Sourdough Starter, Day 7

Faster than oozing molasses.

More powerful than a glass of water.

Able to raise whole loaves of bread in the oven.

Look! All over the bottom of the oven!

It's spilled milk! It's cake batter! It's my sourdough starter!

I woke up this morning, ready to make my latte and inspect my starter. Not wanting to disturb the activity of the starter, I decided I wouldn't take it out of the oven until after my latte was made and I was ready for the photo shoot. (I usually, take it out, look at it, then replace it in the oven while I'm preparing said latte.) Ha ha. Silly me. I should have known that any plans I had would not have been fulfilled. One glance at the oven and I saw a mass of starter all over the bottom. :( Who would have thought that it would increase in volume so much over night? It might have been that I put it back in the oven too soon after using it for roast chicken last night. The hotter than normal environment could have been too much for my poor yeasty buddies and they went into hyperactive mode... expanding like mad.

Luckily, it was fairly easily cleaned and minimal damage occurred. :)

Yes... those caked on lines of starter goo are the remnants of what had oozed over the top of my jar. That top is a screw on lid, I might add. This baby really wanted to escape! :P

Look at that bubbling activity, though. I am so excited because I did not think that the starter would be this advanced by today, day 7, the final day of feeding. :) Maybe that little extra heat did it a bit of good.

Sir Arthur tells the starter should smell and taste sharply sour. Boy does it ever! What a drastic change in both from yesterday. For that matter... there've been drastic changes all around... in appearance, smell, and taste. The amount of fizzy bubbles have increased ten fold to cover the entire surface of the starter and even permeate throughout its contents.

Since my little pet is ready to begin the actual process of making bread, Sir Arthur, King of Flour tells me to discard all but 4 ounces (or 1/2 cup) of the starter and add to it 1 cup (8 oz.) warm water and a scant 2 cups (8 oz.) all-purpose flour. Then I wait... again... for another 6 to 8 hours. At this point, says the King, "the starter should be active, with bubbles breaking on the surface." Touching it will provide evidence that the gluten has formed as it should feel "somewhat elastic". When it has reached this stage, I will either use it, or place it on one of the two maintenance schedules he recommends. I'll probably opt to make my first loaf at this time.... wish me luck.

Now it's off to ponder my pizza stone dilemma... and buy more all-purpose flour. :)

Sourdough Starter, Day 6

"Walk this way, talk this way! Walk this way... just give me some head!"

Really Run DMC? Really? I had no idea these lyrics were so dirty... actually, I guess I did and I should have expected this line, but I was listening to "Walk This Way" this morning and this line just caught me totally off guard. I always find it funny when songs have blatant sexual references... especially where I don't expect them.

Okay... on to day six of my sourdough starter shenanigans...

Yesterday was almost catastrophic for my yeasty friends. Since I'm keeping the starter in the oven, I've placed a large sticky note on it reminding my roommates to be aware and take proper precautions so as to not bake up my starter as they are warming the oven. The sticky note was on the handle of the oven (I have since moved it to cover the actual oven controls)... clearly that was the wrong place for said reminder. I was sitting innocently at my computer when I began to hear the beeping of the oven heating up. It didn't register in my mind what the noise was immediately so I let it go for a bit... then sprang to my feet to rescue my poor starter. Luckily, it wasn't in there for very long, and the next feeding was only hours away so I could scoop out the hardened clumps that had formed in the heat. Today the starter looks unharmed... and has still been bubbling away, so I'm remaining optimistic that all is still well. The new placement of the sticky note is sure to catch everyone's attention, there's no way this mishap can possibly happen again. Phew!

So here it is. It's kind of evident by the larger size of the bubbles that the mixture has definitely thickened a lot. It's very gloopy (<-- that's a technical term, people). The smell is slightly sour and the flavor is actually beginning to resemble that of sourdough.

