Sourdough Starter

I've finally succeeded in starting my very own sourdough starter from scratch. It is all "wild" caught yeasts, no commercial yeast booster. I used this recipe, because my previous attempts were plagued by the fast growing, gassy bacteria.

I had a few little problems on this attempt.

On day three my jar started to grow some mold. I just scraped it off and transferred the remaining starter (the mold was only on the jar at the top of the starter) to a clean jar. Every time I fed it after that I moved it to a clean jar and I didn't have any more problems with mold.

Since we've been having such warm weather (the house was consistently above 75 during this experiment) my starter thrived on being fed every 12 hours rather than every 24. There were a couple of times when it looked like the yeasts were dying, but I added a bit of rye flour and started feeding it more frequently and it took off again.

I was waiting for my starter to raise nicely, but after reading this page, I decided it sounded ready after all and decided to go ahead and try baking a loaf of bread. I used this recipe and produced the loaf pictured above! Incidentally, I proofed the starter for the bread, then kept some out for the mother and fed it again while I was making the bread, and the mother did raise beautifully in the jar.

Honey Cracked Wheat Bread

I tried Beth's Honey wheatBerry Bread recipe from the blog A Year in Bread, but I made several changes and I wanted to share my version. I can't compare it to the Orowheat version that Beth was imitating, but it made a tasty loaf even though I forgot the salt. The crumb is soft and the bread is perfect for sandwiches. I might even get Michael to try this as a sandwich bread to pack for work. He's opposed to homemade breads for packed lunches because he says they dry out to quickly.

The picture is Hannah's interpretation of the bread as a mermaid's head.

2 1/2 cups water, divided
3/4 cup cracked wheat
3/4 cup milk
4 cups whole wheat flour, divided (I used King Arthur)
3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour, divided (Gold Medal)
5 tsps gluten
1 Tbs instant yeast
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
1 Tbs salt

Boil 2 cups of water and pour over cracked wheat to soak for 30 minutes to an hour.

Combine cracked wheat and liquid with milk, yeast, and 1 cup whole wheat flour. Mix, cover, and let rest until bubbly, 20-30 minutes.

Add Butter, honey, remaining 3 cups whole wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups white flour, 5 teaspoons gluten, and 1/2 cup water. Add more water or flour as needed. Dough will be rough. Mix for two minutes.

Add salt (don't forget!), then spread 1 cup white flour on clean surface and knead. Beth says 4-5 minutes, but I kneaded for about 15 minutes. I don't usually knead by hand, though, so I think my kneading was slower than most.

Roll the dough in flour, put in bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled; about an hour.

Shape into two loaves. Place in greased loaf pans (or bake free form on a stone like me) and let rise until doubled; about an hour again.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 45 minutes.

Nora is a whole year old!

My parents are pitying Nora because she didn't get to eat any birthday cake. Michael will probably also be horrified when he hears. But Nora is only eating bananas, rice, millet, pears, kale, avocado, sweet potato, peas, and squash. And the cake has three of the top eight allergens (milk, wheat, and eggs). Not to mention all the sugar! Nora favors fruit already. If I fed her sugar she would go on an everything else strike for sure.

Hannah and I enjoyed the cake. Anyone want to help us finish it off?

Vegan Cupcakes, Food Allergies, and Bread

I've been trying to figure out where Nora's mucousy stools are coming from ever since she had a little blood in one a little over a week ago. I've been consistently dairy & soy free ever since Thanksgiving, so it's something else. My top suspects were onions, tomatoes, and citrus or citric acid. Mom suggested eggs, which I dismissed for who knows what reason, but now I'm thinking it may be eggs after all.

This afternoon I was starving & decided I wanted cupcakes. But cupcakes with no eggs? Oh yes, vegans to the rescue with this recipe! I subbed almond milk for the soy milk. And I didn't use any coconut extract, just a little extra vanilla.


But silly me. I forgot that my favorite cupcake recipe is egg free. And it's made with yummy stuff like whole wheat flour and ground flaxseeds and maple syrup. So I needlessly overdosed on the fluffy white cupcakes.

I'm almost out of yeast, but I don't want to buy more because I have 2 pounds on the way from my food coop. It won't be here for another week, though, and all the bread in the freezer has eggs. It's the challah recipe from Whole Foods for the Whole Family. I made pitas the other day with some old bread machine yeast and they turned out great, but I don't think the yeast has the rising power to make a real loaf of bread. Maybe I'll just make more pitas.