No jokes! ....ok, the title even has ME giggling a bit, so maybe just a few jokes.
*sigh* Ok, things I've learned this week:
-It's totally OK to dedicate a book you wrote to yourself...if you're at least a little sneaky about it.
As I was cataloging (blech) at work this week I came across a book with the best/worst dedication I have ever seen!This may or may not be exactly what it said:
"To my sons, because of me you never knew abuse at home while you were growing up."
...So basically this guy dedicated this book, which IS about abuse within family homes, to how awesome he is. Don't get me wrong, not abusing your children is awesome...but I'm not sure it deserves this big of a pat on the back.
-Sometimes the people who cataloge the books at libraries put things in random Dewey numbers, maybe for the lols, maybe to see if anyone notices...maybe just 'cause.
I was cataloging a book yesterday (Yes, that is my WHOLE week....again, blech.) and it was about the high cost of medical testing and why lots of those tests are sent far away to private labs who are making big bucks off it.
It came with a suggested Dewey number, as many books do (thank GOD), and when I looked that number up in our library database to see what else was there I found...porn.
Actually. Books about making porn in Canada. Kiddie porn too! Holy crap! Man did I ever lol...until I spent the next 30 minutes trying to find another Dewey number I could put the book under. *glower*
-The last lesson for this week. On Saturday or Sunday I might think that I will have the energy to do something as simple as baking bread during the weeknights. I will not. *sigh* Not even the MAKING it part, just the baking. This involves making sure my dutch oven is clean, putting it in the oven and heating it up a LOT; Taking out the dutch oven, putting dough in it, and putting it back in the oven, then removing the whole thing when it's done.
Seriously. Didn't do it.
I was PLANNING to have a really neat bread-related experiment to blog about this week...instead I napped. And played Creatures (yay! :) ), but mostly napped.
The experiment was going to be me baking small loaves of bread from a stock of dough kept in the fridge to see if the taste/texture of the cooked bread improved the longer the dough sat. Since the dough is still in the fridge I could (and likely will) bake it either tomorrow or Saturday...but that means I'll only have 1 test not the 2-3 I had planned for. *sigh*
Oh well, cataloging makes my brain mushy. That's what I'm blaming it on.
In other, more productive, news I'm almost 1/2 done my shrug! YAY! I've decided I'll try and do 3 rows/day at least, so hopefully it'll work up fairly quickly. I did manage to do a few rows most nights this week, and since I can do 3 rows in about 20 minutes (if I'm slow) it seems managable. I'll post pictures of it at some point, it looks good so far and it's been left unmolested by kitties, although there is quite a bit of kitty fur woven into it by now, lol. Oh well, that's what happens when you have 4 furry monsters :D
-Becky
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Busy-work
Also known as crocheting!
I've been very busy the past few weeks, hence the lack of posts. Working, making bread on my weekends (Which has all turned out very yum, if I do say so myself.), and trying to finish something...anything! lol
Well, all the wrist pain (no jokes!), the sore necks (still no jokes!), and the unhappy eyes have paid off! This weekend I finished two finger-less mittens and a mathing headband. I also started making a shrug and am just less than 1/4 done, so far.
On a bread-related note, Im trying something a bit new! While my bread is delicious, I havent been able to get any actual sourdough flavor. That particular tang that I crave. So I thought about it a bit, and I came up with two things to try.
The first was letting my culture 'age'. Up until this week I had been getting out some of the original starter, feeding it, and letting it griw for a day; effectively giving me a 2 week old starter. (The stuff in the fridge is kept in a sort of stasis, so it doesnt age.) This week, instead of just putting the extra starter into my 'mother', Maggie, I kept it out and fed it each day.
When you feed a starter the first step is to start with a small amount , a few Tblsps, and then add equal amounts of flour and water. Equal amounts will give you a 100% starter, which just means the flour is fully saturated. TBH i just eyeball it, and stir it together until the texture looks right; sort of gummy when stirred, but it relaxes into an even puddle fairly quickly. This, obviously, took practice. Once you like the consistancy you cover it loosely and leave it out in a cat-safe place on the counter for 24 hours. Then you feed it again, starting by reducing the starter to a small amount by adding some to your 'mother' (which I keep as a safety net in case I mess up), or by just throwing it out.
