New to sourdough
Hi. Love this site. I ran across The Fresh Loaf while researching sourdough bread. I have baked bread off and on for a long time, but mostly just for sandwich loaves that I knead in my bread machine and bake in the oven. Lately I had been trying my hand with the Jim Lahey no-knead bread and the almost no-knead recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I find that I prefer working with the lower hydration of the almost no-knead recipe, though I leave out the beer and vinegar and just use water as I didn't think it added that much to the bread.
I took the plunge and started a sourdough starter a couple of weeks ago and have been making some pretty good sourdough bread using the no-knead method. Even tried some sourdough biscuits this morning and I have got to say it's pretty tasty!
I have spent hours looking through the site and forum and what a great resource. I look forward to learning much more.
Nice to have you on board and look forward to seeing your bakes. Have fun. This is a great site.
sandwich bread unless you make it SD of course:-)
Happy baking and Welcome.
It is addicting, challenging and delicious... enjoy the journey!
You could not be more right! My wife won't buy sandwich bread anymore. She says it tastes like cardboard, and has the texture of Styrofoam. I can't disagree! So these days I bake ever Sunday for the week.
She prefers Oroweat 100% Whole Wheat bought at the store for here sandwich bread. I had her read the ingredient list but it made no difference - even though it makes a big difference with everything else she eats! Can't fix that no matter how good the SD home made bread is :-)
Nothing from the grocery store compares to baking it yourself. I shared a couple of loaves with a friend and her husband asked if he could place an order! LOL Guess they are going to be regular recipients of my experiments in sourdough.
Every Sunday I bake the bread that we will need for the week, plus a couple of extra loaves. The extra loaves go to the office to be handed out to deserving coworkers that have come to be known as "the bread winners". Nobody has ever turned it down!
I've been baking on and off for years but after retiring last year, I needed some hobbies. Baking bread has become one of them and mastering sourdough one of my goals. I think I'm doing pretty well. We haven't purchased a loaf of bread in almost a year!
Fortunately, I work from home, so I can jump up whenever I need to in order to tend to my loaf. Last night I made sourdough waffles and got a big thumbs up from my granddaughter! They really were the best waffles ever!
TFL - SD English Muffins by kjknits here
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/3241/sourdough-english-muffins/
The best ever and a great way to lose some discard, They are a perfect knock of off for Wolfermen's EM's adn I have made them with YW and whole grains too.Just killer. The kids will love them and when was the last time you made SD EM's in an Electric Skillet?
Yes! English muffins! I have to try that. Thanks for the link. I haven't run across that recipe yet. I will be trying those tomorrow! Thank you!
Thank you so much for the link. These are soooo yummy!
I love to use my 40 year old electric fry pan for something :-) It is avocado color and works perfect for these beauties. MY mom used to make chicken with one nearly every Saturday - she couldn't cook without it - Now it just makes the best EM's ever!
Your dry fried ones are perfect examples. Well done and Happy dry frying.
Now if you can make a 100% Semolina Loaf like zolablue you will have died and gone to heaven.
Semolina Sandwich LoafHere is another hint. Read her entire blog and make to make her version of Pierre Nury's Rustic Light Rye - Sometimes i just pull up that picture of her version and just drool. She was / is a great baker.
Now there's a challenge. Now I have to find some durum flour. I will definitely read through her blog and try the Pierre Nury's Rustic Light Rye. Thanks so much for the link!
I have a long commute, so often make and take these English Muffins to toast for an office breakfast. They freeze well, and if my office gang has been behaving well, I sometimes make a few batches for a treat. They get all silly and excited about it, but as a group, we're easily impressed! I start with the same recipe and give it a twist, substituting up to 1/3 of the flour with a whole grain flour, and I tend to use up to 1/2 c more milk (whole grains are thirstier)(or sometimes buttermilk) for a bit looser dough, then also add toasted seeds, nuts, dried fruit, depending what I have on hand.
Easy and fun! Enjoy!
Cathy