Thursday, August 24, 2023

Always More To Learn


Today was a tiny bit cooler and less humid than it has been. High of 94 degrees, humidity around 50%. Not so bad, honestly. By Saturday we're supposed to be up in the triple digits but next week looks to have some cooler weather coming, some days not even predicted to get up to 90 degrees. It is amazing how just a slight change in the temperature with a small drop in the humidity can make such a difference. 

So I took a walk this morning and I didn't feel close to death at any point. I also did not pee in front of any trail cams as far as I know. I checked the area carefully before I commenced. It would be so great if I could walk more than a mile and a half before having to pee but I suppose after four babies and being the age I am, I should just be giving thanks for not having to wear Depends.

Well, this is fun, isn't it? 

I have been feeling lately as if I am truly substandard when it comes to making sourdough loaves. I think I just never really learned to do it right and treated my dough too much like I've always treated yeasted dough and that didn't really bother me overmuch until recently. My bread tastes delicious and has a decent rise to it, but as I mentioned a week or so ago, I have a friend who is a master sourdough baker and she sends me photos of her loaves and I do believe that she could put Martha Stewart to shame when it comes to beautiful loaves of bread. 
Does Martha even make sourdough? I have no idea. 


Cry your heart out, Martha. 

My friend's loaves are works of art. I would hate to cut them but I would because I know they taste amazing. 

So today I'm trying to make a loaf that's at least a little more traditionally sourdough-pretty and I think I'm probably rushing the process more than I should but I'm going to see what happens. I can't even begin to tell you how many recipes for sourdough there are online. Recipes and techniques and rules and suggestions and so much of the information is adamant that this is the right way to do it, but then you read another recipe and it's, no THIS is the way to do it, much of it all contradictory. But I know without a doubt that my friend's bread is perfection and so I am trying to adapt at least some of her recipes and techniques in the loaf I'm making today but I don't have a digital scale, which she swears by, and I haven't really exactly followed her instructions but I have followed some of them and have abandoned my own method for the most part which has not been giving me what I want. 

That's a lot about sourdough. But it's interesting to me. Baking bread, especially sourdough, is one of those things like gardening where you can do it your entire life and still never know everything there is to know about it. There is always so much more to learn. Seems so simple to mix flour and water and salt and sourdough starter and wait for the bread gods to make it happen, just as it seems so simple to put seeds in the dirt, and water them and expect to get gorgeous tomatoes, sweet, juicy melons, and fine, fat pods of peas. 
There are literally an infinite number of factors involved. And always, ALWAYS, infinite room for improvement. 

I also weeded another row in the garden this afternoon. I'm getting there. I didn't work for long, but enough to make me feel as if I've accomplished something today. I am getting itchy to start thinking about that fall garden I talked about. If I was a religious woman, I'd say that god put me on earth to grow stuff in the ground and then cook it. The urge to do those things is powerful and I do not know what I'd do if I wasn't able to obey those urges. I wonder who I'd be if I was raised and lived in a city? 
Well, I would not be who I am and that's for sure. 

All right. I've asked my friend who bakes the bread if I could post pictures she's sent me of her loaves and she said that I could and could also identify her AND to please link her Substack which is rebeccaloudon.substack.com.

Because I think of Rebecca Loudon as being a rock star whether in the area of poetry, baking, or playing the violin, I am thrilled to be able to do this. Here is a picture of two more of her loaves. 


The front loaf is plain sourdough and the one behind it is a double chocolate, olive oil sourdough. 


I mean...I mean...well, DAMN. 

She is bona fied, y'all. 

I feel so lucky to be able to call her my friend. She has taught me more than anyone can know. Including me. My sourdough will never compare with hers but she gives me a star to aim for. 

Love...Ms. Moon




39 comments:

  1. Those loaves are lovely but the good thing about sourdough is that even ugly loaves taste good:)

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  2. ROFL! I can't go more than an hour or two without peeing.......so....I hear you....but glad no trail cam in sight for said experience! I am impressed both with your baking abilities.....and must say Rebecca's loaves are *more* than Martha Stewart worthy. Gorgeous! I am just not adventurous or comfortable enough with bread baking to be truly good at it. I've tried for 50 yrs. I baked our own bread for years here....using Edward Espe Brown's recipes.....I got better....but not to my level of satisfaction. Now...we are trying to avoid gluten .....so not baking hardly at all. But......may your new batch be perfect!
    Susan M

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    1. That loaf was as far from perfect as a loaf of bread can be. I swear. I will try again though, never fear!
      Oh yes- the Tassajara bread book! Of course! It is actually sitting out on my counter right now.

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  3. Bev at Bee Haven Acres is another one who can turn out beautiful loaves of bread ... Sourdough and other flavors!
    I have certainly made bread but never got into having the sourdough starter and trying to keep it going! In fact, I can't even remember the last time I bought a loaf of sourdough bread.


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    1. Well, sourdough is supposed to be better for us as it is fermented which helps with digestion.
      Rebecca makes other breads and foods and preserves that are all beautiful. She is kitchen goddess among all the other things.

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  4. Those loaves are art! We had very cool lovely weather today, lovely walking and having windows open, till it rained, saving me from watering the flowers.

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    1. Oh, that is heavenly-sounding! It's approaching unbearable here again but should cool off some next week.

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    2. Guess which friend is in a plane right now on his way to Florida.. Yes, him.

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  5. I have always been fascinated by the idea of capturing yeast from the air or from grapes. Just science i guess. I used to bake all kinds of bread, even pumpernickel. That's why I'm so fat. And let's face it beauty or not, it will be devoured.