I did this all week, giving the culture time to age, or ripen, and hopefully get a stronger flavor. Pro tip....don't taste your starter. They are G-ross. Also, if you DO taste your starter and its gross (which it will be) dont throw it out. It's fine.
The second part of my 'add more flavor' experiment takes up fridge space. I don't know about you, but in our home fridge space is a hot commodity. So heres hoping the 1/2 hour rearranging things was worth it.
I mixed up the dough as normal (350g warm water, 100g starter - mix. Add 500g flour and combine. Let rest for 20-40mins, depending on how quick you can clean your kitchen...lol, then mix 25g water and 10g salt in a dish before mixing that into the dough.) then, instead of sitting it on the counter and turning it every 1/2 hour, I put it in the fridge, covered with saran wrap.
It will stay there, getting turned if I feel like it, until tomorrow morning when Im planning to bake it. Im hoping the extended rise will help the dough ferment and gain extra flavor. The trick is that, unlike bread dough from 'regular' yeasts, you cant guess what the bread will be like by sampling the raw dough....cause the dough is gross. (sadface, I love bread dough, but not THIS stuff!)
Heres hoping it turns out the way I want!
*note* turns out posting from a phone is a pain in the bum. I blame any and all typos, missed punctuation, ect on my phone.
-Becky
I've been very busy the past few weeks, hence the lack of posts. Working, making bread on my weekends (Which has all turned out very yum, if I do say so myself.), and trying to finish something...anything! lol
Well, all the wrist pain (no jokes!), the sore necks (still no jokes!), and the unhappy eyes have paid off! This weekend I finished two finger-less mittens and a mathing headband. I also started making a shrug and am just less than 1/4 done, so far.
Yay! Fingerless gloves :D
The whole set, gloves and headband.
On a bread-related note, Im trying something a bit new! While my bread is delicious, I havent been able to get any actual sourdough flavor. That particular tang that I crave. So I thought about it a bit, and I came up with two things to try.
The first was letting my culture 'age'. Up until this week I had been getting out some of the original starter, feeding it, and letting it griw for a day; effectively giving me a 2 week old starter. (The stuff in the fridge is kept in a sort of stasis, so it doesnt age.) This week, instead of just putting the extra starter into my 'mother', Maggie, I kept it out and fed it each day.
When you feed a starter the first step is to start with a small amount , a few Tblsps, and then add equal amounts of flour and water. Equal amounts will give you a 100% starter, which just means the flour is fully saturated. TBH i just eyeball it, and stir it together until the texture looks right; sort of gummy when stirred, but it relaxes into an even puddle fairly quickly. This, obviously, took practice. Once you like the consistancy you cover it loosely and leave it out in a cat-safe place on the counter for 24 hours. Then you feed it again, starting by reducing the starter to a small amount by adding some to your 'mother' (which I keep as a safety net in case I mess up), or by just throwing it out.
I did this all week, giving the culture time to age, or ripen, and hopefully get a stronger flavor. Pro tip....don't taste your starter. They are G-ross. Also, if you DO taste your starter and its gross (which it will be) dont throw it out. It's fine.
The second part of my 'add more flavor' experiment takes up fridge space. I don't know about you, but in our home fridge space is a hot commodity. So heres hoping the 1/2 hour rearranging things was worth it.
I mixed up the dough as normal (350g warm water, 100g starter - mix. Add 500g flour and combine. Let rest for 20-40mins, depending on how quick you can clean your kitchen...lol, then mix 25g water and 10g salt in a dish before mixing that into the dough.) then, instead of sitting it on the counter and turning it every 1/2 hour, I put it in the fridge, covered with saran wrap.
