Baking
I don't enjoy baking or cooking, but I do enjoy eating good food. Since I don't have a live in chef (yet), it falls on me to make the good food, whether I feel like it or not.
Anyway, I was thinking about sourdough a few months ago. I'm a fan of live culture foods--yogurt, kimchee, kombucha, saurkraut, but I'd never tried my hand at sourdough. Someone gave me some starter over 20 years ago, I neglected it, and within 10 days I'd tossed it in the trash. This time I was more committed.
I ordered some starter from King Arthur Flour because I've found having the right flour does make a difference, and theirs is good stuff. Plus, I liked the idea of growing starter from a batch that's over 200 years old (1790). When my starter arrived I waited for a period when I knew I'd be home and able to feed and nurture it, started it going, and soon enough, we had starter.
The first bread attempts were surprisingly tasty. However, the thing about starter is, you have to discard some when you bake. I hated to throw away what I'd nurtured and began to look for other sourdough recipes. Last week I made sourdough scones that came out yummy, and yesterday I made a sourdough apple honey cake for Rosh Hashanna. It too was a hit, the cake was easier to make than what I usually fixed for the holidays, and that equaled a win in my recipe book.
So the culture's taken over my life. As long as I can keep it going, I'll keep making bread and other goodies with it, and I hope those little live critters in the culture will give me some added nutritional benefits. At the very least, I'm getting some yummy challah each week.
Anyway, I was thinking about sourdough a few months ago. I'm a fan of live culture foods--yogurt, kimchee, kombucha, saurkraut, but I'd never tried my hand at sourdough. Someone gave me some starter over 20 years ago, I neglected it, and within 10 days I'd tossed it in the trash. This time I was more committed.
I ordered some starter from King Arthur Flour because I've found having the right flour does make a difference, and theirs is good stuff. Plus, I liked the idea of growing starter from a batch that's over 200 years old (1790). When my starter arrived I waited for a period when I knew I'd be home and able to feed and nurture it, started it going, and soon enough, we had starter.
The first bread attempts were surprisingly tasty. However, the thing about starter is, you have to discard some when you bake. I hated to throw away what I'd nurtured and began to look for other sourdough recipes. Last week I made sourdough scones that came out yummy, and yesterday I made a sourdough apple honey cake for Rosh Hashanna. It too was a hit, the cake was easier to make than what I usually fixed for the holidays, and that equaled a win in my recipe book.
So the culture's taken over my life. As long as I can keep it going, I'll keep making bread and other goodies with it, and I hope those little live critters in the culture will give me some added nutritional benefits. At the very least, I'm getting some yummy challah each week.