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!
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