December Daring Bakers Challenge: Letting Nature do the Work

Subtitle:  It's not the height that counts, right?

Another whole month gone by with nary a word on this blog.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that I have TONS to write about, I just drop into bed exhausted every night without having shared a single little bit with you. 

Part of the problem is the very buggy nature of Blogger on my computer these days.  Due to the hack, I can no longer long in as the administrator, only as a contributor.  Therefore, I don't get the standard full module, and on top of that, the module I do get to use is buggy and inconsistent.  For instance, the photo below should be centered.  Blogger will not let me center it.  After a frustrating day of working on the new house, I just can't stand to be teased and mocked by a computer. 

Also, simply adding pictures, much less editing them?  Nearly impossible. 

But I whine and digress.  Back to business!

So, you wonder, what's up with the plastic cup sitting on the counter?  Is is the drink I sorely need to deal with a buggy Blogger module?  Is it to keep myself hydrated?  Is it just a reminder of the time Bet and I took our little girls to the zoo to see the wild animals? 

Well, here's a peek inside...

In a sense, we do have wildlife in here.  But these guys aren't behind bars in a zoo, they're free range!  It's wild yeast given a habitat in which to flourish.  It's sourdough starter!



Mandatory Blog-checking lines:  Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

Now, the goal was to have a nice lofty loaf.  Goals are nice to have, but lately, well, they don't seem to be something to actually attain. As you can see above, after turning out from the banneton where it rose sat there for five hours, the result was doomed to be flat.

I did however get a very tasty loaf bread product. And I did eat it.

Oh, yes I did.

I named my starter Beth, and she resides in the fridge.  I will be pulling her out again soon, and next time I'm determined to get a good lofty loaf.  Or at least enjoy my result, no matter the height.