Tomorrow is day seven, and is supposed to be the final day of the starter process... but I don't think my yeasty mates will be ready for the bread making process. That, and since I am approaching the end, nearing the actual making of the bread, I am beginning to worry about how to carry out the baking. Sir Arthur, King of Flour tells me that I need such supplies as a pizza stone. The stone, being super hot from warming in the oven, immediately allows heat to flow from it to the loaf which apparently sends the yeast into a "feeding frenzy"... causing the bread to "rise dramatically". The good news, my brother and his girlfriend gave me a b-e-a-u-tiful pizza stone for Christmas... the bad news, having to Greyhound back to Montreal, there simply was no room for said pizza stone... thus it remains in Ohio... yearning for my crappy apartment oven and the chance to aid in the process of sourdough bread making.

So... somehow I have to figure out how to tackle this problem. Either way, I will probably be feeding my starter for at least another two or three days... ergo I can prolong the solving of this dilemma for now.

I had to (pad) thai it...

Ha ha ha. How clever I am with that title. :P Well... I thought it was witty, anyways.

The first time I made pad thai was the last time as the recipe was quite horrendous. I don't really recall the flavor (except that it wasn't very good), or appearance for that matter, (it was many a years ago)... but the main thing I do remember is the handful of strange ingredients that required running all over creation to find. One of the items called for was some odd pickled item that was a strange bright green... I think it might have been little pearl onions (but probably not).. either way, it was strange... and green was most definitely not the color nature intended it to be. Where on Earth did I get that recipe? And why did I think it would be a good one? It's amazing the insight and skill a few years of experience will give you.

Having made those wonderful spring rolls (I'm really loving this whole linkage tool) I had a lot of bean sprouts left over (and still do, as a matter of fact). The first thing that popped into my head to utilize these sprouts was Pad thai, naturally, right? :P That left me with the task of finding a suitable recipe... with less extravagant ingredients. My first instinct (again... going off my love for the beloved Bittman) was to turn to 'How to Cook Everything', but, seeing as his recipe seemed to be a bit plain, I took to the internet for some more ideas. Mah-vel-ous, this idea was (<--- my ode to Yoda), as it gave me the idea to add a little extra heat with asian chili sauce, a little sweetness with tamarind concentrate, and a bit more crunch and flavor with some scallions. Actually, the next time I make this, I think I will omit the tamarind concentrate, or at least mix it with a bit of water before hand. Even though I mixed the concentrate with the fish sauce and sugar (in attempts to loosen it up a bit), I think it mostly absorbed the fish sauce and stayed rather clumpy... creating random bites of over-sweetness.

I made this last night and was a bit disappointed with it then, but giving it time to rest in the refrigerator overnight ended up doing a world of good. Eating it for lunch today was more enjoyable than dinner last night, I'd say.

Onto the recipe... before we go there, though, it's important to say that you MUST have all your ingredients prepared and ready to add to your hot pan. There is NO time for prep during the cooking process lest you want to scorch your ingredients. That being said, once the rice noodles are soaked and your ingredients prepped, the cooking advances extremely quickly... and there's not much prep, so, minus soaking the noodles, this recipe really only takes about ten minutes. (It's also important to read through the recipe a few times so you know what you're doing. I can't stress how quickly this cooks up once you get going.)

Pad Thai

Makes 4 servings (I halved this recipe for myself)

Adapted from Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything' (tweaked slightly by me)

Ingredients

• 12 ounces rice noodles, preferably vermicelli
• 3 Tablespoons peanut (preferred) or other oil
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 4 scallions, cut on the diagonal into about 1/2 inch pieces (reserve one for garnish)
• 1 cup peeled, large shrimp, roughly chopped (or use small shrimp and leave whole)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla, available at Asian markets)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon asian chili sauce (I used a bit more... and then garnished with more as well.. I like it spicy)
• 1-2 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate
• salt, if needed
• 1 1/2 cup mung bean sprouts (I should also say that bean sprouts most definitely do not last very long, even in the fridge)
• 1/4 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped (I had left over unsalted peanuts from the spring rolls which I used)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• Minced cilantro leaves (this is essential in my opinion)
• 2 limes or lemons, quartered (I opted for limes)

Preparation

Soak the noodles in warm water to cover until soft; this will take from 15 to 30 minutes. You can change the water once or twice to hasten the process slightly. (I soaked mine for about 18 minutes, changing the water once.) Drain thoroughly, then toss with half the oil.

