high-bar baking

I haven’t made bread in a while. It’s down to almost desperation times in the freezer; I made ribollita last week and completely exhausted my stores. What is ribollita without crusty bread? Soup. 

So to replenish my stash, I turned to my favourite sourdough recipe, courtesy of King Arthur. I was hooked from the second I heard the nickname Martin gave it: “Don’t be a bread hostage.” Don’t be a bread hostage! I’d done sourdough before, and it had always turned out well. Bread is lovely, but it requires so much babysitting. I don’t want to babysit! I don’t want fiddly bits, unless it’s a gorgeous Football Saturday and I have nowhere else to be. Then I can do whatever strength-building folds you want me to, at any hour of the day. The rest of the time, I’d like my life back, thanks. 

The recipe also uses unfed sourdough starter, aka discard. Which means I don’t even have to feel bad about my barely-alive starter. A dream come true, really.

All this makes me sound like I bake bad bread. I do not. I’m not out here winning any James Beard awards, but I bake bread that makes me incredibly happy. Dark crust, soft and flexible interior, layers of flavour and sourness. Even those gorgeous little bubble-blisters on the outside. Everything I want out of bread. 

To keep it fresh, I slice my loaf (giving the other one away, of course) and freeze the slices separately on a wire rack. Then once they’re frozen, I put them in a plastic bag for long-term storage. I learned the hard way that you should not (A) freeze an entire loaf of bread, unless you have specific plans for eating it all at once or (B) freeze sliced bread with all the slices touching. They will stick to each other, and you will be sad. Then whenever I want one, I zap it in the microwave until it’s more damp than frozen, then toast it. You didn’t think I was going to end the sentence at “damp bread,” right? 

If I know I’m going to be freezing it, I’ll bake the loaf a little lighter than I might otherwise. That way I leave some headroom for toasting without burning. 

I can’t emphasize strongly enough how awesome bread is. I want to say something deep and meaningful, but I’m stuck over here at: “Wow… I made that.”

Go bake yourself some happiness.