Sunday, June 13, 2021

Sourdough Rebel


Aren't zinnias just the happiest flowers? 

Well, another Sunday has almost passed and the survival rate here at the Moon home is 100% so I guess we're good. Neither one of us has done anything very exciting but as I said to a friend the other day, no one's in jail or the hospital so we're good. 

My bread last night was actually terrific and that's got me thinking. I've have been so ridiculously rigid about my sourdough baking. I feel like I have got to stick to the rule of using nothing but flour and grains, starter, water, and salt. 
But why? 
I have no idea. For awhile I was putting in about a teaspoon each of milk and sugar and that resulted in a softer, loftier loaf but I felt guilty. Like- there's a sourdough god who was looking down at me with deep disappointment. Like the sourdough police were gonna bust into my house and slap me in handcuffs or at the very least, issue me a summons. Like I had peed in the holy water font. 
And I'm the one who always laughs at the the comments of the NYT's cooking app recipes that ask things like, "I don't have any shallots. Can I use a leek instead?" 
OF COURSE YOU CAN! 
"I only have anchovy paste, not anchovies. Will that be okay?"
FUCKING A, YES! 
"I have no fresh dill. Can I substitute dried dill?"
WHY THE HELL NOT?
Of course I also make fun of the people who take a recipe and replace almost every ingredient with something else which essentially changes the entire dish and then bitch because it didn't come out very well. And I am completely disdainful of the recipes (not necessarily in the NYT's) that call for starting sourdough on a Wednesday if you want to bake it on Sunday, doing everything to the dough except dancing the tango with it in your bra. 
"Forty-eight steps to perfect sourdough bread!"
I am not a recipe purist by any means whatsoever. So why in hell am I so loathe to fool around with the sourdough? 
I think I have proved by now that the starter I made with the wild yeast of Lloyd will indeed lift a loaf of bread. So why not get jiggy with it? 
And last night's loaf that had the leftover mashed potatoes and parmesan cheese in it was soft and airy and delicious. 


Anyway, what in hell was I talking about?

Oh yeah. Sunday. I watered all my porch plants and did some laundry and finished a crossword and started another. And then I put on my overalls and went outside to where all those damn Crocosmia are, with my trowel, my garden cart, and an old canning kettle to put the pulled plants in. This is what it looks like out there now since Mr. Moon trimmed all the azaleas and pulled up the Chinese rice paper plants. 


Attractive yard feature, right? And I'm trying to dig up all the dirt around the ones I pull because there are so many corms that I could probably dedicate the rest of my life to trying to pull them all and it would all be for naught. But one must try. When I met the woman who lives across the road the other day she asked me what the plants in her yard are that are taking over under a beautiful old oak that she has. And guess what?
Croscomia. 
I told her to pull them. Hers aren't going to bloom either because they're shaded by the tree. And I warned her not to throw the plants she pulls somewhere else in the yard because they'll just take over there. 
While I was pulling, I did discover lots of lovely earthworms and also bricks and flat rocks. There may be an entire patio under there or something. A stable floor for all I know. I never have any idea what I'm going to dig up around here when I put my shovel or trowel in the ground. How I would love to have pictures from each decade of this house's life, of both it and the yard around it! 
I am thinking that we should transplant some of the camellias in the backyard to that space in the front. I planted them too close together and they are crowding each other out. Rookie mistake! 
I know better now. 

So I got hot and sweaty and filthy and I've had a shower and Mr. Moon is working in his beautiful garden. It is truly a thing of beauty. I just gave another neighbor a dozen eggs and some cherry tomatoes and banana peppers and a jar of this year's dilly beans and a jar of last year's bread and butter pickles. I'm going to cook some snapper tonight and heat up the rest of the tomato pie. I might make some cole slaw with the last small head of cabbage I pulled the other day. 

I sure do spend a lot of time pulling things out of the dirt, don't I? And I generally have chickens around me as I do that, scratching, clucking, and talking about what my uprooting has revealed, as well as a cat or two who come around with their judgmental attitudes and concerned expressions. 


Maurice worrying about me from the dining room table as I sit on the porch. I love how she taps on the glass to get my attention. I should probably wash that window. And believe it or not, she has been far gentler and less bitey and grabby lately. Knock wood.

Not a bad life. Not a bad life at all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

35 comments:

  1. your day sounds perfect, the bread is gorgeous! I've never been an adept bread baker.....I baked a whole wheat/seed/nut bread (recipe made 3 loaves) for several years with good results....trying to be all healthy. But I've never felt comfortable *experimenting* with bread, though I experiment in cooking/baking other things. I love Maurice tapping on the window, bless her. And thank you for the good thoughts...my friends Dad who fell is doing oK. Very bruised patella but no broken bones. I am missing her visit, but she needs to be with him now, bless her as well.
    Wine time here!
    Susan M

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    1. forgot- those zinnia's are beautiful! I can't grow them here because the cucumber beetles destroy them

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    2. Glad to hear that your friend's dad is okay. No broken bones is excellent news.
      I've never been afraid to fool around with bread recipes at all- in fact, I hardly ever, ever use a recipe but I just got that weird notion that sourdough "had" to be made with certain ingredients and that was that. How silly!
      I'm sorry you can't grow zinnias. Cucumber beetles must be one pest we don't have.

