What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, except Sourdough

Our 5200-mile November road trip, on day four, took us through Las Vegas, Nevada, where we had brunch with two of my daughter’s co-workers. One of them made sourdough waffles, which were crisp and tasty. I had expressed interest in her starter the night before when we first stopped in, so she dried a small amount smeared onto a piece of waxed paper, which she gave me the next day. That dried morsel was put in a zip lock packet, which stayed in a zipper pocket of my purse the entire trip. Several days after returning home, I crumbled it into a glass Mason jar, added one tablespoon of water and one tablespoon of flour. (As I recall, I think I had a starter a long time ago, but let it die from forgetting it in a corner of the fridge. I have baked a lot of bread since then, but not sourdough.) A few days later, I noticed bubbles beginning to form inside the jar; the starter had come back to life!! After three days, I added another tablespoon of water and flour, leaving the jar covered on the counter. I did that amount again, a few days later. As the magic of the starter continued to work, I increased the amount to ¼ cup of water and flour. I used that amount two more times.  The jar was getting full, the contents sour smelling and bubbly. Yesterday, I carefully measured out a cup of starter and placed it in a glass mixing bowl. Then I fed the starter in the jar with ½ cup flour and water.

To the starter in the bowl, I added 1 ½ cups warm water and 3 cups of flour. I might note here that I am trying a different kind of flour, from Sunrise Flour Mill out of Minnesota. Their claim to fame is their heritage seeds. I was interested in the fact their research shows heritage flour to be easier to digest because it hasn’t been hybridized so many times and gluten is less of an issue. Check them out at sunriseflourmill.com.

So, it is risky to use a new recipe, a new starter and new kind of flour together for the first time. The recipe I used is the basic sourdough recipe from King Arthur Flours. The ingredients are simple, but the entire process of proofing the first batter, to adding the rest of the ingredients, then rising again, shaping the loaves, and rising again can seem a little complicated. By the time the bread came out of the oven, twenty-four hours had elapsed. So, it appears that time becomes the most challenging ingredient in this process.

The two French bread style loaves turned out crusty and delicious. There is room for improvement and things I will try differently next time, but the smell of freshly baked bread immediately erased all my doubts.

I winged it with an accompanying tomato soup by cooking down lots of chopped onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Canned fire-roasted tomatoes were added, along with a handful of chopped basil. When the vegetables were soft; this mixture went into the food processor. Broth and cream were mixed in for the desired thickness in the reheating process, and a little salt. It certainly isn’t a smooth soup, with all of the vegetables, but it had good flavor and was very tomatoey.

I have a thing about exactly following a recipe the first time I make it. Then I get ideas on how to turn it into my own version or improve on the techniques the next time I use it. The recipe I followed for the bread also has variations, one of which includes the addition of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or caraway seeds. I like that idea and the fact this is a good basic recipe that can be the start of something more interesting.

My goal is to keep that little starter going so it remains a living culture and will always be a wonderful reminder of the kind and generous baker who shared her starter with me all those miles ago. I’m glad this sourdough starter didn’t stay in Vegas, as the saying goes!