Love Loaves

My Sourdough Adventure continues! I decided it might be nice to have loaf shapes rather than the boules I have been making. For these loaves I used the King Arthur Rustic Sourdough recipe with a few home modifications. Instead of free-form (i.e. rustic) loaves I used loaf pans, and I also changed the recipe from all-white to multi-grain. These loaves include whole wheat flour, oat bran and ground flaxseed meal. I meant to dust the pans with cornmeal too, but forgot. I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of sour salt (aka citric acid, or vitamin C crystals) to boost the "tang" factor. It all worked out beautifully, this time at least! I've made several clunker batches too as I forge ahead on my sourdough adventure. Those loaves don't get blogged about, but they do get eaten, all the same. Homemade bread, even if far from perfect, still tastes good.

Now for some bread art shots...I just think the whole structure of bread is so gorgeous! It's like an art project you can eat!

Macro shot of the crumb form. Click to enlarge.

My peanut butter jar full of starter continues to do just fine, living in my fridge with only sporadic feeding. I can be a bit scatter-brained so I thought for sure I'd kill her dead in no time but so far she seems perfectly content and healthy!

Somebody asked, so thought I would mention that yeah, I'm using NO fancy or specialized bread-baking equipment. No french bannetons, no danish dough whisk, no scoring knife, no kitchenaid dough hook, no proofing container, no dough-raising bucket, no silpat kneading mat, no baking stone etc etc.  All that stuff does sound great but at the moment I am just having fun, enjoying a free-form free-for-all using only common kitchen utensils. I don't even weigh my ingredients the way real bakers do, although I may come to that in future. :-) Who knows?

A Sourdough Baker's Dozen

This is my second attempt at sourdough baking, using starter passed along by a local foodie acquaintance. My first attempt was disappointing, but this loaf: wow! It looks a complete little world. I used Jim Lahey's no-knead recipe for this try, substituting 1/2 cup of starter for the dry yeast.

And it tastes just the way you think it does....!

Big Momma

I just got my hands on some sourdough starter or "mother" from a generous foodie acquaintance. I love to bake bread and am good with yeast, but have absolutely no experience with sourdough wrangling. I love the flavor of sourdough, and was inspired by hearing Michael Pollan interviewed on NPR yesterday...he waxed enthusiastic about the superior health benefits of fermented foods. I look forward to the adventure! 

First Cookies!

Yum!

Paul made his first batch of cookies, ever, yesterday! And they were delicious. Way to go, honey! Now that you've "cracked the code" I look forward to many more delicious cookie appearances!

Le chef!

It's Complicated

...but delicious!
Inspired by my friend Lynne Campbell mentioning it on Facebook last week, I cooked up some Dahi Machi last night. That is a Bengali style fish in velvety yogurt sauce. Or as it shall forever be known in my houshold "The fish-dish. The Indian fish-dish!" (Don't ask.)

Like many Indian recipes it calls for much measuring of spices, blending of spices, rubbing or browning of spices and the dicing of many vegetables. This dish also necessitated a session with the blender at one point. The actual cookery involved was not complicated...just a lot of little steps. The result was fantastic, and well worth it. Youngest son H did mention that he thought there was "a little too much flavor" but I noticed he had second helpings so it could not have been that big a problem for him. His tender young taste buds soon adapted.

It was one of those times in the kitchen when I was really enjoying the adventure of a new recipe, feeling the flow and the joy of the work. Rare of late.

There are many recipes for Dahi Machi out there. I used this one (click here), and a few tweaks and substitutions with which I will not bore you, as I am sure you'll have your own ideas on what to do. I suggest serving the fish-dish with rice, spinach, naan and chutney. And don't worry about too much flavor. Just say "Yes, please!"

CHEF SON
What a watershed event! My recently-turned-12-son H suggested that he cook dinner last night, and then he went ahead and did it. No prompting! The menu was hamburgers, gravy, pasta and spinach. Paul and I were simply floored!

Not only that but H did an excellent job: the meat was tender, the pasta at perfect tooth, and the spinach correctly drained and tossed with a little butter. The whole family went back for seconds and gave him the ultimate compliment: no leftovers!