Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sourdough, Part Deux

All righty--the first loaf of sourdough I made was flat, kind of burned, but had the correct "sourdough" taste. (Nope, don't have a pic of it--you'll have to take my word)

I had used the recipe from Electric Bread. Does anyone remember this? It was published in the mid 90's along with the bread machine craze. As I am still a strong proponent of bread machines--I still use this as my go-to cookbook for bread. It's really a fantastic book and has very rarely steered me wrong.

It steered me wrong with the sourdough. Of course--it's not the book's fault, entirely. The book wanted me to cook it in the bread machine, and I wanted to cook in the oven. I won. Bread was burned.

So, this time I pulled out my trusty Joy of Cooking. This book has enlightened me multiple times. If I decide to pull an "Into the Wild" and kill and eat my own food-Joy would be the book I bring with me. (she has whole sections on cooking game and pretty much any plant!)

And she, again, steered me in the right direction. At first, the whole "have dough rise overnight in warm place" worried me--because I opened my oven at 6 am to be greeted with this:


But it turned out fine. I reshaped it, gave a quick egg wash, and into the oven with you! I decided, personally, to keep the heat at 400 but pull the bread around 22 minutes--that worked well.

Here's my success!!


Oh no--crazy sourdough mutation!


That's okay, I love you anyway.

Verdict? Good flavor, crusty exterior, not burned. Things I'll try next time--I'd like to increase the sweetener (I used plain sugar) and the salt, I'd like to let it rise for a while after reshaping, and I'd like to remember to buy butter!!

10 comments:

buffalodick said...

Bread is tricky- at least for me! Joy of Cooking? I think it was one of the poorest formatted cook books I ever bought!

tavolini said...

Baking in general is tricky. Much more scientific than the free for all that is cooking!

It hurts my heart that you don't like Joy--I guess I haven't really paid much attention to formatting. I'm just astounded by the wealth of information. It tells you how to cook EVERYTHING.

Christo Gonzales said...

no butter?! you heathens.....

The Blonde Duck said...

It looks better than that banana nut bread I burnt. In fact, your bread looks mighty tasty. At least we're learning together, right? :)

And I love ya'lls new header!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Now I have another craving for some homemade bread...

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Holy crap are you talented! Pass me a slice!

buffalodick said...

Joy is set up so any recipe that has a mixed ingredient or sauce always refers you to anther page for the recipe- I hated that!

tavolini said...

Doggy--true! I'm seriously one of the most fastidious grocery shoppers--ask Tavo. (I made a surprise batch of cookies and used up ALL our butter in one fell swoop!)

Blonde--I can have a good, long conversation about burnt bread--let's get a glass of wine and chat!!

CCV--I haven't quite hit my perfect bread. You want some sourdough? I can send a vegan loaf (it's 100% vegan before the egg wash)

Mama--thanks hon! Lemme know--I can send you a loaf :)

Buff--maybe its the librarian in me, but COME ON!! Flip the page! Seriously, she had so many recipes, it would be difficult to categorize in any sort of conventional method.

I obviously passionate about my cookbooks ;) Please don't be offended!

Sara said...

hee hee, love the cover of electric bread, so 90's! that's some good lookin bread you made!

tavolini said...

Sara--I always start singing Debbie Gibson's "Electric Youth" when I pull it out ;) Gets me in that early 90's mindset!