Man, I just love to cook. I guess that is partly why I got to the weight that I did (or that I am, I suppose). I love to try recipes and making new things, but with only 2 of us in the house (unless you count the 3 pups) and having a wife that rarely eats anything I cook (she calls it too bland - she loves her salt!), I find myself often cooking too much. I grew up working in restaurants and small portions was never really a concern. This really sucks when it comes to making bread. I love baking bread. I love the process. I love the way it makes the house smell good all day long... and of course, I love the final product.. but I am not eat it fast enough, so I only get to make it occasionally now. Baking sourdough quickly became the thing to do during the early stages of the Covid-19 "Quarantine" earlier this year. It was almost humorous how many people were baking sourdough at home. As I mentioned in my Sourdough Starter post, maybe I did this because of that, I dunno. I mean, it's something I have been wanting to do, and being able to Work From Home sure opened up a bunch more time for me, so maybe? Either way, I am glad that I got my starter going and it's almost 5 months old now and I have made several loafs and rounds from it... as well as things like biscuits and pancakes from the discard. When I first started making sourdough, I found the Pioneer Woman recipe/method and it worked great. I made a few loaves/rounds with it and was quite happy. Then, just a few days ago, I came across the video on YouTube by Joshua Weissman as he appeared with Babish and started to use it and wow how things have taken off!
Here is a link to it on The Pioneer Woman web site: Artisan Sourdough Bread.
Here is a link to the video by Joshua Weissman with Babish: Sourdough Bread.
The best thing about this bread, other than how freaking easy it is to make(and how awesome it tastes) is that it is just flour & water! That is it. No salt even! This is a big reason why I like baking my own bread, to have tasty bread with little to no sodium. Think about it, the average slice of bread has between 150-200 mg of sodium, if not more in some cases! No thanks! Baking my own, I will always have fresh bread when I want it, that doesn't have the sodium and yet still tastes awesome!
Tip: Make sure that you do the final rise in the fridge. Our house is never really that warm (unless it's a really hot day outside), so I have done my final rise on the counter previously. While the bread still tastes great, it just doesn't get that "Oven Spring" to make it a great looking and airy loaf that you really want. Tip: Even if you are anxious to cut into your sourdough bread... WAIT! You have to let it *FULLY* cool down or the bread will be very gummy. Trust me, it's worth the wait.
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