Sourdough Side Quest

A few weeks ago I was tasked with baking bread for a large family gathering. I had not fed the sourdough starter for many months, and after its first meal, it gave a decidedly understated one-bubble burp. So I was forced to look up a bread machine recipe that would allow for discard starter while rehabilitating. 

I ended up using THIS recipe and immediately started experimenting. I used one cup of whole wheat and two cups of white flour. The bread turned out well. The second time I used one cup of white, one cup of whole wheat, and one cup of rye flour and also added sunflower and flax seeds when the knead cycle beeped. It turns out I flew too close to the sun. The bread was very dense and moist. Still edible, just not my favorite. The third version I made, I put all of the ingredients except the yeast and salt into the baking pan and stirred it to combine. Then I let the dough rest overnight before adding the last two ingredients and starting the bread maker. The loaf turned out tall and fluffy, but with plenty of structure to handle cold butter. Now, I’ll just see if I can add more whole wheat and some seeds. That loaf is pictured below in the bottom left corner. I also think THIS bread recipe might have some merit as it uses more sourdough starter. 

 

After the starter had refreshed itself, the fourth discard was ready to be used in my mom’s famous recipe. It was the first time I tried making bread with my new KitchenAid, and the size of the bowl was perfect for handling the half recipe. I can use the paddle for the first stirring since it is a very wet dough, and then the dough hook for the second knead. Because I was able to use the machine, the dough was able to “show” me that I needed to add another half cup of flour. I usually bake a very dense and moist loaf using this bread recipe, and this time it turned out much better. After trying the overnight sourdough resting with the bread machine dough, I think I will try the same with this recipe and see if there is a lighter texture as a result. The three loaves were delightful!

Finally, since this is an early spring, I just want to mark the dates the crocus and daffodils first bloomed: March 1 and March 19 respectively. It’s a gorgeous day today, so I’m off into the yard to get some gardening started!