Kitchen projects: Sourdough bread from start(er) to finish
For National Bread Week – as I’m a little late for Sourdough September! – I’m revisiting a post that I first wrote on 1 March, 2013. It’s always a good time for real bread. There are...
For National Bread Week – as I’m a little late for Sourdough September! – I’m revisiting a post that I first wrote on 1 March, 2013. It’s always a good time for real bread. There are...
It was a loaf of sourdough that nearly killed me. To be more accurate, it was a piece of strong, chewy rewena paraoa, a Maori potato-based sourdough that saw me off. Is it any...
I don’t know what gave us away. Was it the slightly flour-speckled clothes, the air of happy satiety, or the aroma of freshly baked, still warm, sourdough bread that came from our bags? Whatever...
After our Doodle Bread adventures last weekend, I went on a bit of a bread making buzz. Normally we make our bread in the machine – it’s quick, efficient, makes great bread and, secondhand, it only cost me €10 – but I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the kneading side of things so it was time to dig out my Ballymaloe sourdough starter.
No longer having the easy access to Arbutus Bread that was one of the perks of my job in Urru Mallow, I’ve gone back to baking my own. At the moment I’m on rotation between three different breads – the Seedy Spelt Bread that I mentioned a few weeks ago, a Brown Yeast Loaf that still needs a bit of work and my old favourite, the Sourdough that I mastered while in Ballymaloe.
There’s always a new one, isn’t there? No sooner have you mastered Bittman’s No-Knead Bread and played around with jars of starter for your own Sourdough than another intriguing bread recipe comes along. I discovered this one through the NZ FoodLovers Forum, found the recipe, and discovered the book that it comes from – Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois – here.
I was on RTÉ Radio 1‘s Mooney programme yesterday talking about baking and breadmaking – if you’re interested, you can listen here (I’m on after the 4pm news!) and here are some links to recipes that I either mentioned or intended on mentioning during the show.My ever-popular Chocolate BrowniesChoc Chip Cranberry CookiesLemon & Pistachio Yoghurt CakeAnd, for those breadmakers out there, here is a recipe for a simple Brown Soda Bread and – if you’re getting more adventurous! – you could try Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread or even experiment with some Sourdough Bread.
Yesterday we had our last day of cooking in Kitchen Three. It’s hard to believe that we’re into the final few days of the course already. At least I got to murder my first lobster before we finished up, for yesterday’s Lobster with Cream and Fresh Herb lunch. The other dish I made was a Walnut and Armagnac tart with a really short, biscuity pastry and – of course – another pair of sourdough loaves. Had a bit of a disaster with the bread on Friday, however, as I forgot to put in the salt so it misbehaved and didn’t turn out very well. At least the loaves yesterday were much better, which is a relief as I’m hoping to use the bread toasted under the cheese in my exam starter – A Warm Salad of Ardsallagh Goat’s Cheese with Walnut Oil Dressing. After morning demo today, many of us have Cook Ahead time – my Yoghurt and Cardamom Cream needs to set overnight and at least that will be one less thing to worry about tomorrow although the time will be taken off. It’s nice to think that I might get the whole dinner and bread cooked in three hours but, at this stage, I’m not so pushed about that. I just want to get finished!