It will stay there, getting turned if I feel like it, until tomorrow morning when Im planning to bake it. Im hoping the extended rise will help the dough ferment and gain extra flavor. The trick is that, unlike bread dough from 'regular' yeasts, you cant guess what the bread will be like by sampling the raw dough....cause the dough is gross. (sadface, I love bread dough, but not THIS stuff!)
Heres hoping it turns out the way I want!
And a happy cat in the sun, just for fun :)
*note* turns out posting from a phone is a pain in the bum. I blame any and all typos, missed punctuation, ect on my phone.
-Becky
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Misadventures in Cookery
Well, after last weeks beginning and random crap uploads...on with the good stuff!
I'm sure everyone needs to read about someone else's misadventure - I know I always do - so here's the word of the week: Blah.
I was all excited last week so find an ad for a dehydrator online for CHEAP. $20. I thought "Hey, twenty bucks...I can afford that!" (ok, this was before the major vet bill on saturday, so forgive a little optimism) So, on Saturday I drove myself out to pick it up. Stony Plain is definitely farther than I thought it was.
On the way home I stopped to grab a few things to dehydrate, 'cause I wanted to get this thing running! Turns out it's a good idea to have some idea of what you want to dehydrate BEFORE you go to the store since I came home with:
-Limes
-Lemons
-Grapefruit
-Oranges
-Strawberries
-Beef
-Salmon
Despite the fact that my favorite dehydrated food is apples...which somehow slipped my mind in the maze of an unfamiliar Safeway.
The rest of the day was a stressful, agravating, bloody (*sigh* I LIKE that vet Jitzu, don't make her bleed!), EXPENSIVE mess. So, needless to say by the time I returned home with one angry half-sedated cat (who also bled, to make things even) and one disgruntled but very good orange cat I was more than ready for some de-stress time in the form of cooking.
So, I sliced up my citrus, figuring what could be easier, and fired up the machine. Two hours later I rotated the trays - while battling off the two cats who were not still disgruntled and avoiding me - only to find those on the bottom tray were a bit...browner than they should be. I think.
A quick internet search later and I've realised that the dehydrator I procured has hot spots. Seriously!? Seriously. Oh well, I can just put the trays on 'backwards' and roate them that way every few hours while I'm also rotating them top to bottom. Doesn't seem like it's all that bad, right?
At the same time I decided to make up some fruit leather out of apple sauce and black berries. Turns out it was a good thing I did - more on that later. I also had a brainwave and connected the thing to a wall dimmer I happened to have handy. I dialed down the power a bit and hoped the rest wouldn't get too crisp.
A few more hours and another few rotations of awkward trays and I had finished about 1/2 the citrus I had cut...the rest began inhabiting the compost bin. Sentanced to decompose due to 'brown-ness' (read: I burnt it.)
Oh well, I shut off the machine for the night and decided to give it another go the next day. Prepped the soon-to-be beef/salmon jerky and went to bed.
The next day, armed with my marinated meats, I went to turn the dehydrator on and...nothing. NOTHING. After dissassembling it and poking about a bit I got a second opinion from the BF. Seems the lamp dimmer might have caused the fuse to blow...and since it's a cheap thing we can't locate the fuse to see if it's possible to replace it. Bottom line? Waste of $20.
The fruit leather turned out well though! Too bad we nommed it so darn fast!
I'm sure everyone needs to read about someone else's misadventure - I know I always do - so here's the word of the week: Blah.
I was all excited last week so find an ad for a dehydrator online for CHEAP. $20. I thought "Hey, twenty bucks...I can afford that!" (ok, this was before the major vet bill on saturday, so forgive a little optimism) So, on Saturday I drove myself out to pick it up. Stony Plain is definitely farther than I thought it was.
On the way home I stopped to grab a few things to dehydrate, 'cause I wanted to get this thing running! Turns out it's a good idea to have some idea of what you want to dehydrate BEFORE you go to the store since I came home with:
-Limes
-Lemons
-Grapefruit
-Oranges
-Strawberries
-Beef
-Salmon
Despite the fact that my favorite dehydrated food is apples...which somehow slipped my mind in the maze of an unfamiliar Safeway.
