The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Don't give up

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Don't give up

I worked from home Wednesday and used it as an opportunity to refresh my starter and bake a couple of loaves.

The dough I made was a "little of this and that" dough.  I threw some leftover mashed potatoes in, the last couple of ounces of a bag of rye flour I had, a bit of whole wheat flour from another bag I needed to use up, and a couple of cups of AP flours.  I made the dough very wet, 70+ percent hydration.

I folded a few times throughout the morning and tried to shape a couple of freeform loaves in the early afternoon.  It was amazingly sticky.  No amount of water on my hands or flour on my board (or vice-versa) was working for me. 

After 10 minutes of sticking and swearing and being about ready to dump it into the compost, I dumped the gobs into a couple of loaf pans.  Two hours later, I came downstairs to the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised by how much it had risen in a loaf pan despite the way I had abused it.  So I baked them.

sourdough loaf

Not my most beautiful loaf, but pretty darned good.  I don't think anyone else but me could tell this was not what I'd intended to make.  And the sourdough flavor was tremendous: the extra abuse and longer rises let it develop more.

Comments

ques2008's picture
ques2008

agree with you 100%, floydm.  Many times I felt like chucking the thing into the bin but my persistence has not only paid off but also generated some pleasant surprises!

good looking dough.  i hope to graduate into making starters soon - an undertaking that's a bit too intimidating for a baking newbie like yours truly.

xaipete's picture
xaipete

Nice open crumb structure. I bet it tastes great! --Pamela

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Your hybrid bread looks great, Floyd.  Tough love worked!

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

It almost has that English muffiny doughy look. Just perfect by 1 1/2 cycle toasting time (i.e. push down once till it pops up and then push down again for a minute or so).

I'm curious, do your kids shun store bought breads? I was just thinking about kids in general. Some are so adventurous, which I believe yours are. Others, only want tried and true, what they always have had.

I really believe that if you are adventurous in your eating, your kids will be too. That's not to say that they will want to eat everything. I was at a birthday dinner party with friend's grand kids. 2-3 years olds were diggin into asparagus with goat cheese, roast pork and salad and lovin it

Betty

Floydm's picture
Floydm

No, my kids like both store-bought bread and home-made bread.

They are pretty adventurous.  At the very least, they are both willing to try most anything, which is all I can ask.