, I added the following to the remainder with a whisk:

1 cup Milk

2 1/4 tsp Rapid Rise yeast

4 Tbs Melted Butter

1/2 c sugar

1 Egg

To this batter, I gradually mixed in approximately 5 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour.  I didn't realize that I'd have to add so much more flour than I had yesterday (only 3 1/2 cups) to compensate for the extra liquid from eggs and milk.

The first two cups of flour were mixed in by hand with a whisk, one cup at a time until no lumps remained, working air into the batter.  The next cup and a half was mixed in first with a wooden spoon, then kneading by hand in the bowl.  Transfered to a floured wooden board for kneading about 10 minutes, where addition flour was worked in.  The dough was very soft and sticky.

The ball of dough was placed in a large greased bowl, turning to coat, then allowed to rise until doubled.

I had a lot going on today, so I purposely left the dough to rise in a cool place to slow it down.  It went into the bowl at about 8:00  this morning and wasn't ready to punch down and form into loaves until about 2:00 this afternoon.  Even then it hadn't quite doubled.  In a warm (80-105F) place this would have taken probably 2 hours or less, instead of 6, though the low percentage of yeast to flour probably slowed things farther.

[If I'd really wanted to delay the rise, I could have put the bowl in the refrigerator, as I did when I had to go out on Sunday with the sandwich rolls formed and sitting on a baking sheet.  They went into the fridge covered with a damp dishcloth until I got home, then they were taken out to finish rising.]

At that point, I divided the dough into four equal portions, pressed each out by hand into 8x12 inch rectangles.  Laid two of these next to each other on the kneading board and sprinkled them generously with cinnamon-sugar mixture, then placed the other two on top of the first two, sprinkled again.   The two separate stacks were rolled up into 8 inch oval loaves and placed in 5x9 inch greased loaf pans.  Tops were sliced with a knife about 1/2 inch deep and more cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on top.  

I warmed the oven slightly then turned it off and placed the pans inside for a quicker rise before baking.  After doubling (about 2 hours later while I taught lessons), I baked the cinnamon bread for about 25 minutes at 400F, covering the tops loosely with foil part way through to prevent over browning.

Turned out onto a wire rack to cool.  Probably should have greased the pans more thoroughly.  The sugar in the loaves caused the to stick in places.

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INSIGHTS about the sourdough starter:

• Tap water contains chlorine.
  
• Chlorine kills micro-organisms (including bacteria, fungi, single celled organisms, etc).
  
• Yeast is a kind of micro-organism (a fungi).
  
• Sourdough starter is a symbiotic relationship between yeast and bacteria
  
• Using tap water in my sourdough starter may kill off some of the yeast and bacteria, making it harder to activate.

SOLUTION: use filtered water or water that's been left out uncovered for several hours to allow the chlorine to evaporate.

BREAD: Project Sourdough Day 2~Sandwich Rolls

I began the process of reactivating my long-slumbering sourdough starter yesterday.

The instructions I have say to whisk 2 cups of water and 3 cups of flour into 1 cup of starter in a large bowl, then cover.  This is then left for at least 12 hours at room temperature or slightly warmer.

When the starter is fully active it will double in size, becoming bubbly, aromatic, and viscous.

If activity is minimal, one cup of the mixture is saved to undergo the same steps until in begins to double.  Sometimes this can take several days.  The instructions say to discard the extra flour/water mixture each time.

Discard?!  Perfectly good flour and water lightly tasting of sourdough?  That's just silly.

I decided to do some freestyle baking.  I called on my two years of bread baking experience to combine techniques, quantities, and various recipes so we could make good use of this surplus.

After reserving 1 cup of the restarting starter, to the remainder I added the following:

2 1/2 tsp Instant (aka Rapid Rise) Yeast Powder*

1 tsp Salt

2 Tbs Olive Oil

1 Tbs Sugar

Approx. 3 1/2 cups All Purpose Unbleached Flour

The additional yeast was necessary because the sourdough yeast was still in the process of re-colonizing the starter and wouldn't be able to provide enough leavening to make the dough rise.

*"Instant" Yeast is OK to add directly to liquid mixtures vs. "Active Dry" which has a coating that needs to be dissolved before combining and is slower acting.

The soft dough was kneaded for 8-10 minutes on a floured board, working in the last half cup of flour.  This was formed then into a ball, placed and turned over in a greased bowl to coat, covered with a damp towel and kept in a warm place to rise until doubled (about 2 hours).

