Look what I have created! I have made bread!

by Jon Sullivan - 2020-01-23 - Food

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Unimpressive, as humans have been doing it for thousands of years. But I'm 57, cook everything, and this is the first loaf I've ever made.

Which seems weird. Since I came from a family who put a lot of value in making everything from scratch. And adoration of artisan bread runs pretty deep with the Sulivans. But..... I am, if nothing else, quite lazy. And as a lazy person who avoids pets, taking care of a yeast starter every day is too much like pet ownership. And then there is the whole "you can just buy it in the store" thing.

But during the weeks I worked on my perfect pizza I also tried a sourdough crust. Which I did not like. Regular crust is better IMHO. But now I have a sourdough starter, which is the hard part, at least for me, so... Might as well make some bread.

While there are tons of great videos online about proper techniques, they don't give you the knowledge you really need. They say they do. But, no. For that you need to get your hands dirty. Videos will show you how easy it all is, but I get the impression it's easy because they made a mess of it over and over learning the easy way.

Getting a sticky bubbling mass of fermented goo to play nice is not easy. Especially in a small kitchen without proper tools. So this bread started poorly. Too much starter, not enough flour, aggressively stuck to everything, crappy outer skin, and then baked in an oven determined to burn everything.

Still, the non-burned part was delicious. Just the right amount of crunchy crust. Just the right size air pockets. Just the right chewy center. Sour but not too sour. I like it. Now I must make more with some lessons learned.

The goal now it to make it properly photogenic. And probably not eat it half a loaf at a time.

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