The rest of the day was a stressful, agravating, bloody (*sigh* I LIKE that vet Jitzu, don't make her bleed!), EXPENSIVE mess. So, needless to say by the time I returned home with one angry half-sedated cat (who also bled, to make things even) and one disgruntled but very good orange cat I was more than ready for some de-stress time in the form of cooking.
So, I sliced up my citrus, figuring what could be easier, and fired up the machine. Two hours later I rotated the trays - while battling off the two cats who were not still disgruntled and avoiding me - only to find those on the bottom tray were a bit...browner than they should be. I think.
A quick internet search later and I've realised that the dehydrator I procured has hot spots. Seriously!? Seriously. Oh well, I can just put the trays on 'backwards' and roate them that way every few hours while I'm also rotating them top to bottom. Doesn't seem like it's all that bad, right?
At the same time I decided to make up some fruit leather out of apple sauce and black berries. Turns out it was a good thing I did - more on that later. I also had a brainwave and connected the thing to a wall dimmer I happened to have handy. I dialed down the power a bit and hoped the rest wouldn't get too crisp.
A few more hours and another few rotations of awkward trays and I had finished about 1/2 the citrus I had cut...the rest began inhabiting the compost bin. Sentanced to decompose due to 'brown-ness' (read: I burnt it.)
Oh well, I shut off the machine for the night and decided to give it another go the next day. Prepped the soon-to-be beef/salmon jerky and went to bed.
The next day, armed with my marinated meats, I went to turn the dehydrator on and...nothing. NOTHING. After dissassembling it and poking about a bit I got a second opinion from the BF. Seems the lamp dimmer might have caused the fuse to blow...and since it's a cheap thing we can't locate the fuse to see if it's possible to replace it. Bottom line? Waste of $20.
The fruit leather turned out well though! Too bad we nommed it so darn fast!
Friday, 1 March 2013
Beginnings
Today's 'B' word is, obviously, beginnings.
As in, this blog, this year, this year's TBR list (which I am very seriously looking forward to after editing it), and new hobbies.
I've had a few false starts with blogs over the last few years, mostly because of my procrastinating, but also because I couldn't settle on one topic I felt strongly enough about to write something every week. Yes, there are things that catch me, that hold my attention...but who wants to read about how much I love riding the bus, snuggling with my kitties, or the satisfaction I get out of finishing a good book, or knowing I'm caring for my pets to the best of my ability. Sure, there are things I do that seem to be 'interesting' to people, but I am a novice bread baker at best so a blog about be bumbling through bread making with wild yeasts once a week might be more full of failures and mishaps than anything else.
The truth is there are niche markets for all of my loves, and they are well filled with bloggers. So why stick to one thing? I'm not a 'one trick pony' so why would my blog be?
Please bear with me as I transfer some of my previous entries from other blogs, and edit them a bit, onto this page. With luck this one will stick!
-Becky
As in, this blog, this year, this year's TBR list (which I am very seriously looking forward to after editing it), and new hobbies.
I've had a few false starts with blogs over the last few years, mostly because of my procrastinating, but also because I couldn't settle on one topic I felt strongly enough about to write something every week. Yes, there are things that catch me, that hold my attention...but who wants to read about how much I love riding the bus, snuggling with my kitties, or the satisfaction I get out of finishing a good book, or knowing I'm caring for my pets to the best of my ability. Sure, there are things I do that seem to be 'interesting' to people, but I am a novice bread baker at best so a blog about be bumbling through bread making with wild yeasts once a week might be more full of failures and mishaps than anything else.
The truth is there are niche markets for all of my loves, and they are well filled with bloggers. So why stick to one thing? I'm not a 'one trick pony' so why would my blog be?
Please bear with me as I transfer some of my previous entries from other blogs, and edit them a bit, onto this page. With luck this one will stick!