After the dough had doubled, it was punched down the dough, turned onto the floured board and cut it into 8 equal pieces.  These were formed into balls and placed on a greased baking sheet.

I brushed the top of each roll with an egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 Tbs of water) and sprinkled variously with: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion flakes and crumbled rosemary.  These were then allowed to rise again until doubled.

Baked until lightly browned at 375F for about 18 minutes, then cooled them on a wire rack.

All this was improvisation.  And they turned out just the way I'd hoped.  We shared a roll with rosemary and onion flakes right out of the oven.  The rest will be for sandwiches this week.

We'll be enjoying a lot of fresh baked bread this week as I continue to feed and reactivate the starter, and find new ways to use up the surplus.

ECO ACTION: WK3 Farm Share & Project Sourdough

Aren't they pretty?  Four kinds of lettuce, endive, colorful chard, and eggplant starts.  I opted for the eggplant plants in place of rhubarb this week when given the choice.

Six glorious eggs, voluminous Asian greens (tat soi, bak choi? ... now I'm all confused about which is which) mustard greens, and kale.

Used this past weeks supply in much the same way as the week before: stir fry; steamed greens; salads; eggs in tapioca pudding, baking and hard boiled.  Had some Asian greens left over at the end of the week that I'll process for freezing by blanching, if that's possible.   I think they'd be good in soups this fall and winter.

I'm looking forward to finding some new recipes for the Asian greens.  Found one recipe for a fresh salad with a homemade dressing, raspberries, pears (out of season right now so I'll probably substitute something else) and toasted walnuts that sounded really good.

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YARD SALING

My yard sale mojo wasn't as good this week, but that's OK.

I came home with a brand new set of 3 stainless steel springform cake pans in graduated sizes for only $3, still in their original packaging.  I think I have two of each size now so I can do layer cakes.  All hypothetical at this point.  I have yet to bake a cake from scratch.  That's one of my goals for this year, to begin to learn scratch cake baking.

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PROJECT SOURDOUGH

I restarted "Project Sourdough" this evening.  I took the jar of starter out of the fridge, poured it into a large glass bowl, fed it the designated flour and water mixture, covered the bowl with an inverted dinner plate (no plastic wrap), then placed the bowl in the oven (off) with the light on to keep it warm.

This sourdough starter was given to my uncle (my father's brother) and his wife by an old homesteader they lived with in Idaho back in the 1940s.  When my parents and brothers visited them back in the 1950s they brought some of the starter back to California with them so they could make the same wonderful sourdough pancakes they'd enjoyed there.

It's been propagated and passed along ever since.  I got this batch from my oldest brother, Paul.  Flew across the country from California to Connecticut in my suitcase, wrapped in multiple layers of Ziploc bags and bubble wrap, carefully labeled for the benefit of wary TSA inspectors.

It's been in hibernation in the refrigerator for a while.  Tonight's feeding will begin the process of reawakening the yeast.  With any luck they'll be some tasty bread baking ahead.

The idea is to take one more item off the grid by producing my own yeast for baking just like our great-grandparent probably did.  No impact from manufacturing, distribution and preserving like jar or cake yeast. For only the cost of water and flour.  Continually renewable and always available.

I'll probably still use regular yeast for some bread baking, but this will provide another low-impact option.

RECIPE: Chicken Garam Masala Salad

I'm posting this recipe in response to a request from an old friend/extended family member.  Here it is, Mary Beth:

STIR TOGETHER:

(All quantities are approximate.  This was made up on-the-spot yesterday with the food on hand.)

• 2 cups cooked chicken breast meat*, chopped
• 1 cup crisp red apple with skin, 1/2 inch dice
• 1/4 cup pinenuts
• 1/4-1/2 tsp garam masala seasoning** (or curry powder)
• 1/4 cup Miracle Whip or mayo (I would have used plain yogurt if I'd had any)
• juice of one small keylime
  

Very tasty between pieces of fresh baked bread with sprouts instead of lettuce, but feel free to improvise.  I sure did!

This recipe is "Husband Approved" by one who prefers plain and simple, not exotic foods.  I was careful to prepare expectations by saying just before the first bite, "Think Disney World African Buffet," (aka Boma) which he had enjoyed on our recent vacation.  No sprouts on his sandwich, though.  And the "it was good" response was quickly  followed by a qualifier that the fresh-baked bread was the best part.  Still, not a scrap remained on the plate.

*Chicken leftovers cooked earlier in the week, marinated before cooking in:  balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic powder, lemon juice and zest, ground black pepper and who-knows-what else.