(REMEMBER: PREPARE ALL THE INGREDIENTS BEFORE HAND. This includes mixing together the fish sauce, sugar, chili sauce, and tamarind concentrate so there is no fumbling to measure these ingredients once you get going.) Heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large, deep non-stick skillet, for a minute or so until the first wisp of smoke appears. Add the garlic and scallions and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, for another 30 seconds; don't worry about fully cooking the shrimp.

Add the eggs and let sit for 15 seconds or so, until they begin to set. Then scramble with the shrimp, garlic, and scallions, breaking up any large clumps. Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind concentrate, and chili sauce and cook, stirring, for 15 seconds. Add the noodles and toss and cook until heated through. Taste and add salt as needed. Add 1 cup of bean sprouts and toss to distribute through the noodles.

Turn the noodles out onto a platter and garnish with the remaining bean sprouts, the peanuts, the remaining scallion, a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes, and some cilantro. Squeeze some lemon or lime juice all over and serve, passing more lemon or lime around separately.

Mmmm... pull out those chop sticks and enjoy. :)

Sourdough Starter, Day 4 and 5

Oh the bounty I have reaped from Jean Talon Market. :) Payed a visit to my local vendors yesterday to stock up in case of an impending blizzard (too bad it was pretty much already blizzarding (and hailing on the way back) yesterday). Going to the market is pretty much a work out in itself... or at least the coming back bit... if you're me, that is, and fill a backpack and large Trader Joe's bag full delicious veggies and the like... my shoulders are still in pain. Boy is it worth it though (except for maybe the tripping up the metro stairs... I could have done without that). Listened to Radio Lab's "Numbers" podcast at the market and learned about Frank Benford who discovered a "cosmic preference for certain numbers" and Paul Erdos, a curious mathematician who wrote more mathematical papers with more people than anyone and as a result, there exists a relationship between him and many other mathematicians... like the six degrees of separation. It was an interesting episode. (Although... it took me twice as long to listen to it as I was so engulfed in my surroundings that I had to essentially restart it on my way home.)

Anyways...

Wednesday marked the first day of my starter's twice a day feedings with all-purpose flour. The King of Flour (King Arthur) tells me that this is because the rye flour developed the yeast and the all-purpose flour is now feeding said yeast. For me, doubling the feeding essentially means doubling my love and attention for my new friends. :P I wake up every morning thinking of my starter, enter the kitchen and strike up a conversation... well... not a conversation... let's remember, I'm not crazy. More like a "hello, buddies. How are you? Are you comfortable? Hungry? Doing well?" That sort of thing... and of course, it is pretty much one sided... but again... gardeners talk to their plants, do they not... so why can't I talk to my developing (or hopefully so) yeast?

I've combined days 4 and 5 mainly because I began to write this yesterday... eked out one sentence... and then stopped from exhaustion. Ha. But also, the starter has not changed much in appearance since yesterday... so these pictures and descriptions serve double duty.

This is a curious process because every time I discard and feed it, the mixture gets thick and gloopy, but as it rests and feeds for about 8 hours, the mix thins out... while still maintaining some of its elasticity. The smell, also, has mellowed out a bit and is far less pungent... almost smelling sourdoughy. Dare I mention the taste...? Or rather... dare I mention that I tasted it a bit when it was just the rye flour and water? I couldn't help it... Sir Arthur mentioned how it should taste after a week and I had to have something to compare it to. (I taste EVERYTHING... I make cheese and peanut butter treats for my dog occasionally (separately, of course... not so sure I'd be okay with feeding my dog a cheese-peanut butter combo... not that she wouldn't gobble them up and look back up at me with a face that says "what... no more?") and since they actually taste decently good... I decided a while back that I had to compare them to store bought dog treats. BAD IDEA! Boxed dog treats taste utterly disgusting. What do they put in them? And why do dogs like them?) The starter on days 2 and 3 tastes almost like it smells... not so pleasant. However, I can happily say that today my starter is beginning to taste like actual sourdough. :D

The color is more agreeable as well. No more unsightly discoloration and and strange dissociation. There doesn't appear to be as much activity now as there was the first couple of days, though. The bubbles are smaller and changes in appearance less drastic. But I guess it's good that there are still bubbles of any sort... signifying some feeding frenzy going on in the inter-workings of the flour.