-Becky
Yet More Bread
-Originally posted by me on February 16th, 2013.
Since I've had quite a few people tell me they liked reading about my bread making adventures I figured I'd post some more.
I've been reading through Tartine Bread (the book I got from my sister for Christmas) and upon further inspection the book goes like this:
-Stories about the bread makers and their shop.
-How to make a starter
-How to make basic bread
-WHY making bread this way works (fairly in depth...like chem/bio 30, lol)
-Stories and pictures
-How to use the first recipe with whole wheat or rye flour
-Variation on the original recipe.
-Awesome pictures and stories.
Sooo, now that I've made the recipe a few times, a few different ways, I've apparently mastered it. Neat :) This doesn't mean that I'm done with the book by any means. it really is beautiful and to stories and pictures inside make it so much more than a recipe book. I'd totally recommend it.
Here are the variations I've made:
-Regular white sourdough loaf (YUM!)
-3/4 whole wheat (Also YUM! Less sourdough flavor though)
-Whole wheat with flax seeds (Love the texture of the flax seeds, so yummy)
Today I made a white sourdough using buttermilk rather than water ('cause I had it and that stuff is nasty to drink...but yummy in things :) ), and a whole wheat honey-raisin-cinnamon loaf. Both are cooling right now, so here's a picture of them looking super temping:
I've also realized that there are other things you can make using the starter...which led to me making amazing English Muffins en mass last weekend. They were really really yummy, and I now have tons in my freezer, Yay!
I think that now I've got the process down so it' much less overwhelming I'll keep making us new bread every week, there are pretty much infinite combinations of things to put into the loaf, and ways to change the flavor. Even though I've got the recipe down it's not like I'll begetting bored with this any time soon. Awesome, hobbies where you get to eat things are the best!
If anyone was the recipe let me know and I'll post it up. I also have a good amount of 'seed' starter, so if anyone wants a bit to try their hand at their own sourdough loaf I can give you some of mine. It makes good bread :)
Since I've had quite a few people tell me they liked reading about my bread making adventures I figured I'd post some more.
I've been reading through Tartine Bread (the book I got from my sister for Christmas) and upon further inspection the book goes like this:
-Stories about the bread makers and their shop.
-How to make a starter
-How to make basic bread
-WHY making bread this way works (fairly in depth...like chem/bio 30, lol)
-Stories and pictures
-How to use the first recipe with whole wheat or rye flour
-Variation on the original recipe.
-Awesome pictures and stories.
Sooo, now that I've made the recipe a few times, a few different ways, I've apparently mastered it. Neat :) This doesn't mean that I'm done with the book by any means. it really is beautiful and to stories and pictures inside make it so much more than a recipe book. I'd totally recommend it.
Here are the variations I've made:
-Regular white sourdough loaf (YUM!)
-3/4 whole wheat (Also YUM! Less sourdough flavor though)
-Whole wheat with flax seeds (Love the texture of the flax seeds, so yummy)
Today I made a white sourdough using buttermilk rather than water ('cause I had it and that stuff is nasty to drink...but yummy in things :) ), and a whole wheat honey-raisin-cinnamon loaf. Both are cooling right now, so here's a picture of them looking super temping:
The loaves I made today; cinnamon raisin on the left and buttermilk sourdough on the right.
I've also realized that there are other things you can make using the starter...which led to me making amazing English Muffins en mass last weekend. They were really really yummy, and I now have tons in my freezer, Yay!
English Muffins!
Doran helped with this one.
I think that now I've got the process down so it' much less overwhelming I'll keep making us new bread every week, there are pretty much infinite combinations of things to put into the loaf, and ways to change the flavor. Even though I've got the recipe down it's not like I'll begetting bored with this any time soon. Awesome, hobbies where you get to eat things are the best!
If anyone was the recipe let me know and I'll post it up. I also have a good amount of 'seed' starter, so if anyone wants a bit to try their hand at their own sourdough loaf I can give you some of mine. It makes good bread :)
Breadmaking adventure continues!
