New whole grain sourdough bread-baking enthusiast
Hello! I used to bake sourdough from starter when I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico back in the late '70s -- which is where I met the person who taught me how. After leaving New Mexico I soon forgot just how to make it and never ran into anyone who knew and just forgot about it (and in fact quit eating bread for the most part).
Now I am very excited to have found out how to successfully make sourdough rye (30% rye, 70% whole wheat most of the time) where it comes out better than it did all those years ago. I'm HOOKED...!
I love doing things the old-fashioned way (within reason: not really interested in getting a wood stove for instance!). Last week I attempted a 100% rye pumpernickel loaf old-German style -- the kind that was often referred to as "black bread" and was the bread for the peasants -- where the bread must be baked a minimum of 16 hours (and up to 24 hours). It was a bit of a letdown that it came out terrible (as in rock hard), but that was because I didn't realize how quickly my oven could lose 2-3 gallons of hot water I had in there for steam. I was baking the loaves uncovered as well. Next time -- probably not until the weather is cooler -- I will bake it inside a cast iron dutch oven that will hold in the moisture! Ironically, the bread the aristocracy looked down upon back in the day is now very hard to find except at places catering to the very well-to-do who have come to love the moist, 1/4-inch slices of black bread as a base for hors d'oeuvres, topping it with specialty cheeses and caviar and whatnot.
I live in Austin, Texas and am beginning to make my own flour -- using my 20-year-old Ktec HP Champ blender (earlier version of what now is called Blendtec). VERY exciting to know that I can keep the whole grains in storage for much longer than flour as well.
And frankly, this has me going a bit fermented over all: Kombucha-Jun combo (using organic jasmine green tea and brown, coconut & cane sugars and honey) is 'brewing' as I type, and soon I plan to make homemade ginger ale and/or ginger (non-alcoholic) beer. Maybe that would be good in a bread recipe at some point, eh?! Some people get dementia as they age. I suspect I am getting fermentia!