Friday, September 14, 2012

Sourdough....49º

I had such good luck with my sourdough bread for several months, that I just assumed it would continue...So last week when I made 5 loaves and they turned into bricks, I blamed the cooler weather, when putting them in the hot sun to raise and the dough turned to a soggy lifeless glob, i decided they got too hot...BUT yesterday I thought I had it all figured out and when Herb suggested the new heated floor in the bathroom would make a good place for the dough to rise I took it to a higher level and decided that the shower might be even better, I ran hot water in the shower, and with the heated seat thought that would be the perfect place to let it rise in the moist environment...I did the first rise, it was okay but not moving like I wanted it to...Sooooo I keeping the bowl covered set it on the tile floor of the bathroom where the tiles seem warmer...Eh, moving but still not just right...I tried my old tricks used when Herb and I did bread for the market, I heated rice packs and set them under and on top of the bowl...By late afternoon I decided enough was enough and started to shape the loaves...Damn, it had the same soggy (not spongy and elastic) feeling of the week before...Yup you guessed it last night at 8pm Herb took them out of the oven for me and yes they are bricks...Didn't stop us from sampling one of them warm from the oven and it tasted good but I know that cold they will be better to start building a wall instead of making sandwiches!..Today I will make a quick batch of the HB buns for bacon, tomato and lettuce sandwiches that will be our dinner tonight when Mona and Jerry arrive...Since I don't give up easily, I'm thinking that I need to add more flour in the kneading process but I have to get the sourdough starter built back up before I try another batch...Any ideas for the bricks?...Hugs to all.....OWAV:)

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