This whole process is quite fascinating to me. Who would have thought that flour had so much liveliness within it? By the time my starter is fully developed, it will be strong enough to raise a loaf of bread, sans store bought yeast. How cool is that?

Radiating Risotto

For me, risotto is one of those great comfort foods, both to make and to eat. It's a recipe that requires a lot of attention, but really not that much skill, contrary to what seems to be popular belief. I feel, it seems complicated only in that it requires almost constant attention and stirring. I enjoy this somewhat tedious process, though... watching over it, stirring, putting more effort and energy into it. These are the most rewarding dinners for me... the ones that require more effort for a greater, tastier pay off.

Earlier this winter, I made a butternut squash risotto which was pretty much an utter failure. My brain was scattered... I totally lost track of what I was doing and ended up adding a good portion of my stock all at once... resulting in WAY undercooked rice which lead to unpleasant eatings... but the squash was nice. :) This time I may have slightly overcooked the rice (it lacked a slight bite that I wish I had maintained) in an effort to use up all the stock, the last scoop may have been one too many. Nevertheless, still creamy and all the right flavor components were there.

I'd began craving risotto again... pretty much right after the earlier disaster. Ha. I needed to redeem myself. Having some decaying peppers from Jean Talon, I decided it was necessary to roast them so that they would preserve in my fridge for a little bit longer. This, in my opinion, gave me a perfect excuse to make risotto with roasted peppers. :) And what a magnificent notion that was. (Although I still have a good cup or two of peppers left over and am wondering how I will utilize those.) This was one of the greatest risottos I think I have ever made. So many flavors that didn't overpower each other, but rather worked in copacetic harmony... with just the right amount of blissful heat from a jalapeno pepper.

Again, kind of going on a Mark Bittman binge these last couple days as this recipe stemmed from his cookbook too. Stemmed pretty loosely, though. I only really USED him for the basic idea of how to make risotto (sorry Mister Bittman... I feel a bit dirty for that :P). Having become a bit obsessed with food blogs and finding new, interesting dishes others were tasting, I have been ignoring my mountain (well... not mountain... maybe a small hill, or a mini mound, if you will) of cookbooks. What was I thinking? Trust the experts, that's what I should be doing... mastering the basics and then making my own tweaks.

I'm feeling a bit uncreative tonight :( so I'll save you all the agony of scanning further through my mundane thoughts by going on to the recipe. It's essential to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to add to the hot pan because there's little to no time to chop once you get going. Oh... right... feeling a lack of protein in this meal, I poached an egg to put on top. I learned this trick from a fellow blogger and I adore it. Poaching eggs is my new favorite culinary task to master... and I must say my skills are being honed nicely. I used to stare at the pot of boiling water, reciting a short prayer in my head that all goes well and wince as I put the egg into the swirling water, hoping all turned out well... but now it's no big deal. And the outcome is superb. I love the creaminess of the yokey egg spilling over my risotto... they mingle so wonderfully together.

Roasted Pepper Risotto

Adapted from Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'

Halved for little old me (As it is, the full recipe is supposed to serve 4-6, so I'll get a good three meals of this.)

Ingredients (halved)

• 2-3 cups chicken broth (again... I used all three cups, but could have omitted about 1/4 for a slight bite to the arborio.)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 a medium onion (I used 1 small red one)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds and all (of course, for slightly less heat, remove the seeds)
• 3/4 cup arborio rice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup basil, chopped (Further devastating my basil plant. I didn't have parsley, so I used a mixture of basil, oregano, and cilantro... Bittman states that any fresh herb will do (and suggests chervil to be "especially good") but not to substitute dry ones.)
• 1 Tablespoon softened butter (Master Bittman suggests that adding butter is the key to a truly excellent, creamy risotto... but I opted out of it.)
• 1/4 cup parmesan, grated
• about 1/2 cup Roasted peppers, chopped (I roasted a green, orange, yellow, and red one days before making this, but, in my haste to incorporate them, I took a bit from the top of the mix which ended up being only red and yellow... which I like anyways because they are slightly sweeter, adding a nice flavor contrast.)
• 1 egg

Preparation

Warm the stock in a medium saucepan over medium heat and leave the heat on.

