Suddenly my husband has developed an interest in sourdough bread. Which means I am now making sourdough bread.
There is a young man in our area named Todd, who started a company called Todd's Bread, known for amazing sourdough loaves and pizza dough upon occasion. When he first started selling his bread in stores it was around $5 a loaf. Now it is $12 a loaf. Yup. That's a lot for a loaf of sourdough, no matter how good it is.
So, my winemaker son-in-law Ryan, who knows everyone in town, naturally is friends with Todd. Ryan has been making his own sourdough successfully with a sourdough starter he got from the master, Todd. I, not being as dumb as I look, asked Ryan if he could share some of Todd's starter with me so I could start making sourdough for Dennis. No problem. Next thing I knew I had a bubbling jar of living goo on my counter that I need to feed like a Chia Pet.
My first foray into sourdough bread making was a total success! I have since bought a couple of sourdough cookbooks, but before they arrived, I used a recipe I found online. I also watched a ton of YouTube video tutorials, which ran the gamut from Sourdough Nazi to Laid Back Baker. I am somewhere in between and so far, it's working. (I'm leaning towards Laid Back Baker).
Making sourdough is not a fast process. It is slow and fiddly. Honestly, it took three days to make this loaf from start to finish. There are so many steps, but all of them are easy. I was really pleased with the texture of my bread, even though it didn't have those gigantic holes in it that you often see. Proper sourdough is supposed to have those, but I kind of liked the texture of mine better. I added a bit of olive oil to the dough, which from what I read, could contribute to a "smaller crumb".
I'm certain that my postman is getting tired of all my Amazon orders of bread-making supplies he has had to deliver to my front porch. I should leave a loaf of bread out for him as a thank you. Seriously, I've bought a special Dutch oven to bake it in, special cloth-lined bread-rising baskets, a razor blade on a stick, and a few other items I have no words for.
Eva calls the plastic bowl covers "bread hair nets".
I have to say the bread-baking Dutch oven is a handsome thing.
Always something new going on around here. If this keeps up, I'll be ordering my jeans in a size up. Also, my first loaf of bread cost approximately $150, so I suppose $12 a loaf is looking pretty good.
Gotta go make a pot of soup to go with my bread.
20 Responses
LOLOLOL!!!! $150 is a lot of money!! Good luck on your bread journey. I’ll eat sourdough, but I’d rather buy it than go to the trouble of baking. I was raised on making homemade bread and am always glad to see someone else enjoy it.
I’m so jealous of that ear!! I took a class at King Arthur in Vermont. It was amazing. I enjoy baking but still haven’t managed to get sourdough down. My starter has been neglected in the refrigerator for a few months now. So I’m probably back to step one. It’s very addicting and horrible for my waistline!!🤣
You have the touch! Congrats!
I tried during lockdown, absolutely could not do it. Luckily I figured that out before I bought one thing. Since then all my iron ware has gone, I can no longer lift it safely. One of my daughter’s high school friends has it all, she was so happy to get it and a slew of mason jars.
My youngest who is 27, would make all my grandmothers and great grandmothers very proud. She has a hand with homemade bread, noodles, tortillas, pie shells. It is an out of body experience for me watching her work on my kitchen table. When I was a child, I saw my grandmas doing the exact same things on their kitchen tables.
Vickie
Thanks! What a delightful read that was! I will be chuckling all day. I’ve never had much luck with regular bread making. I’ll stick to making the soup.
Making a Lottie quilt from my daughter, goggle it, lots of photos.
In the process of making blocks with exactly the right colors to suit her, I am now making two Lottie quilts. One is with the winning blocks. A second is with her rejects.
Never have I spent so much time analyzing color with someone.
Well, I take that back, picking out backing and binding with my son for the king size neutral quilt a couple years ago was quite the experience.
For my daughter
Your bread looks delicious but I just don’t have the bread baking ability.
I had to laugh at the cost of your supplies vs $12 loaf. We have a saying at our house…”it only cost a little more to do it yourself!!”
Well you’ll have to stick with this program for awhile before you get to the $12 loaf! But I’m sure it is so good. At one time I looked through the King Arthur catalog for supplies but talked myself out of it. My hubby makes our bread in our trusty breadmaker and has for years. It’s good too. Adding to one of the comments above- I know several people who learned to bake bread during Covid.
LOL loved your cost for the first loaf! Rather like the cost of the first 10 (or 100) quilts 🤣🤣🤣
I, too, recently went down the sourdough path. My third loaf will go into the oven today. I took a class in July but then had knee surgery so had to wait a bit to try it. It intimidated me but I finally got there and just tried it. It’s only me and I swear I could sit and eat the whole loaf. I bought a Dutch oven for this and it’s red too. Lol
Your bread looks wonderful! I LOL at the cost of your first loaf! Maybe we need to look at our hobbies and the joy we get from creating as ‘priceless’. Enjoy! 😊
How fortunate that Ryan knows the bread maker! It helps getting the starter from a reliable, tested source. I agree with Eva that the bowl covers look like hairnets! I’m sure your mail carrier would love a loaf of sourdough! Happy baking! 🍞🍞🍞
my husband is the baker, so your supplies look familiar (insert chuckle). I however am a gardener, which carries similar vibes as discussed in the book, “the $64 tomato”. (funny and true).
thankfully, nobody has thought to add up all my quilting supplies and fabric!! …. sometimes, joy just comes at a price im willing to pay. 🙂
lol thanks for making us laugh here. here’s a great tip someone gave me : put unsalted butter on your bread in thick slices. Do not spread. Instead sprinkle fancy sea salt on top of butter and then eat. It.is.so.good. (I buy a loaf every week at Whole foods)
You made my day—sourdough! Sometimes, baking ia a challenge, and the bread wins—sometimes, I’m good baker of bread, sometimes, not—but I think I am missing some of those cool tools you have…must get my own!
This is a great read…thank you…! Hope you have a great day…mine is better because of your blog!
Too funny! I too make sourdough bread, all be it the easier way. And, yes…it seems to take forever. But so good. Enjoy your breading experience.
I bought 2 Danish dough whisks a few years ago, and now we use them all the time! Great for mixing pancake batter, for example. Keep us posted as you keep baking! Ryan sounds like such a good family member 🙂
Yummy! Love the new kitchen tools/gadgets. And I’m sure the dutch oven can also handle other delicious meal ideas like beef pot roast…..
You had me chuckling about your $150 loaf of sourdough. Looks like a delicious new hobby. Have fun!
Your bread looks delicious 😋 so glad you broke down the cost cause I was just thinking how much that loaf of bread cost! Questions though – is that a regular Dutch oven, because it looks a lot like one we have and where can someone who’s not friends with a baker get a good sourdough starter? I’ve been wanting to make sourdough for years but the starter part always stops me. Lastly, you need to do an Amazon list where you have all the items you mention on your blog and then get a little money from it. Lots of peeps do it and it would be so convenient for your readers!