Dough Watch 2010

I'm a cook who likes a challenge. When I look through recipes I don't always look for something quick and easy. Quick and easy recipes definitely have their place, but I like to look for something I haven't done before. I used to live in a house with three other people and one day one of my roommates came through the kitchen and said in a slightly confused, slightly amused tone, “You are always cooking something different!” It's true. I almost never make the same thing twice. I wish I did so I could actually hone some recipes and make them my own. I make a conscious effort to do this sometimes, but mostly I am scouring for something new and challenging to make.

I tried naturally yeasted bread once before, and it was a complete disaster. It's bread that you don't add yeast to, but rather you let sit out for days on end in hopes that the natural yeast in the air will land on it. I tried this with a rye before; it took four days. It did not rise. When it came out of the oven it was the size of a softball and the weight of a bowling ball. The little bit I managed to chew did have decent flavor, but it was inedible. A very disappointing outcome after four days of anticipation. Some of you who have been my facebook friends may remember this as “Dough Watch 2008”. That was the last time I tried naturally yeasted bread....until now.

When Andrea came over the other day we were looking through all my baking books and I said that I have been meaning to try doing one of those week-long loaves of bread now that I don't have a job and I have the time. It was hard when I was working because I would have to plan out my week around baking. Be sure to start the dough on Tuesday before I went to bed so everything would be ready by Saturday morning when I would have time to bake it. Now, it doesn't really matter. I know I'll be here to do it. So, I impulsively started some San Francisco Sourdough Bread. I've read the reason San Francisco is so well known for it's sourdough bread is because of the strain of yeast that is naturally in the air in that part of the country. I'm hoping some of that trickles up the west coast.

I now present to you: “Dough Watch: 2010 Edition”.

I started on Wednesday. A little flour, a little water and a little cumin. Then it sat on the back on my piano for two days. It needs to be in a warm spot, and we have the window AC in the kitchen, so I'm trying it out in the back bedroom, which gets into the low-80s in the daytime.

This morning I did the first refreshment. I peeled off the hardened crust from the dough ball and scooped out the ooey-gooey center.

(pictured: hardened crust with gooey center removed)

So far I'm doing better than last time. My crust didn't really harden on that first loaf of rye bread, so I'm feeling optimistic.

Then I took the ooey-gooey center and added water and flour.

And made a new dough ball. It's sitting on the back of my piano again for another two days. Check back then for progress.