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    1. I'm fascinated by the capturing of yeast for baking too! I know it's "just" science but every time I get my starter out of the refrigerator I think, "the mighty yeast of Lloyd!"

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  6. Rebecca is a rock star! Im in total awe.
    Xoxo
    Barbara!

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    1. Yes. She is. I told her that exact same thing a few days ago.

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  7. You piqued several interests today. First, figure out how to NEVER need pee pills. You will be chained to your toilet. In fact, I neglected to pack them for last weekend's trip because I wanted to have a good time out and about.
    I used to bake bread. Once a month my brother would buy flour I needed and sundries, like raisins and yeast and stuff, and we would spend the day baking enough bread for three families; mine, his and our parents. I baked with every kind of flour, but never sourdough. Well, maybe a little. But I could never get happy with a starter.

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    1. Wow, Joanne! That was a lot of bread-baking! I'm sure you had a very happy family.
      I will try never to need pee pills. So far, I'm good there.

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  8. Huh - all your sourdough loaves you've shared photos of have been beautiful to my baker eyes. But I know what you mean about getting stuck in a rut and seeking inspiration. Rebecca's loaves are spectacular! (Double chocolate olive oil? Holy cow!).

    Congratulations on getting out for another walk before the triple digits - may they be brief! Our weather has a few triple digits yet in store for us before the autumn cooldown, but the endless summer end is in sight.

    Chris from Boise

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    1. The heat of summer is a little like depression, isn't it? You know it's not always going to be this way but it's almost impossible to believe that.
      And Rebecca's loaves have inspired me so much.

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  9. Beautiful bread...You'll get there too. Don't give up.

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  10. Those loaves should be on a jigsaw puzzle or a biscuit tin.

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  11. To be honest, I don't know how you can be baking in that heat. Honestly. You're a better woman than I am. I'd be slapping a loaf of mooshy white bread on the table and letting people undo the twisty tie.

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    1. Well, the AC is on and I probably should not be baking in this heat but sometimes I do. You made me laugh with your sentence about the smooshy white bread and the twisty tie.

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  12. I've been baking bread for many years and have been put off by the many methods and rules you seemingly just have to follow to make sourdough. I think I'll jump in the deep end seems to work with other kitchen endeavours so wish me luck.

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    1. Well, that's what I've done for many years and then suddenly, as I look at Rebecca's loaves, I'm thinking-- Whoa. That's what they're supposed to look like, huh?

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  13. Double chocolate olive oil sourdough? Oh, be still, my beating heart. It looks amazing!

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  14. I'm not even a bread lover (I know, sacrilege in France), but I'm going to hope over to Youtube and check out some recipes. Her bread looks amazing!

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    1. Wait! What? I thought all human beings were bread lovers! You are unique.

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  15. I'm just not a baker. At one time I had a bread machine but I think a real baker would hate those machines.
    Your friend makes pretty loaves but all that work and then eaten up in minutes. That's why I rarely made cookies for my children as the five of them would have those cookies gone before I could let them cool off!

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    1. I think a bread machine is fine. I remember many, many years ago when I was a child and we didn't know anyone who made bread, my mother bought some frozen bread dough made into loaves that you could thaw and bake. I swear that to this day I have never eaten any bread that tasted better to me. It was just an epiphany!
      Some of us love the process of baking and cooking so much that it really isn't the eating of the results that brings us the most pleasure. I know that sounds weird but it's true.

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    2. I remember those frozen loaves! We had them here in Australia and I always kept a few in the freezer because with four kids ravenous after school it doesn't do to be out of bread! I wish they were still available.

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  16. bread is something I have never tried to make and I doubt I'll start now. I eat very little bread anyway because I have determined that it gives me gas and just like having to pee just about every time I stand up and certainly every time I just walk into the kitchen, farts happen whether I want them to or not.

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    1. Sourdough is supposed to be easier on your gut because it's fermented. Good for the microbiome. I wonder if you would find that true.
      Yes. Our bodies really do start telling us that we're getting old(er) in odd and uncool ways, don't they? Jesus.

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  17. Mary I cannot tell you how much this just pleases the dickens out of me I am honored to be here on your blog and to see my bread there looking like it’s in my own damn red kitchen. I love you to pieces. XORebecca

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    1. And I love you to pieces, you goddess, you!

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  18. Back in the hippie days, I made all our bread for about a year, but it was not sourdough. I quit when I had to go back to work/school and wasn't hanging around the house all day and able to tend to bread. Nothing like fresh, crusty bread straight out of the oven, whether it looks like those beautiful Rebecca loaves or not. I got back into baking and sourdough during the pandemic lockdown. It took awhile to get a good rise (you've already got that part down), lively starter, shaping, temperature and the right tools/pans being key. I've been thinking about going back to making my own bread as the price of good, seedy sourdough here in the SF Bay Area has gotten crazy. $12 a loaf! I've kept my starter going by making this recipe for overnight sourdough waffles every couple of weeks or so, keeping the waffles in the freezer and warming them in the toaster. Highly recommend: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018025-sourdough-pancake-or-waffle-batter

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    1. You know what? I looked at that recipe and realized that I had saved it in my NYT's cooking app! Never tried it. I might try it for Sunday's pancakes though. Thank you for the reminder!
      Twelve dollars a loaf for bread! Damn! Well, it's probably worth it but yeah, you might want to get out your baking tools!

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  19. Those ARE amazing loaves. I would hate to eat them, they're so beautiful. I'm glad Rebecca takes pictures of them!

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