Buddy grew this beautiful 1.4 lb. Pineapple tomato, and I grew, picked, dried, ground, and bottled Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, Marjoram, and Oregano to make my own Italian Seasoning. Yesterday, I made sourdough, adding in Asiago cheese, my Italian Seasoning, and local sea salt from Hatteras Saltworks, and baked it today. When we got back from the beach this afternoon, I grilled slices of the sourdough to make crostini, sliced up that beautiful tomato, made a balsamic reduction, tore up some of our homegrown basil, and tossed it all in a bowl with some Burrata. The smells, sights, and flavors of spring beat everything.
@jessicaboyd this sounds and looks amazing!
@SassyGirl We have another sourdough chef!
@Greg I’ve only been making sourdough for a little over a year now, but I really enjoy it!
@SassyGirl Thank you! It was awesome!
@jessicaboyd I make two whole wheat bread loaves every 2-3 weeks for our daily bread, or as needed. Slice one and freeze the other. To keep it simple, the first rise is done in the fridge for 2 days - no kneading, no stretches, no nuthin. It develops gluten and flavor all by itself. I just took one out of the freezer. Wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap, it freezes and thaws out just fine.
@Greg It looks gorgeous! I do love whole wheat breads!
@jessicaboyd and @Greg I think it's time for me to begin a starter to prepare for the week of the 4th of July
I was worried about my mother but she is great. After listening to the two of you I decided its time for me to work on my starter. Started it lasted night and it's already doubled in size. Looking forward to baking this weekend. If either of you have a simple tasty recipe to recommend then please share!
@SassyGirl do you have a scale? If your starter is 50:50 flour and water by weight, it is very easy to use any yeast bread recipe that gives ingredients in grams. Take 25% of the total flour weight called for, multiply by 2 and use that to weigh out your starter. Then add the other 75% of dry flour. For example, if a recipe calls for 400 grams of flour, use 200 grams of starter (half of the starter weight is flour - 100 grams). Then use 300 grams of flour and there's the 400 grams total flour weight called for. Remember to subtract the starter's water weight when measuring the water too. Sour dough rise times... that's a whole 'nother thing. I've made these rolls plenty of times, they're easy and it has a schedule to follow. The schedule with times is very helpful when starting out with sourdough. https://littlespoonfarm.com/soft-sourdough-dinner-rolls-recipe/
@Greg thanks for the tips and recipe!
Question for y'all. What do you use to stir your starter and is there a reason why?
@Baileygirl Just a clean, long stainless soup spoon. I also swap in a clean jar once a week when it's active. Both of those will keep mold from invading the starter.