Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Mary Jane's Farm Sourdough Starter and Me

Yesterday's Full Moon shone brightly through the Dream Kitchen's windows last night, and raised the energy level. This morning, Sunshine replaced the Moonbeams, and though bright, there is a quietness to the day. So I thought we'd start with a simple, slow-food, old-fashioned thing to do.

Right from the start I need to credit Mary Jane's Farm Magazine (www.maryjanesfarm.org) with the recipe for starting "starter" from scratch. The article is entitled "No Knead Artisan Breads." It's in the February-March 2009 issue. I'm not going to rewrite it because it is so well done. It caught my attention in the bookstore so I bought it. This is just about my experience.
I know of Friendship Bread Starters being passed around for generations. One of my BFF's has one that is over 100 years old. For some reason I was put off by the maintenance of keeping starter going, using it in a timely fashion, etc. But Mary Jane made it sound so easy that I gave it a try.

Here's what she said to do: Start with unbleached white organic flour and purified water.

Here's what I did - because I'm adventuresome (according to MJ) - and a little bit stubborn. However, in my defense, I've been using whole wheat flour exclusively for 31 years. As I was saying, I started with whole wheat bread flour and purified water.

To start the "starter," measure 2 cups flour into a crockery bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups purified water. Stir thoroughly. Cover with a dry thin tea towel. Then every day you add a little flour and a little water - 1/3 c. flour and 1/4 c. water - until day six. (MJ recommends starting on Sunday morning, and baking bread on Saturday. It's easy to keep track of . . .)

On Saturday morning my starter looked just great! It was bubbly and smelled slightly sour. I followed MJ's recipe - except using whole wheat, an important point - and measured two cups sourdough starter into a mixing bowl. Then I added the prescribed 3/4 t. salt, 1 t. honey "to sweeten the rise" mj, and 1 1/2 cups flour, BUT, being adventuresome, I used half rye and half whole wheat pastry flour, and then threw in some sunflower seeds. Well, as I stirred it I found it hard to incorporate the flour - so I stuck it in my standing mixing bowl and took the dough hook to it. That mixed it up. It also killed the rise.

Now I know it's not the starters fault. It looked great and did exactly what it was supposed to do all week. But there were two issues. The bread flour I used in the starter is fairly heavy. And the honey - 1 teaspoon - was very old and dry. I think the honey didn't incorporate well, and I beat the dough to death. I formed into a round loaf and I let it sit uncovered to rise for about 8 hours - that's okay according to MJ - but it didn't rise much.

I baked it anyway and it tastes good. It just looks like biscotti.

So I vowed to be less stubborn. This week I'm adding whole wheat pastry flour instead of bread flour.

The directions changed in the second week. Now we keep a damp dish cloth with a plate on top to retain moisture. Already the starter is smiling bigger, bubbling better and showing promise.

The thing that attracted me to this bread is a triskel of factors: 1) It only takes a minute every day to keep the starter going; 2) the long rise time and no need to knead mean I can set it aside, unlike yeast breads that have to be attended, punched, shaped, rise two or three times, etc., so it fits my lifestyle; and 3) I love hearty breads. This one has NO OIL, i.e. no FAT. Incredible.

So, fellow bread lovers, give this a try. Contact me if I can help - and do check out Mary Jane's magazine and website. They're a kick!