A client coined this term earlier today and it makes a lot of sense. I likened this experience to a Lord of the Rings-esque journey, because it definitely isn't straightforward. A few battles are to be fought, some twists and turns here...no mention yet of the undead, or talking trees.
This past week alone, I attempted 3 batches of sourdough bread. (Thanks, social distancing.) Recall I initially made a wet, sticky mess, then tried again.
Turns out, the amount of water is way more important than imagined. So is overworking the dough. Guess what happened - I baked up something in the shape and height of a Frisbee. Still edible, though.
Hmmm, biscotti, anyone?
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again..
A few other things I learned along the way en route to the latest attempt so far:
- sourdough starter is a very messy relationship. It's kind of like papier-mâché in the sense that once it dries, it's probably stuck on forever. Oh, and mysteriously enough, a swath will be drying on the underside of your forearm, unbeknownst to you.
- try and wash your hands? It'll stick to the sink in little blobs.
- after feeding the starter and mixing a new batch of dough, I changed t-shirts...and later found a sizeable streak of starter on the clean shirt, despite not having gone near any of the dough, or the jar.
- those hinged lid jars from IKEA are pretty and all, but a pain in the @$$ to clean, and to pour stuff from...especially sourdough culture.
- it's also possible that despite your best efforts, the active starter starts to die. Because you likely drowned it by miscalculating the ratio of water to flour during a feeding.
Have we gotten to the third book of the trilogy yet? Where it's just an all-out battle and the little Hobbit is struggling to throw that 1 thing in the fires of Mordor (in this case, the proofed dough into the oven)?
It's not perfect, but it's a start
Oh yes, and the first slice from that loaf^ pictured...eaten with butter, of course.
Never fear, folks! I'm finding this whole process quite amusing, and not frustrating in any way. It may just be that I'll be chomping on a lot of sourdough toasts in the near future, not that I'm complaining.
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