Time to make the bread!

Time to make the bread!

Sourdough bread, that is! It's an all day affair, but oh, so satisfying when the results come out. I used to make bread all the time when I was younger, but I had this fancy bread machine. I would pour everything in, push some buttons, and in a few hours out would pop a perfectly formed loaf of bread! It was a strange square shape and had a hole in the bottom, but it tasted great. Then life got busy. You know, more than one kiddo, life in the ministry, multiple moves across the country. That sort of stuff. And it became a lot easier to just purchase bread at the store.

Over the years, I've made attempts to make bread from scratch. I got books and read all the recipes. I weighed and measured. My breads flopped. Every. Single. Time. I finally ventured into the realm of sourdough this past fall. That was a flop, as well! I watched the videos; I read the articles; I weighed the ingredients; I made sure that the water was the perfect temperature. And still, my sourdough never did anything. I just about gave up!

After a little more searching and a few more changes, I finally got it (mostly) right! I use freshly milled wheat, I don't really measure as I feed my sourdough starter, and when I make my bread, I don't worry about having "perfect" measurements. I learned that the amount of flour that I use in my bread can vary every time I make my bread, sometimes by as much as 1/2 of a cup. The day's humidity has a lot to do with it. My bread doesn't rise as fast as other people's do because my house stays cooler. But it eventually gets there. I'm sure when it gets to be summertime, I'll have to make more adjustments to how I do things. I'll just enjoy making it today and let tomorrow worry about itself!

The steps of making bread...