the bacteria that is growing in my kitchen

About 4 months ago, I sent a self addressed stamped envelope to these people and a couple of weeks later, that envelope was filled with a very small baggie containing about 1 tsp. of white flakes.  I got all giddy and immediately started reviving this sourdough into an active starter.  The legend is that this sourdough starter has been alive since the Oregon Trail times.  The man that started this all was Carl Griffith.

"Carl T. Griffith, who gave a sourdough starter to anyone who asked, or who sent him a self-addressed stamped envelope, died early in the year 2000 at the age of 80. He is known for his generosity and the high quality and vitality of his sourdough starts, which came from a sourdough culture carefully nurtured and preserved in his family for over 150 years."

Since Carl has passed, his friends and family have been continuing the tradition by sharing the starter with anyone who wants it for free.  Isn't that just so fun?

When I first got the starter, I experimented with sourdough bread for a couple of weeks and found the San Francisco bread to be the tastiest, especially as french toast.  I also made an incredible pizza crust and can't for the life of me find the recipe I used.  When I tried to duplicate it on Deacon's Birthday, it majorly flopped and I sent Andy out to Little Caesar's just before our company arrived.  

Here's what's been going on in the land of sourdough bread at my house this week.  It seems like a lot of work, but it's REALLY not.  I'm finding that sourdough bread can be quite flexible for you as long as it has enough time to do its thing.  And if you don't have enough time, just add some commercial yeast to help it rise like normal bread. 

• Sunday: Fed Sourdough Starter and let sit overnight
• Monday: Started a sponge for sanfrancisco sourdough by adding flour and water to some starter and letting sit for 24 hours
• Tuesday: Added more flour, water and salt to sponge to make bread dough, kneaded for 15 minutes, let rise 2 hours, deflated, let rise another hour, kneaded again a tiny bit and put into loaf pans.  By now, It's like 9:00pm, so I put the bread in the fridge so that it wouldn't rise too much.
• Wednesday: The bread didn't rise much in the fridge so it is now rising in the oven with the light on.

I expect to start baking this bread within the next hour.  It's fun because you get to spritz the side of the oven with water and watch it steam up.  That makes the crust nice and hard.

And here's the other yummy living food I made this week.

Homemade yogurt isn't as difficult as it seems either.  All you need is milk and some yogurt or a yogurt starter.  I have a yogurt maker so I use the directions from it, but I have heard that you really don't need one to make your own.  You can use a crock pot or your oven to make it.  Honestly, it really tastes the best with whole milk both thickness and texture but you can make it reduced fat or fat free by thickening it up with powdered milk which I have done before.  It is a great healthy alternative to commercial yogurt to give to the children also.  Deacon likes his with crunchies (granola) on top.  I like to put a bit of honey to sweeten it as well.

So there you have it, some good old fashioned food science right here in my kitchen.

The bedroom is still in the works, we ran out of paint so we have just a bit more to go before it is completely painted. I have a few DIY decorating projects that I'm planning to do in there too.  I'm excited.  My first order of business is to go buy a staple gun.

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thecordialchurchman

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4 Comments

Heidi

March 20, 2009

That Carl guy looks like the type we would have named one of our notebooks after. :D

SR Dryja

February 07, 2010

When I saw the headline for this entry, I had to read your post and I was not disappointed. I learned something new and enjoyed myself in the process!

Heidi

March 19, 2009

Cool! I just learned something.. I had no idea! :)

Devona

March 20, 2009

I use my food dehydrator to make yogurt. It is the yummiest yogurt, for sure.

I have been wanting to start some sour dough starter, also in my food dehydrator but I keep procrastinating. I really need to just do it.

Sour dough bread makes the nest BLTs. Yum!

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