Making Bread
Posted on January 26, 2010 - Filed Under Food, Simple Life | 13 Comments
Lately I’ve been really going off on tangents, so this post is to bring it all back down to life right here in this house. 
Over the past month or so, I’ve been trying to do a few more basics around here . . . simple living, if you will. I’m not at all ready to go 100% like some people do, but there are a few things that are happening around here to make life a little simpler.
I like making bread. I’m an impatient person and it takes patience to let that bread rise and punch it down and let it rise again, which I think is very good for me!
Plain breadmaking gets dull though, so I like to spice things up with new types. Like this oatmeal bread that came out thick and heavy and with just the right chewiness . . . it was delicious!
But recently I ran out of yeast and I was not in the mood to go hunting for more dry yeast (though it turns out the Bodegona now stocks it!), so I decided to try sourdough.
Talk about patience!!! I mixed my flour and water and set it on the counter and dutifully fed the stuff every day. And I waited for bubbles. And waited. And waited. And decided that maybe I’d mucked it up and had to throw it out, but what the heck, I’d go another couple days just to see. And presto! My sourdough starter got bubbles! Then came the making of the bread, which is not an exact science, since all starters are different. But if you understand the basics, it’s not that difficult.
My big concern was that the sourdough wouldn’t rise. The recipe called for 18 hours of rising time. HA! My fizzled out patience was gone, so I let it rise for 6 then I made it into loaves, heated the oven slightly and let it sit while I checked it every ten minutes. After an hour, I fired up the oven and to my surprise, despite all that rushing, the bread burst up out of the pans and formed perfect fluffy loaves!!
Awesome! I made bread with just yeast from the air! I took some to a picnic with friends and it was devoured with great gusto. Today, another batch is rising in the kitchen, smelling slightly sour and very delicious.
We still buy bread from the bakery because Irving is addicted to his “pan frances” but it’s nice to be able to have fresh, interesting bread on hand.
On a side note, if anyone in the Antigua area wants starter, I overfed mine and have TONS and would be happy to share!
Updated: If you want to make your own sourdough bread, the recipe is HERE.
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13 Responses to “Making Bread”
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You could always make friends with your local baker and ask him to sell you some fresh yeast. You have to use 3 times as much fresh yeast as dry one. Congratulations on your bread! If it tastes half as good as it looks, I´d be looking into setting up shop!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, (I know Expat Mom has a lot of readers), let me tell you all, this sourdough bread that she makes is deeelicious. I was one of the picnic-goers that devoured it and then took some home. Miss Genesis is an excellent baker and I’m hoping to drop by one day and steal some of her sourdough starter.
I keep meaning to stop by and drop some off for you, Ann! I’ve been pretty busy, but we need to meet up, the boys are begging to see their friends.
I’ve found fresh yeast, but I don’t bake enough to use up a whole block of it! The one time I bought it, I made two loaves that turned out fine, then it was dead.
I suppose if I had a bigger freezer I could just freeze the bread like my mom does . . or just give it away, lol.
Just looking at that oatmeal bread makes me hungry! Good for you.
you’d better make some when I come down!~ remember, I want to have a BBQ with you and the kids. Hubby will most likely bring his mother, brother, his wife and 2 kids and maybe hubby’s 18 yr old son plus me, Deja and Jose of course. I will be there June 17 to July 6, and tentative date for Antigua is June 25 and 26th-need to book a couple of rooms for the weekend and look forward to meeting you finally and also Mark. (bought the tickets today so I am excited!)
It´s a date, Michele! Can’t wait to meet you guys!
I miss sourdough! How do you make the starter???
It’s so simple, Connie. You put a cup of warm water and a cup of flour together, stir it up and leave it in a glass or plastic (NOT metal!) jar on the counter. Every day, you take out half and add half a cup of warm water and half a cup of flour. It takes about a week before you get lots of good bubbles. Then you can store it in the fridge and it only needs to be “fed” every week or so.
I’ve not made sourdough before. Nor kept a starter – I just loooove the end result! I always thought you had to get a starter from someone else and was always too far away from baking friends! Do you just throw away the half you take out? What do you feed it? Same flour and water mix? What recipe do you then use to bake your bread with the starter? To keep the starter, should it be in a warmer or cooler area? I’m thinking creatively since I have cats… starter from air yeast = good, starter from cat tongues, uh, maybe not?! Wonder if a cabinet would work. On top of the fridge might be warmer than the counter.
Oh, I see the link to the recipe now. Thank you!
Inside the cabinet or on the fridge would be perfect, Connie. I actually used an old pitcher . . . if you did that, you could just put the lid on, with the holed in the spout, after leaving it for a day to pick up the yeasts.
In the beginning, you just toss the half that you take out. The water and flour is what feeds the mix. It’s actually pretty foolproof! Just requires patience, which I don’t have a lot of, lol. But it came out beautifully. A friend on Facebook just sent me a recipe for sourdough pancakes so I’ll try that and then post it on Gourmet Mama, too.
It’s way faster to get starter from friends, but it’s pretty simple to do yourself. I saw on Amazon that you can buy starters from all over the world, too! They would be taken over by local yeasts after a while, of course, but it would be fun to have Alaskan sourdough or Parisian!
The bread looks beautiful! Makes me want to run out and get the ingredients to make my own. Sadly, I know I won’t (not my thing, too much to do on a daily basis), though who knows, perhaps some day I will surprise myself. Still, love to read your post on breadmaking.