-Originally posted by me on January 11, 2013.
Bread making #2
Tonight was day three, so according to the instructions I threw out 1/2 of each starter. Then added 1/4 cup flour (sticking with the same as before) and 1/8 cup water.
When I was mixing them I noticed a few things. Liza is still very stiff, but is gaining some elasticity...I'm debating adding quite a bit more water so the consistency is the same as the other two, but haven't decided yet. Of the three she smells the most pleasantly, which isn't saying much at the moment.
Both Maggie and Juliet have a strong cheesy, fermenting odor. I think Juliets is worse, but I'm not positive.
Juliet is definitely working away though, lots of bubbles, high elasticity...she's doing good.
Maggie got lots of bubbles today too, a little more brown liquid, but not as much as yesterday. She's gaining elasticity for sure.
I also noticed they had started rising!!! This is a major thing, since the last attempt was at nearly a week and no rise at all. All three starters rose, it seemed like Maggie rose most, and Liza least. I put marked tape on them tonight so I'll have a better idea of how well they're rising from now on.
Exciting things are happening! Pictures were taken and will be posted tomorrow.
Bread making #2
Tonight was day three, so according to the instructions I threw out 1/2 of each starter. Then added 1/4 cup flour (sticking with the same as before) and 1/8 cup water.
When I was mixing them I noticed a few things. Liza is still very stiff, but is gaining some elasticity...I'm debating adding quite a bit more water so the consistency is the same as the other two, but haven't decided yet. Of the three she smells the most pleasantly, which isn't saying much at the moment.
Both Maggie and Juliet have a strong cheesy, fermenting odor. I think Juliets is worse, but I'm not positive.
Juliet is definitely working away though, lots of bubbles, high elasticity...she's doing good.
Maggie got lots of bubbles today too, a little more brown liquid, but not as much as yesterday. She's gaining elasticity for sure.
I also noticed they had started rising!!! This is a major thing, since the last attempt was at nearly a week and no rise at all. All three starters rose, it seemed like Maggie rose most, and Liza least. I put marked tape on them tonight so I'll have a better idea of how well they're rising from now on.
Exciting things are happening! Pictures were taken and will be posted tomorrow.
Breadmaking Adventure
-Originally posted by me on January 10, 2013.
I've recently
decided to give sourdough breads, and starters, a try after receiving a
copy of Tartine Bread for Christmas. (The book, btw, is lovely enough to
fully satisfy my inner bibliophile :) )
I will also be uploading photos fairly regularly (at least at first) to a new photo album. I figure between logging my progress and having photo evidence I'll be able to avoid repeating mistakes...if not making them in the first place.
Onwards! This is attempt #2...#1 ended in me throwing out my 4 day old starter last night after doing a quick web search on 'sourdough starter turning pink' which may have left me slightly concerned for my health if I attempted to make bread from it. :/ But enough of that! Looking positively forward is what's needed!
Attempt #2 is part experiment, part learning experience.
The method I'm following is posted here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10251/starting-starter-sourdough-101-tutorial
Last night I started off three starters: Rye (Liza), Whole Wheat (Maggie), Unbleached All-Purpose (Juliet). The recipe called for 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 cup of water, and to mix it together. I read on another tutorial that starters work better if you use your hands...so i got right in there. I noticed a few things right away as I felt the different textures. Aside from the obvious difference in the three types of flour they reacted very differently to the water even though I measured them all the same way. I only mixed them until the water and flour were fully combined and then I scraped the mix out of the bowl and into a container.
Liza slurped the water right up, and stayed quite stiff and firm for a dough. The color darkened right up, of course, and the initial smell is rich and pleasant, I'm most excited to see how she smells in a few days!
Maggie seemed to be the 'happy medium' between the three of them. The wheat flour also absorbed the water fairly quickly, but didn't become as stiff, spreading out a fair amount within the first few minutes after being placed into the container.
