Scrumptious Saturday...It don't mean a thing...without a caraway zing!

Sourdough...it's alive and well. 

(thanks to 720 Square Feet

What a wonderful momma and teacher.)

 No matter what, it this sourdough cannot be killed.  I have (unintentionally) neglected  it...I have shared it with many...I have pancaked and waffled it away.  I have used it till there was just a few tablespoons left in a jar (just fed it a bit each day) a voila...it has come back with vigor unknown to mankind (until now.)  

No this sourdough cannot be beat!  

I have done everything but really make a loaf of bread with it...I am intimidated by sourdough breads.  The vast quantities of time...exacting quantities and the artful manipulations of it...and patience.  Yes, one of the many things I lack is patience.  

Being a type A person my whole life, I have been mindfully attempting to transition to a type B...although I still have type A attacks, mostly I try to take things as they come, and to challenge myself, I am attempting my first sourdough.  

Now most people trying something new would try a tried and true method and recipe...not me.  I am going rogue.  I am looking at a regular recipe for caraway rye bread, a white sourdough recipe, and all sorts of variations of the two then attempting to, with my limited experience, to create a sourdough version.

So here it goes...

Rye and Caraway Sourdough Bread

2 cups plain old Sourdough Starter

1 cup warm water

2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp yeast

2 Tbs melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups rye flour

1 Tbs caraway seeds

2-3 cups flour

Mix the starter, water, yeast, salt, butter, sugar, rye flour and caraway seeds in a non metal bowl.  Let sit for about an hour.  Add the white/wheat flour to the bowl until it starts to form a ball.  Dump it out onto a well floured table and begin to kneed.  It has the texture of playdough...and feels a bit wet, but that it the rye flour talking...

Once it is nice and soft, place in a buttered non metal bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight.  In the morning it will be huge and smell delightful.  Carefully dump it out onto a lightly floured table and divide into two balls.  Decide how you will form these loaves, let rise again in their loaf form for about 1-3 hours (depending on the texture you like...the longer, the bigger bubbles and more artisan it will look) Cut some slashes in it, maybe butter it and put some seeds on top...whatever floats your boat.

Bake until it sounds hollow.

350 for a soft crust

450 with a steam treatment for a crunchy crust

Not so hard after all.  

In fact, it may start showing up more frequently in the bread rotation.