After consulting my friend Chris, who sent me this lovely recipe and article from the NY Times, I decided to try my hand at making sourdough. She did not send me a sourdough recipe, but she encouraged me when I told her my greatest fear: Something toxic might grow in the starter. "You know too much," she chided. And I put my thoughts of menacing mycelium out of my mind and made a sourdough starter. It's in a jar labeled Patak, an Indian ready-made sauce company, but since Pa Tak is also a Klingon swear-word, I have kept the name, and that's what I call my starter. If you ever want a sample of my starter, just ask for PaTak.
Yes, well, last night, when I decided to use the starter and make bread, I was thrilled that I could smell what I thought was a truly sourdoughesque smell. It turned out to be Paul's socks. Ugh. The starter itself did not have a very strong sour smell at all, but, after rising overnight, the bread does have that distinctive odor. I can't wait to sample it.
Oh, the recipe that Chris sent is for a slow-rise no-knead artisan bread. I'll try it soon. There was a neat link in the article to another recipe: Pomegranate Horseradish Margarita. Sounds like just the thing...
You did it? Really? This whole sourdough, use the real natural things just floating in the air, days gone by, slow food-- (she choked as the words jammed in her head)
ReplyDeleteOkay. If you did it and made it work, I'm going to try again.
See? I'm glad I'm not the only one frightened and daunted by the task.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I haven't tasted it yet Steph...
Ah, the famous Bittman no-knead bread recipe! I posted that recipe to homeschooling board when it first came out and everyone there made it except for me, because I had a fear of yeast breads. C.Z. finally made it this summer, and it's delicious, so give it a try. Great for olive oil dipping. And meanwhile, I finally made my first yeast breadthis week--a pizza dough. I'm a little behind the baking curve, and this post makes me glad to see I'm not the only one, too.
ReplyDeleteC.Z. made her first bread from starter this week. It was that "chain bread" that's popping up among my local friends right now, but it tastes more like banana bread than sourdough.
Anyway, your bread looks pretty, and I'd like to try a sourdough sometime, too. Now I know how to ask for some!
How did I miss the margarita link? That just sounds like the perfect accompaniment!
ReplyDeleteLaura, olive oil dipping is just the thing for this bread, too. Annika tried it when we were in Tuscany a few years ago, and that was it--olive oil for all!
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