Juliet was a whole different story. It took a little bit more stirring for the AP flour to absorb all the water, but the texture at that point became fairly elastic right away. I was a bit surprised, especially since both Maggie and Liza were barely stretching at all. As soon as I put Juliet into the container she spread right out, covering the whole bottom of the container.
The last step was labeling each container, covering semi-tightly with plastic wrap, and setting them in a corner of my counter. Pictures will be put up at some point today of the lovely ladies. :)
I checked on the girls this morning, and saw a little bit of change. While Liza seemed a bit darker to me she otherwise looked the same. Stiff, with some peaks; like a very thick muffin batter that's been over mixed. Maggie had spread out much more, to the point of being flat rather than wavy on the surface. Juliet had a few bubbles on her surface, which seems too fast to be true...we'll see what happens there.
*Note* In case you're wondering "What is she talking about...why do they have names?!" It's a tradition, apparently, to name your starter. The older a starter gets the more it matures and has a better flavor when made into bread. There are many people out there with 15+ year old starters...and you have to feed them fairly regularly. Makes sense to name them.
I did use just plain tap water to create my three starters, if they flop again then I'll switch to using bottled spring water in the hopes of avoiding any disruption by chlorine and chloramine...or a may cheap out and use my water dechlorinator that I have for the toad water. We'll see how it goes with regular tap water first.
I will also be uploading photos fairly regularly (at least at first) to a new photo album. I figure between logging my progress and having photo evidence I'll be able to avoid repeating mistakes...if not making them in the first place.
Onwards! This is attempt #2...#1 ended in me throwing out my 4 day old starter last night after doing a quick web search on 'sourdough starter turning pink' which may have left me slightly concerned for my health if I attempted to make bread from it. :/ But enough of that! Looking positively forward is what's needed!
Attempt #2 is part experiment, part learning experience.
The method I'm following is posted here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10251/starting-starter-sourdough-101-tutorial
Last night I started off three starters: Rye (Liza), Whole Wheat (Maggie), Unbleached All-Purpose (Juliet). The recipe called for 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 cup of water, and to mix it together. I read on another tutorial that starters work better if you use your hands...so i got right in there. I noticed a few things right away as I felt the different textures. Aside from the obvious difference in the three types of flour they reacted very differently to the water even though I measured them all the same way. I only mixed them until the water and flour were fully combined and then I scraped the mix out of the bowl and into a container.
Liza slurped the water right up, and stayed quite stiff and firm for a dough. The color darkened right up, of course, and the initial smell is rich and pleasant, I'm most excited to see how she smells in a few days!
Maggie seemed to be the 'happy medium' between the three of them. The wheat flour also absorbed the water fairly quickly, but didn't become as stiff, spreading out a fair amount within the first few minutes after being placed into the container.
Juliet was a whole different story. It took a little bit more stirring for the AP flour to absorb all the water, but the texture at that point became fairly elastic right away. I was a bit surprised, especially since both Maggie and Liza were barely stretching at all. As soon as I put Juliet into the container she spread right out, covering the whole bottom of the container.
The last step was labeling each container, covering semi-tightly with plastic wrap, and setting them in a corner of my counter. Pictures will be put up at some point today of the lovely ladies. :)
I checked on the girls this morning, and saw a little bit of change. While Liza seemed a bit darker to me she otherwise looked the same. Stiff, with some peaks; like a very thick muffin batter that's been over mixed. Maggie had spread out much more, to the point of being flat rather than wavy on the surface. Juliet had a few bubbles on her surface, which seems too fast to be true...we'll see what happens there.
*Note* In case you're wondering "What is she talking about...why do they have names?!" It's a tradition, apparently, to name your starter. The older a starter gets the more it matures and has a better flavor when made into bread. There are many people out there with 15+ year old starters...and you have to feed them fairly regularly. Makes sense to name them.
I did use just plain tap water to create my three starters, if they flop again then I'll switch to using bottled spring water in the hopes of avoiding any disruption by chlorine and chloramine...or a may cheap out and use my water dechlorinator that I have for the toad water. We'll see how it goes with regular tap water first.
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