SLOW sourdough, potato bread

Since September 2010 we have experimented with making our own bread. After a lengthy search of our town for a sourdough starter I ordered a dried packet from San Francisco (it is one of the "homes" of sourdough cooking) and began the process. We decided to go with spelt flour. Spelt is an ancient grain, actually the precursor of modern wheat, which has less glutin and higher nutrients than wheat.
From the beginning we fed spelt to the starter and began making bread.  There were some disasters along the way - a clay romantopf pan purchased at Goodwill exploded in the oven making a mess with a very distinctive sound - but the results have been quite edible. Our goal became a loaf with good crumb, savory flavor and a nice rise for sandwiches or toast.
That goal became closer last week with the discovery of "slow sourdough bread", a process of allowing the bread to rise over a period of days rather than hours. This resulted in the texture we were looking for but not quite the rise.

While watching the Horticultural Channel tv (BBC) on You Tube, one of the presenters made bread using left over mashed potatoes. "Ah, Ha" I said, "Let's add that to our sourdough and see what happens."

Three days rising, adding the spuds and a rise over night resulted in these nice looking loaves.

Now they are in the oven so we shall see how it turns out.


Slow Sourdough Potato Bread from the Tworivers Kitchen

Sponge
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup spelt flour
Mix in a large bowl with enough warm water to make a soupy consistency. Cover tightly and leave it in a warm place. Every 3 hours add a half cup of flour and more warm water. Do this for 3 to 5 days every 3 to 5 hours or so.
The night before your baking time add
1 cup mashed pototoes
2 tsps sea salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup brown sugar

Mix well,  by hand if necessary, turn out onto floured counter and knead until smooth. Put in an oiled bowl, turning to coat the surface and cover tightly.
Next morning, gently punch the dough down, divide in half and place in oiled and floured baking pans. Let rise until double.
Preheat over to 375 degrees F.
Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown and tested done.
Remove to cooling racks and enjoy.
Yes, this takes times but you can do other things, even go to work while the process goes on by it's self. A nutritious, affordable loaf of bread is a worthwhile result.
Enjoy!

Rain and Fall

I haven't posted in a while because the  summer has been intensely busy. We, TwoRivers Music, have played all over Oregon and Washington this summer and have shows booked "away" through October.

The weather has kept things interesting in the garden. We have discovered that our front garden in really a wind tunnel-part of the "gorge effect" I'm sure. High on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River the wind comes zooming from the East, up the street, across the front garden and through the back gate. Our tomatoes suffered from this and it actually took out our trellis of Scarlet Runner Beans. Ah, live and learn. The front garden in a different micro climate from the back. The back gets sun all day and is much more sheltered from the wind. Next year tomatoes will go in the back. Basil growing in the back is also much happier than in the front so...Basil in the back next year!!
We've canned applesauce and peach butter, frozen lots of cubes of basil for winter use. There will be more of that as the basil in the back is still producing!!

Next project: we started a no/low cards/ no wheat way of eating. I won't call it a diet because it's a change of lifestyle. I've lost 11 pounds and quite a few inches (yay!) and my partner has lost 20 pounds (!!!). We both feel much  better. When it came time to add carbs to what we eat we considered how best to do it. Didn't want to eat processed foods to the extent that we did and the wheat free breads are very expensive in the local stores and the variety is very limited. After research and consideration we sent for a packet of dry sourdough starter from San Francisco and bought spelt flour. By feeding the spelt flour to the starter we now have a 99% spelt starter. Have a lovely ceramic pot with sealing lid from Value Village for the starter. Had one misadventure with the bread. We bought a used clay baking pot and it cracked and fell apart with the first bread baking.  Very disappointing. Next trip to Value Village we got a Corningware pot and lid. It works really well. The bread is dark, rich, moist and very sour! Makes great toast and is good with Eric's home made egg salad!! Last night after work (full day teaching piano and voice lessons, accompanying a church choir at rehearsal) we made our first trial at sourdough, spelt chocolate chips cookies. End result, very tasty, 8 dozen cookies mostly in the freezer. Thank you Eric for doing all the work and clean up!! You have the master's touch!
For those who might be interested all these experiments will result in a cookbook.
Canning tomatoes today thanks to a friend whose garden is not in the wind tunnel!! Playing music at a retirement home. No watering the garden today as the fall rain is taking care of it. We have green beans, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, broccoli, basil, carrots, chard, onions and more still growing. Starting the fall clean up and planting. Got a mini green house to set up and much organizing to do.
Happy Fall!