Living Well and Bread

One of the things that I find the most satisfying and wholesome feeling, and that fills me with a sense that all is well with the world, is making bread.  I agree with Ms Fisher:

 

“Perhaps this war will make it simpler for us to go back to some of the old ways we knew before we came over to this land and made the Big Money. Perhaps, even, we will remember how to make good bread again.

It does not cost much. It is pleasant: one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with peace, and the house filled with one of the world's sweetest smells. But it takes a lot of time. If you can find that, the rest is easy. And if you cannot rightly find it, make it, for probably there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.”
― M.F.K. Fisher, How to Cook a Wolf

 

I've tried lots of ways over the years, had a bread maker going for a while (easy), did it the old-fashioned knead-for-10minutes (hard) way.  But now have discovered sour dough.  Absolutely delicious, but hardly any effort.  Although it does take a couple of days in duration, the actual time involved is just a couple of minutes off and on, throughout the time.

 

So here it is in pictures:

 

1. sourdough pre ferment, takes 2 minutes to mix, then sits for 8 hours

 

 

2. mixing the main dough, just roughly together, no perfection here.  Sits for an hour.

 

 

3. Then you get your wet hand in on the action and knead/fold it a bit - for those who have made bread the hard way, this is NOT kneading, just a little play.  Sits for a couple of hours.

 

 

 

 

4. I shape it and put it in a banneton, which is a fibre rising container.  Then I stick it in a supermarket bag and put it in the fridge overnight.

 

 

 

5. In the morning I turn the oven on first thing, tip the loaf out onto a baking sheet, and cook it for 35 minutes.  Fresh bread as I come out of the shower - so delicious.

 

 

 

 

And yes, it leaves you filled with peace, and empties you of bad thoughts.  Sour dough with homemade honey, even better!  I can't wait for sour dough and homemade scrambled eggs though.