sourdough! installment 1

dave and i both LOVE sourdough bread. the kids probably don’t think they do, but the do, and even if they don’t, who cares! so since i’ve been recently talking about and dabbling in making my own bread, sourdough has been something on the list of wanting to try. i’ve never done it before, and i think i was always a little intimidated by the ‘extra’ part of the process.

but after doing a little reading, i decided that it didn’t sound THAT complicated and this morning i bit the bullet. my very first sourdough starter is currently fermenting on the kitchen counter. see all those bubbles? that’s a good thing. it means it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing. SO, in about 5 days, it should quit bubbling, and smell ‘sour’, at which point i can use some of it to make some bread… and hopefully follow up with a successful installment 2 post!

it all sounds kind of gross, since we generally think of avoiding things that have fermented or gone sour, especially when thinking of food… but really, this is all just a part of how FOOD gets from that which grows out of the ground to that which is on your plate or in your glass. beer anyone?

at any rate, i’m really looking forward to it and can’t wait to keep ‘feeding’ my starter and try out other sourdough recipes.

Comments

did these people go to school? ever?

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another sign

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i learned something about myself today. well, i realized something about myself. i hate it when things get all wet. hard surfaces mostly. i realized this just now, when i went into the bathroom where layla had spent about 5 minutes 'washing her hands' earlier. the counter was completely covered with water, and to wipe it up, i had to pick up all the things that were on the counter and dry them off too. grrr. i remember as a kid, sharing a bathroom with my mom, that i despised having to use the sink after she'd been in washing her face. i don't know what it is she does while washing her face, but she splashes water EVERYWHERE! all over the sink, faucet, counter, mirror... i hated having to turn on the faucet when the knobs were already all wet. i'm not crazy about getting into a shower that someone has recently gotten out of. it would be my preference to always have the first shower (and not just so i won't run out of hot wate...

but i wanted beans!

i have discovered something amazing. until recently, layla would never eat green beans. well, she used to, and then a little more than a year or so ago, she started pulling them apart and eating the seeds out of them, leaving the rest. yeah, i know she's weird. then she quit eating them all together. she would just leave them on her plate. well, a couple fridays ago, we were having our pizza and beans and something prompted shane to pull these 'trainer' chopsticks out of the drawer. i've had them for a couple of years - i think i found them at a thrift store and thought they were cute and the kids could use them when we had chinese food. but we'd all kind of forgotten about them since we rarely eat chinese food (which makes me sad). so everyone got really excited about these and layla used them to eat every last one of her beans that night. dave and i exchanged some raised eyebrows as lightbulbs were illuminating above our heads. last night i made chicken sandwiches...

rachel's continued ramblings

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