Adventures in Artisan Bread Baking

In my boredom, I am starting to dabble in baking my own bread (and re-invigorating this blog). Not the "put all ingredients in a bread machine and let it rise" baking but actually cultivating my own yeast culture, kneading the dough by hand, letting it rise, and pulling out a perfect sourdough bread form the oven. The inspiration for bread baking came two weeks ago when I was watching Top Chef Seattle. The elimination challenge was to make the quintessential Alaskan cuisine: sourdough bread and salmon. The next day, I went to King Arthur Flour and ordered my 200+ year starter culture, with delusions of freshly baked grandeur. I also ordered a dough cutter and a danish dough whisk (made in Poland).

Pantagruel after it's been fed

Pantagruel's crock home, manufactured and bred by King Arthur Flour

I made a basic sourdough bread last week, but today was the first day when I had to really "feed" Pantagruel. Yes, I named my starter. Weekly feeding requires discarding a cup of the culture, and replacing it with a cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water (50% hydration). I didn't want to just throw away a cup of Pantagruel...so I decided to make a batch of caramelized onion, chive, and cheddar biscuits. I made some alterations, like adding a large handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Yes, it tastes as wonderful as it sounds! In addition, since my family devoured the bread that I baked last week, I decided to make more loaves for this week.

Caramelized onion, chive, and cheddar biscuits...YUM!

Last week, I used bread flour, and the sourdough came out with a perfect crusty crust and spongy bread-y inside. Since I was pursuing a "healthier" version, I used whole wheat flour this time around.

Loaf and rolls before going in the oven

Result: Fail. It's hard and dense as a cannon ball. I'll have to try again for Pantagruel's feeding next week. Maybe a 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour combination. Until that time, does anyone have use for a freshly baked cannon ball?

Maybe Kim Jung Un might have use for this, perhaps?