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  2. I think you have an awesome life! A lot of people don’t like the word ‘awesome’ but i believe it should be used more often not less. Charmed isn’t right, wonderful’s okay but awesome gives everything a little sparkle, i think.
    I’m not really a cat person but your picture of Maurice is kind of beautiful. Soft and gentile almost.
    Debbie

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    1. PS That’s a mean sourdough!! I absolutely love sourdough! The more sour the better! I’ve tried for many, many years to perfect sourdough. It’s been a waste of time and flours, for me. Good for you, though!!
      Debbie

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    2. I think the longer you let your dough sit, the more sour it becomes. You can even make it up and let it sit in the refrigerator for a day or two before you take it out to let it warm, rise, and then bake it.
      Maurice is the strangest cat but my husband I do have a very special place in our hearts for her. I'm not sure why but we do.

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  3. Certainly took Maurice a few years to mellow! I hope this is a trend, such a lovely cat! Gangster of love.

    You could have been an amazing lab scientist!

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    1. Maurice IS the Gangster of Love! I never thought of that! Ha! I doubt I would have made much of a scientist. I'm not precise enough.

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  4. I love your take on baking. As in: just do it! A friend of mine subs a lot in cooking. Recently told us she'd made finnan haddie. That's a lovely smoked haddock dish. Haddock being unobtainable, she used cod. I suggested she call it finnan coddie. Because haddie means haddock in Scots, the origin of the recipe! She was not amused..I wonder when she'll roast a chicken and call it turkey..

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    1. That's great!
      "Here's my roast turkey!"
      "That is the smallest roast turkey I've ever seen..."
      I also like the name "finnan coddie."

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  5. I gave up on my sourdough because I just didn't have the time anymore but I did enjoy it when I did it. It helped me relax a lot when it came to baking and reading how treated the dough is what helped me the most. I thought you were pretty easy going with your dough.

    The zinnias are lovely. My flowers are just started to bloom. I will take pictures when everything is up.

    Back to work tomorrow. Yay.

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    1. I was wondering if you were still doing sourdough. It does take some time but these days I'm doing all the prep in a food processor so it isn't really that time consuming but you do have to sort of plan it out so that you'll be home when it needs baking. And I have been pretty easy-going with the dough except for my delusion that there should only be certain ingredients in it. I'm over that.
      Can't wait to see YOUR flowers.

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  6. Cats know what they see, that's for sure. What they hear, too. When my cat hears my neighbor's voice, he runs to the door, stretches up to the window and pats and calls.

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    1. Oh, that's so sweet, Joanne! Does your neighbor speak to your cat? I would be sure to, I think.

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  7. Maurice does look concerned about you! Any Homemade Bread I couldn't refuse, even if it wasn't perfection like that Loaf, your Family is so fortunate you have Mad Culinary Skills!

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    1. Actually, we have a lot of good cooks in our family. I'm proud of my kids in that regard! And many others too.

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  9. Peeing in a church font would not be easy, not easy at all. You would require some stepladders and might lose your balance when hovering over the holy structure.

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    1. Hmmmm...
      Well. Okay. I guess I won't be peeing in any holy fonts.

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  10. That bread is a thing of beauty. Sigh!

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  11. What a great picture of Maurice! I suspect she will continue to mellow as she gets a little older. I don't know enough about sourdough orthodoxy to understand why adding milk to it is blasphemous, but your bread turned out great.

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    1. I sure hope that Maurice does mellow. She's barely drawn blood around here for weeks! It's like she discovered how to show affection without using her cruel teeth and claws.
      Mostly.
      I probably made up those sourdough rules myself. I've been known to act a little crazy sometimes.

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  12. I used to be a recipe follower but now I can add or leave out ingredients depending on my mood and what is available in the house. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but who cares? I am not cooking for a big family too much anymore.

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    1. I always figure that if you start with good food and don't burn it, it's going to be okay. Well, of course you have to cook it enough, too.

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  13. I thought I had commented here but I guess not. I do love zinnias and mine aren't growing worth a damn. certainly not blooming. I'm sure all the rain and the little snails are the culprits. I have not managed to get anything done out in the yard since it stopped raining. just too damn hot. we skipped early summer and went straight to high summer.

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    1. My zinnias aren't blooming the way I think they should be. I have no idea why. But maybe they'll start. I hope so. I hope yours do too.
      You are so right about the heat.

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  14. Ha ha, the sourdough God! Thing is, I reckon it takes a while to get confident in yourself as a cook in order to be able to just mix n match things in recipe. I'm seeing it now with my son who keeps asking me how I make this and that because he knows he's on his own soon!

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    1. I have no lack of confidence in myself as a cook so I don't know what my sourdough problem has been.
      My husband jokes that if he asks me how I make something I say, "Why do you need to know that?" as if I was worried that he's going to leave me and he'll have to cook for himself. Maybe there's a tiny part of me that does.

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  15. Get jiggy with yo bad self Ms Moon. I thoroughly enjoyed that tour you just wrote out for us to take. I feel replenished.

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  16. Great photo of Maurice, I've not eaten sour dough,

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  17. I'm eager to hear the variations on sourdough bread that you come up with. Parmesan does seem like a fine addition. Who knows what you might dream up. Soon the NYT recipe writers will be knocking on YOUR door. As well they should be.

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