Bread Bakin' Blues

Julia’s Basic Country Loaf Take 2. 

You guessed it. The bread is dead. I killed it, unintentionally of course, last weekend. My poor starter didn't even get to live to its fullest potential before my impatience got the best of me and spoiled the process of creating a leaven. This lack of patience has burned me before. And this time it washed a week's worth of flour and water down the drain...literally. 



Allow me to set the stage.


It was 10pm on Friday night. The hubs and I were in for a big weekend with family and friends in town, so we decided to lay low that evening in preparation. With my Tartine Bread book in hand, I curled up in bed and began reading about the next step in making bread: creating the leaven. My starter was rising and falling predictably over the course of three days, so I figured it was time to proceed that weekend. However, the book instructs you to create your leaven the night before you plan to make your dough. “Oh s$%&” I thought. “That’s tonight!”

The night before you're ready to make the dough, you are supposed to take 1 tablespoon of your starter, discarding the rest, and mix cette tablespoon with 200 grams of flour mixture and 200 grams of water at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I can do this with no problem, right? Should be done in 5 minutes and back in bed. No sweat.

Wrong. Loads of sweat and on the verge of tears, I startled my husband with an echoing “Gosh damn it!” coming from the kitchen.  Apparently what my hand thought was 1-tablespoon alas was a ½ tablespoon. Therefore, it was only half of the amount of starter I needed to create my leaven. So just add another ½ tablespoon of starter, right? Wrong again. Because after measuring what I thought to be 1 tablespoon of dough, I proceeded to wash the rest of the starter down the drain and clean the bowl. And to top it all off, I don’t know how to use my scale because the weight of water and flour mixture was all wrong and proceeded to clump into dry balls of dough. 

If I would have just waited until the next evening, and not acted with such haste, I probably would be enjoying the fruit of my bread baking labor right now. Reminder to self: take your time. Don't rush.

So this weekend I start over. I’m either really committed to making my own bread or really crazy. But I should not forget the first lesson that bread has taught me thus far: never give up. Farewell starter #1. Let’s hope starter #2 has better luck.

I don't think there's another woman's voice who can expresses the soul behind blues quite like the great Etta James. And she sings my bread bakin' blues away with "I'd Rather Go Blind". 

Step Two: Training the Starter

I never thought I'd be excited about the smell of "stinky cheese". Never say never. Because last night my culture was perfectly ripe. There were three signs that the culture was ready: the sharp smell (stinky cheese), the taste (slightly acidic) and the look (dark layer of crust over the top).

Here's what that crust looked like.

And here is what was underneath the crust when I peeled it back. Note the bubbles that surfaced. That's a good sign!

So, this morning I began the next phase of making bread: training the culture into a lively and predictable starter. At this stage in the process I discard 80% of the starter every 24 hours (before work) and mix the remaining 20% with new flour and water. Nothing to report thus far, but I imagine it will take a few days to see the effects of training. I have a slight suspicion that this starter and I will form a special bond. Next to my husband, it's the thing I look forward to seeing the most in the morning, when I get home from work, and before I go to bed.

Here's what the starter looked like after the first feeding today. I noted that the temperature in the apartment was 69 degrees; ideally it should be between 65 and 75 degrees. The book also advises you to use equal parts flour and water. So, I used about 1/4 Cup of each and stored the container in a shaded spot on the counter (uncovered). Now it's time to wait...

I also wanted to give my starter a little "training" theme song. Something to get it motivated and active. Let's see if it works.

Bread Lesson #1: Don't Give Up

  Bread: a usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture whose basic constituent is flour or meal 

Merriam-Webster's definition of bread sounds simple, yes? Think again. What began as a fun "weekend project" has turned into weeks of preparation, determination, and lessons learned. I thought this blog would be the perfect place to capture it all. So follow me on this journey to experience what it is to be a baker of bread. I can promise it won't be perfect. But it won't be a failure either. My goal is simply to learn...and make a damn good loaf of bread. 

So how did this adventure begin? Much to my enthusiasm for all things bread, my husband gave me Chad Robertson's cookbook "Tartine Bread" for Christmas this past year. Chad Robertson is the baker and owner of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, which reportedly sells 200 loaves of bread a day within the first hour (according to Bon Appetit's article on the 2012 Tastemaker). I've wanted to make by own bread for quite some time, so who better to teach me than the master himself. Thus, I embarked on the process that’s to become my first “basic country bread”.

