From Scratch

The other day, Blaubeere came to visit with her kids, that's always a good time.  She brought with her a start of her sourdough, which we know from experience to be really yummy.  The original plan had to been to make something with it, bread or cookies, or something, but we ended up doing other stuff and never got to it.  So when it was time to leave, she left it. 

I've made bread before, using our bread machine. Several times, actually.  But except for one time, I've always used the bread machine. I've come close to trying it without the machine several times but just never gone through with it. So, after Brombeere suggested it would be simple to just add the start to a regular recipe, I decided to give it a try.  After all, we couldn't just waste a perfectly good sourdough start.

I dug out all my bread recipes to see if any of them called for using a start but none did.  So I picked the one that looked simplest and decided to do as Brombeere suggested.  So I got out the yeast and started it in some warm water.

Then I got all all the other ingredients and added them all together, as called for in the recipe.  To that point, the recipes says only add half the flour.

It was at that point I also added the start.  Brombeere was kind enough to add a little personalization, some decoration.  It's a smiley face, in case you can't tell.  This is, after all, supposed to be happy bread.

Then I blended it all together.

At that point, the recipe says to begin adding the rest of the flour.  You keep adding flour until the dough looked like the right consistency.  Then you pour it out onto the counter and knead it for a while.

I really didn't know what "the right consistency" was, I only had my memories to go on, from watching my Mom all the times she used to make bread.  For the longest time, all the bread at our house was home made.  She typically made several loaves at a time, there were six of use and we all loved her bread.  So, anyway, I did the best I could and moved ahead with it.

After kneading it a bunch and then letting it "rest" a while, it was nearly ready to go in the pan.  I put it back on the counter, punch it down a bit, formed it into loaves, and put them in the pans, ready to cook.

Forty-five minutes later they were done and ready to come out.  And out they came.

One of my favorite foods is still homemade bread, fresh and warm, right out of the oven.

I learned a lot from this, about making bread the old fashion way, without a bread machine.  I might have to try this again, it actually wasn't all that hard.  One thing I still need to work on is getting the loaves to be more "pretty".  I just need to pay a little more attention to that when I put them in the pan.  Hey, how hard can that be, right?  But regardless of what they look like, they still taste way better than store bought bread.