Distraction Number One: Sourdough Bread

Fresh Baked Bread *

Mmmmm.... Is there anything more comforting than the aroma of baking bread? 

Back in October, I decided to try making sourdough bread from a starter called Herman. The recipe calls for the addition of milk, sugar and flour every 5 days to keep the yeast alive and "discarding" a portion of the starter to ensure the natural yeast flourishes. Because I am frugal, I used the starter "discard" to bake with. 

So every five days I was baking.  Can you say, "hello bigger thighs and belly and buttocks"? The neighbors next door and down the street sure did enjoy sharing in the fruit of my labor and I was always happy to brighten their day with fresh baked goods. I simply got tired of baking all the time and let the starter die. 

This time the discard will more than likely be discarded. Perhaps not all the time, but enough that no more weight is gained by yours truly.

One of the great things about sourdough is its versatility. Bread. Cookies. Rolls pizza crust. Crackers. Etc. Am personally looking forward to sourdough pancakes.

Did a lot of research on sourdough starters and this time will use whole wheat flour and water for the base. Mostly because I thought the whole purpose of sourdough was that you didn't need yeast. Silly me. Will be using the Sourdough Starter recipe from  the website for King Arthur Flour. It's a great resource for recipes and baking education.

First bake will be  in a couple weeks. 

* Fresh baked from frozen, store-bought dough. Still good bread.