I technically began last Sunday when I developed my starter, which begins with making a culture. After mixing the flour and water to form a thick batter, I covered the container with a kitchen towel and stored it in a cool, shaded spot for 2-3 days. By the evening of the second day, the culture had bubbles forming around the sides of the container, and the smell (to my knowledge) was acidic. So, the next morning I began "training" my culture into a predictable starter by feeding it with fresh flour and water every 24 hours. In doing this, your starter will begin to rise and fall predictably around the same times each day. But over the coarse of 3 days, I noticed that my started wasn't rising or falling at all. Was it because I stored it in the cabinet with no light or air circulation? Did I use too much water and flour? What went wrong? Enter my first lesson in baking bread: don't give up. Actually, that’s what my husband told me when I became frustrated by my inactive starter. And he was right.

Tis a lesson you should heed try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

So, this past Friday night, I rolled up my sleeves and started over with a new culture. This time, I used a smaller amount of water and flour to start. Then I stored the covered container on the counter in a shaded spot. It’s nearly 48 hours later, and things are looking (and smelling) right! 

There’s also something in my kitchen now that's tasting right: linzer cookies! I made my second batch this weekend. And they are delicious. Now I just need to make sure I don't eat them all myself. 

And the music that sounds just right is Amy LaVere’s “Nightingale”. 

Stagger Lee and The Lee Bros. Red Rice

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice."
- T.S. Eliot

 

 

 

Sunday ushered in the new year, and my 2012 is looking most promising right out of the gate. 

• I joined a gym
• We'll see how long that lasts
• My darling sister-in-law is moving to Nashville this week to attend pastry school here! 
• I can't wait to have her in town...did I mention she's going to pastry school? It's not like I plan to live vicariously through her schooling or anything. Right?
• I made a most delicious meal - my first for 2012
• See most delicious meal and recipe below
• And WE'RE GOING TO EUROPE in a month!
• Vienna and Prague for a week. Must remember not to spend all my money on fashion statements before the trip to Europe, where I will inevitably spend more money once I get there.

I had a wonderful holiday. Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and the new year could not have been more perfect. All were spent with family and closest friends. There were many fond memories to treasure this season, not to mention the food was great (see reference to gym membership above). Needless to say I was the one doing all of the eating, not the cooking, this year. Which consequently means I have but one gem of a recipe in my back pocket to show for this holiday season. But oh what a gem it is.

I revisited the Lee Brother's cookbook tonight to make their red rice recipe. Red rice is a childhood favorite of mine, and the Lee Bros. recipe did not disappoint. In fact, I had a mother moment. You know how people will often say that you can tell what a girl will look/act like when she's older by looking at her mother? Well, it happened to me. After taking my first bite of this red rice, I turned to my husband, chuckled and complimented myself on what a good cook I was! Granted my mother has reason to boast about her cooking; she's the best cook I know. But my goodness was this rice not amazing.
It will give any home cook major bragging rights.

Matt and Ted Lee are originally from Charleston, SC. And myself, born in Georgetown, SC, thought it only appropriate to feature "Stagger Lee" as the beat to this eat. It's one of my favorite beach music tunes and reminds me of summers on the Carolina coast.

Here's to  a most prosperous and healthy new year!

Julia






Lee Bros. Red Rice
Makes 5 Cups; enough for 4 people

3 oz. slab bacon or 2 slices thick-cut bacon cut into small dice
1 1/2 Cups diced yellow onion (about 1 large onion)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 Cups long-grain rice
2-2 1/2 Cups chicken broth
One 28 oz. can whole Italian tomatoes, drained
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. Spanish smoked paprika
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper




1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. In a 12 inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until firm and barely crisp, about 4 min. Using a slotted spoon, transfer  to a sma

Happy Birthday to Me

This time tomorrow, I will officially be in my late 20’s. Therefore I bid farewell to my mid-twenties and hold my head up high with a healthy mix of enthusiasm and trepidation upon the anniversary of my birth. I love birthdays. It’s a day all about you! However, turning 27 proves to be a sign of my ever evolving maturity because I’m excited to be celebrating alongside my darling brother in-law who will graduate from college tomorrow! So I’m happy to say December 10, 2011, is all about me AND Taylor ; ) We’ll be in Michigan this weekend for the festivities.


And the new digital camera I got for my birthday will capture all of the happy faces this weekend and over the holidays!

I’m going to pull a birthday girl “get out of jail free” card right now as I don’t have a new recipe to post. BUT with all the traveling I’ve been doing over the past month, I was bound to come across a new favorite place to eat!

Feast your eyes and stomachs on Hendrickx in downtown Chicago. This brings me back to younger days growing up in Belgium. And who better to tell me about this place than one of my best friends, whom I met in Belgium when I was 7. She now lives in Chicago and knows a good Belgian bakery when she tastes one. You could get anything here, and I bet it will be amazing. But my personal favorite is the Belgian liege waffle. I saw a recipe for liege waffles in a recent issue of Food & Wine magazine, and I need to try it out soon!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/hendrickx-belgian-bread-crafter-chicago

My beat for today is one I’ve been listening to ALL week! I love Florence and the Machine's "Shake it Out". Brilliant.