Place the oil in a large saucepan or skillet, preferably non-stick, and turn the heat to medium. When it's hot, add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the rice and stir until it is coated with oil. Add a little salt and pepper, then the white wine. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.

Begin to add the warm stock, 1/4 cup or so at a time (I added by the laddle-full), stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When the stock is just about evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat medium to medium-high, and stir frequently (constant stirring is not necessary). (<---- Except, in my opinion it kind of is. Maybe because I'm too afraid that the rice will burn, but every time I left for a bit and came back to stir, the rice began to stick to the pan... I didn't like that... so I'd say constant monitoring is a must.)

Begin tasting the rice 20 minutes after you add it; you want it to be tender but with a tiny bit of crunch. It could take as long as 30 minutes to reach this stage. (I would say 25 is ideal.) When it does, add the butter (which I omitted), herbs, and parmesan. Adjust the seasoning and serve immediately.

I assumed I would have more time to chop my herbs and roasted peppers during cooking... which was not the case and so I ended up forgetting to add the peppers when I originally planned to (which was with the onions, garlic, and jalapeno). This actually worked out perfectly, though because ultimately I added them with the herbs and parmesan. As a matter of fact, this seems the better place to add them as they are already roasted and soft.

For the Poached Egg

Bring about two inches of water with a splash of white vinegar to boil in a medium pan. Whilst you wait, crack your egg into a small dish. Once boiling, bring the heat down to a slight simmer, swirl the water violently and slip the egg into the water. Let it be for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the whites are set. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate to dab dry a bit. Place atop a mound of risotto.

So delicious. In my opinion... this picture is almost Food Porn worthy. :) I molded my risotto in the bottom of a circular tupperware :P... and served it alongside a simple salad of mixed greens and my favored vinaigrette.

Sourdough Starter, Day 3

First of all... what is with this Montreal weather?? Yesterday it was drizzly and quite comfortable temperature wise. The day before it snowed and rained (and I think there might have been a bit of hail knocking against my window in the morning). Then we get to today and it's BLIZZARDING! Okay... so maybe it's not a blizzard outside as that would require gale force winds in addition to all this snow (when I think blizzard I think Jon Krakauer's 'Into Thin Ar' and the intense conditions on Mt. Everest... this weather is most definitely nowhere near that). There is a lot of snow coming down though which has me wondering if I dare venture outside for fear of turning into a snowman as I walk down St. Catherine. It's pretty cool to watch out my big windows, though. There actually seems to be little to no wind at all sometimes, which means I get to view these large tufts of snow drifting straight down in front of me. Other times it looks as if the snow isn't falling at all, but rather suspended in air, dancing around each other. It's actually quite mesmerizing.

***Shakes self back to reality***

Right... onto to our fermenting buddies...

The morning of Day 3 has arrived and I'm a little worried for the health of my starter. Is this the first sign of disaster? I sure do hope not. There's clearly fermenting going on... but there's also a bit of discoloration and this peculiar line of separation at the bottom. :/ Still going off the idea from 'What the #$*! Do We Know?', I'm trying to send it all my good vibes and lovin' (maybe a sticky note of love would do it some good?). I really do believe in the power of words and good thoughts to change the outcome of an event. On that note... I also talk to my little yeasty friends. :) Telling them to grow, feed, and be good... just do their thing and live. That might sound silly, but all the great gardeners talk to their crops, don't they? Encouraging them to grow, maybe even playing them music. (The show 'Mythbusters' on one of the greatest networks, The Discovery Channel, did an experiment with the power of music on plants... but, alas, I forget what the outcome was. For my purposes, I'm going to assume that some pleasant music did them well.) After all, the yeast emerging from the flour is a living creature and all living creatures need love and nurturing.