**Mine came from a bulk bin at our neighborhood health food store.

RECIPE: No-Knead Honey Oatmeal Batter Bread

Just out of the oven.  Another original recipe from Kay's Kreative Kitchen. 

This bread requires no kneading and can be made without getting out the mixer.  Makes a sweet, moist, chewy flavorful loaf.  For a crunchier crust, mist the oven with water just before putting bread in to bake.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 pkgs Active Dry Yeast (equals 4 1/2 tsp)
• 5 cups All-Purpose Flour, divided (I use unbleached all-purpose flour)
• 1 cup Apple Juice*
• 1 1/2 cups Water*
• 1 cup Quick Cooking Oats, Uncooked
• 1/2 cup Honey**
• 1 Tbs Butter (plus additional to grease pans)
• 2 Tbs Sesame Seeds (optional)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together salt, yeast and 2 cups flour.
2. In 2-quart saucepan with spoon mix water, apple juice, oats, butter and honey over low heat.  Heat until very warm (120-130F)
3. Gradually add liquid mixture into dry ingredients and whisk together until blended.  Whisk an additional 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl.  (This can be done by hand or using an electric mixer)  Beat in an additional 1/2 cup of flour to make a thick batter; continue beating 2 minutes.  Stir in about 2 1/2 cups additional flour, enough to make a stiff, sticky dough that leaves the side of the bowl.
4. Cover bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place (85-95F) about 1 hour, until doubled.
5. Stir down dough; divide in two and turn out into 2 greased 5x9 inch rectangular bread pans.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).  Let rise in a warm place about 45 minutes, until doubled.
6. Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.  Remove from pans immediately to cool on a wire rack.

* May use 2 1/2 cups of water in place of water and apple juice for a bread that's slightly less sweet.

** May use either honey, maple syrup or molasses to sweeten.

(c)2009 Kay Pere ~ Effusive Muse Publishing

BREAD: Bake and Learn

I've just taken my first loaf of sourdough bread out of the oven. Of course, had to try a piece while it was still hot.

The texture, taste and crust were good, but I'd made the mistake of sticking with the second rising time specified in the recipe. When I looked inside the proofing box at the appointed time I found a spongy pizza shaped disc. It had over leavened, bubbles burst so that it collapsed in on itself. Baked it anyway.

Will try again. Next time I want to try a technique I found for allowing it to develop more of the sourdough taste. And I'll check it sooner, trust my instincts.

Live and learn. Bake and learn.

©2007 Kay Pere ~ Effusive Muse Publishing

BREAD: It's ALIVE!

Thought I'd report on my "creative" project of the weekend. Adventures in baking bread.

I got sourdough starter going for the first time, for making Italian sourdough bread!

Frothy colonies of happy Italian yeast and their symbiotic bacteria friends have been growing in quart canning jars on my kitchen counter-top, inside a homemade proofing box. Began with a powder I ordered from Sourdoughs International. This sourdough comes originally from a 300 year-old bakery on Ischia Island in the bay of Naples, a little piece of living history.

I initiated the process of activation on Friday. Woke up this morning at about 5:00 AM, thinking I could smell sourdough. When I looked in the kitchen, I had a Steve McQueen moment (lead actor in "The Blob" 1958). One of the jars of starter had grown so much that it overflowed (originally only half full) and poured out onto the heating pad keeping it at a steady 85-90F. That's exactly what's supposed to happen, sort of, after about 3-5 days of feeding, so I considered it a celebratory mess.

It's been a wonderfully earthy science experiment with potentially edible results.

Now there's a ball of dough sitting in a bowl in the proofing box, slowly rising for the next 5 hours. There'll be yummy bread by dinner time! The jars of starter are resting in the fridge where they'll go into a temporarily dormant state.

Here's what I've learned on this latest adventure: Sourdough starter supplies the yeast for making bread in place of store-bought commercial yeast. Starters are infinitely renewable, given feedings of flour and water. The combination of a special bacteria and yeast live together in a slightly acid environment, which keeps harmful organisms from growing. Different strains of yeast and bacteria have developed in different regions of the world, each with it's own unique flavor.

This is a piece of our human heritage that goes back to the beginnings of bread-making. I like the sense of connection it provides with the past. I like the self-sufficiency of being able to make bread without having to buy yeast.

Pretty cool in a hippy geeky sorta way.

I'll let your know how the bread turns out.

:-), Kay

©2007 Kay Pere ~ Effusive Muse Publishing