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.