That's better... no more examining that unsightly segregation going on in the previous picture. Look at those bubbles, baby. Today, the starter is even more thinned out than it was yesterday and you can kind of see it's a bit darker. Not quite as many voluptuous bubbles today... it looks more foamy that bubbly. The scent (dare I say perfume?) seems to have intensified over night as well.

I still have about four hours left until the next feeding and at that time I'll stir it all up (of course) and incorporate the separated bits. I'm afraid to do so now as I know for packaged yeast, mixing too much damages the product. So I'll just wait... and hope for the best.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

As promised... here's the first installment of my tracking of the sourdough starter featuring the first and second day of this yeasty journey.

I contemplated detailing the process of how to make this starter, but that's not the goal of these posts. Mostly, I guess, this is for me to track the process of this fickle creature so, if something goes awry, I can return to these posts and check where I went wrong... or, if all goes well, then this will serve as a shining beacon of a job well done. :) For now, I will just say that this recipe comes from 'The King Arthur Flour Baking Companion'. The basic idea of a sourdough starter, according to my minimal understanding, is to halve and feed, and halve and feed, and halve and feed, etc. over the course of 5 days to a week to develop the natural yeasty product already existing within the flour. This is a daunting process for me on account of it's a long and involved one. It's only day two, and I am already feeling pretty attached to this little baby. Maybe because of the awesome transformation that I have already witnessed... wait... I'm getting ahead of myself there. Basically... I'm very fearful that my starter wont work out, and I will have wasted all that flour, time, and nurturing on a failure. As it's still early in the process, though, for now I will attempt to push that trepidation out of my mind and just focus on loving this smelly, yeasty being.

Day 1

This will hopefully be the most boring picture of the bunch (if all goes according to plan) on account of here, we simply have the mixture of water, rye flour, and a bit of molasses, pre any sort of fermentation. Looks normal, right... like if you add a few more cups of flour, a little yeast, and knead... you'll get a regular loaf of bread. No. That's not what we want... so we place it in the oven with the pilot light on (as per Sir Arthur, King of Flour's suggestion... supposedly this creates an environment that is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit... admittedly, leaving the pilot light on in the oven kind of kills the environmentalist in me that goes around the apartment unplugging all appliances not in use and turning off lights to rooms nobody is in :/). There it remains for the next 24 hours for our microscopic buddies that live deep within the flour to awaken and start feeding. Nom nom nom.

Day 2

Woah, baby!! Look at that action. The concoction doubled over night, thinned out, and is fizzing with fermentation. In addition to the the visual cues of activity, the starter has developed a very pungent smell. I've been attempting to find the words to describe this intense smell ever since I unscrewed the jar this morning. Some of the intensity, I assume, comes from the fact that I used rye flour which gives off a slightly different scent than regular, all-pupose flour... but mostly, the smell is that of extremely potent yeast. Although, normally I enjoy the light aroma of yeast, this definitely has a more tangy, offensive odor to it (but also grows on you the more whiffs you take :P).

Okay... that's it for the first installment... 5 more days to go.

Oh right... the sound track for this post (and most of my day) has been WNYC's Radio Lab Podcast. CHECK THEM OUT. This show, springing from NPR, is such an interesting and creative listen. (One of the podcasts I listened to today involved a sort of love story between this couple essentially revolving around the exchange of a few of these podcasts. Anyways, that's not the point, the guy in the story described this podcast as an "investigation of what it's like to be a human being..." and then later went on to say that if you listen to these podcasts (specifically speaking of a certain three, "Who Am I", "Memory and Forgetting', and "Sleep", but I think it can be aptly applied to all their episodes) "you will find afterwards that your soul has been expanded, even if just a little bit." I thought those were extremely superb explanations of the show and how it makes me feel/think.) So go onto iTunes, or their website, and listen to some of their podcasts... it's FREE... how can you say no to free?? :)

(Towards the end of writing this, though, I switched over to some songs from the movie 'Clueless'... as I couldn't concentrate on both listening and typing. :P)