The good news: my starter has started! See photo, left.
The bad news: So has the other starter I started when the first one didn’t start.
I know it sounds confusing, but when my natural levain was just sitting around getting chilblains, I got bored. I figured it would be two or three more days before I’d be able to do anything with it. So I made a poolish for a whole wheat bread with lemon, honey and poppyseeds. This recipe came from Daniel Leader’s seminal work, Bread Alone. Catchy title, eh?
The poolish method of bread making has been around for a long time. I remember my
gramma using it, only she called it a sponge, which doesn’t sound particularly appetizing. It involves making a starter from a small portion of the total ingredients–in this case it was ¾ cup of water, 1 ¼ cup of flour, and ½ teaspoon dry yeast. You mix that together and let it ferment anywhere from 2-10 hours and then use it as a base for your bread dough. You get some of the advantages of a natural starter–kick-started yeast, enhanced taste, texture, and keeping ability, for instance–without having to wait five days for the starter to get ready. Here’s how the whole wheat bread turned out.
But then, suddenly everything got ready at the exact same time. So I had to make the dough for the whole wheat bread and then hurry up and do the next addition to the all natural levain. My Heat & Heal pillow worked great. You nuke it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes and then for the next 45 minutes to an hour, it radiates a lovely moist warmth. It’s big enough to drape around aching shoulders, neck and other body parts. And now I’m going to have to call my friend Jo Ellen Thompson, who makes them, and tell her I’ve discovered a whole new market for her creations.
Subscribe
Mmmmmmm, whole wheat bread with lemon, honey and poppyseeds.
You know, Judi, you write so well I even like reading recipes for food I’m never gonna taste unless you make it.
You’re the only writer, besides Ruth Reichl, who makes my mouth water.
You have that effect on readers. When my book club read Bread Alone, three of the women brought recipes they made from the book. Tastiest discussion ever!
G
Judi’s stories about cooking make me ambitious, but sometimes/oftentimes I fail… I’m about to try making bread with the custom-commercial-yeast-free levain she gave me. Wish me luck.
Judi,
I know it was timing, but thanks so much for adding a new blog, especially on bread making. It was your writing about making bread in your books that made my life take a turn – in the right direction I might add. How in the world did you get the bread to rise with your temperatures being so cold? Stay warm!!
Susan–
Glad you enjoyed the post. There’s one more coming on bread and then a couple on falling in love with stoves by Jo-Ann Mapson.
Yo-Ann
You don’t need luck, just patience, which is so much harder…at least for me!
Grace–
Thanks for the kind words. Being compared to Ruth Reichl makes my day!