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I have to admit, I have always been intimidated by the deliciously tangy and chewy taste and textures of sourdough breads. Although I'd known that these breads were made using a wild yeast of just flour and water, I never dreamed I could be successful at my own home-grown version of one-- until now. I recently got a copy of Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor, and made a wonderful bubbly mother starter which I have growing vigorously in my fridge (I have named him Adam by the way). So, I decided to tackle a loaf using  nothing but wild yeast to see how active the culture could be. The bread turned out to be wonderfully chewy and tangy on the inside and brown and crusty on the outside. The crumb was fine, but not too dense with nice sized holes. Nic and I gobbled almost the whole loaf in one sitting!


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I was so thrilled with the results of this yeast, that the next day, I made some pita/naan type bread also. And let me tell you that it was soooooo much better than the store bought ones! They also didn't last through to the next day.


So, now I have taken on the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge where I am joining home bakers across the globe in baking through all of the recipes in Peter's first book: 'The Bread Baker's Apprentice'(BBA), but using only 'Adam' as my leaving agent. Although I am a bit late in the game for joining "officially", It seems like an excellent exercise for my home baking journey.




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