carb love

Here is my shameful emission:  I have not been making much bread.  And several starters died.  I still LOVE bread and the process, but I had been growing out of my pants.  I don't really believe in dieting, but when I am suddenly unable to dress in anything but sweatpants, something has to change.  So I took a little bread break.  Mostly I just laid off the pancakes.  

But I'm back!  And the pictured loaf is one I made with beer and milk in the dough.  I have been touching (I can't seem to stop looking at the pictures long enough to actually read it) the book Tartine Bread and dreaming of bread with big, open crumb.   This bread is NOT there.  Though not incredibly dense, the crumb was tight.  I would almost be disappointed with the loaf if it was not heart-breakingly delicious!  I was eating slices of it 2 days old, untoasted, and could barely stop.  

I still want to read the cookbook and try the recipes and see if I really can replicate what I see in the pictures, but I am also excited about making bread in whatever why I am curious about.  Listen to the dough.  Smell it.  Taste it.  Watch it.  Try something wild.  Eat the results.  

starter death

When I was making my last sponge, I was so absorbed in its creation that I forgot to feed my starter.  By the next afternoon, it was moldy on the top and smelled unpleasant.  I was tempted to just scoop the green off, but that was too gross even for someone who would consider eating questionable foods.  I tossed out all my starter and was saddened.  Good thing I also maintain a starter at my boyfriend's house.

duty sponge

I love making bread, but sometimes when I'm busy, I don't feel as inspired.  When I feed my starter everyday, I tell myself that I should make bread soon before my crock overflows.  Great.  I've given myself a chore.

I start the sponge out of duty to my future self:  I will want that bread.  As for feel uninspired, the simplest breads are often the best.  AND lazy plus, the sponge can sit and ferment for awhile.  NO RUSH!

Today my sponge contains:  flour, sugar, starter, water and steel cut oats.

lazy loaf

I started this sponge and then got busy.  For a couple of days it sat, in which time I fed it like I do the starter.  Finally it reached a point where I either had to make bread or toss it.  I kneaded the mass, cut it into quarters, rolled each quarter in oil and nestled them all in my 7.25 quart cast iron oven.  I let them rise only once and then baked them.  Not too bad.  The sections break off where the oily sides met.  Very little fuss.  For busy and lazy bread bakers.

Bread with beer

Some for the sponge, some for me.

blackberries!

sourdough pancakes with blackberries

My other favorite thing to do with sourdough starter

PANCAKES!

one of my favorite breads to make and eat

This is a finished loaf of cheddar cheese and beer bread. I have been using a chocolate stout so that I can call the beer "chocolate and cheese." The loaf pictured is cheddar and oatmeal stout. And I used brown sugar in the sponge.

I baked this loaf in my Le Creuset heart shaped dutch oven. It is ridiculously cute and a bit absurd: why would anyone need a cast iron casserole shaped like a heart? Oh, because it's cute.

I might go eat some of this bread right now.

vegetable garbage bread

Delicious!!

this is not throw-up

I put a bunch of food in this bread: quinoa, zucchini, tomato juice, beer, scallions, garlic. The tomato juice made the sponge look pretty gross (like a bowl of barf).

I was a little nervous because this was the most active sponge I've ever had. It was extremely bubbly. I could hear bubbles popping when I walked into the kitchen.

The photo is the engorged sponge awaiting its first kneading. Will the bread turn out??? We will see.

Sweet onion!

My mom sent me a box of Walla Walla sweet onions. Determined to use them all before they went bad, I have been making a lot of onion bread. I caramelize 1 or 2 onions and add them to the sponge*. I used the last onion for this bread batch. I added beer and pasta water as well. This dough is about to get punched!

See those little brown flavor crystals? Those are onion. This is going to be tasty.

*Sponge. It seems that can mean so many things in bread making. When I say "sponge," I am referring to a process to really get the yeast going. I mix flour, liquid, starter, sugar, and maybe goodies together and let it get all bubbly. This is the time to control the sourness. The longer it sponges, the more sour the dough.

List of reasons why I love sourdough

1. It's like a pet. You HAVE to feed it or it will DIE.

2. It's sour. Like yogurt, but bread!

3. I am harvesting yeast from the air!

4. It is sort of disgusting. It is this crock of food that you leave out at room temperature. The older it gets, the yummier it tastes.

5. It has endless possibilities for additives and flavor.

6. I love to eat bread. Whether fresh from the oven or cubed in croutons, I love it. And now I'm a factory.

Bread is Life

I know it's sort of cliché to be a thirty-something with a food blog, but I love bread! Specifically, I love sourdough. After glancing through this book a few years back after it was left on the coffee table, I became obsessed with sourdough. I kept a homemade starter in my room for about a year, made bread a few times, and fed my housemates pancakes. Then my starter died in its crock.

Then it's now. I became reobsessed, started another starter, and was itching to make bread but didn't have the book with the sourdough recipes. I couldn't find a recipe I liked online. So you know what I did? I just made one up! And it's very tasty!