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Shopping at the farmer’s market isn’t like going to the grocery store. When going to the store I go with a list in hand. I know what I am going to make, and I know what I need to buy. At the farmer’s market things are the other way around. I buy what is in season, what is fresh, what looks good and what is available at a good price.
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Read any number of baking forums that discuss baking sourdough bread and you might get the idea that keeping a sourdough starter is rather like keeping a pet. Granted, it takes far less care than a cat, and far more than a pet rock. A gold fish, perhaps. A gold fish that, inevitably, once you’ve fed and tended it for awhile, you’ll eventually bake up and eat. Disturbing as that may seem, it still doesn’t change the fact that plenty of bakers actually refer to their starters with pet names. Maybe we’ve just been inhaling too much flour.
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The official grand opening of the Pearl Farmer’s Market was last weekend. A few weeks ago this was a sleepy little farmer’s market that one could easily traverse. Given a little media exposure, however, that’s now not the case. Now, it’s practically come early, or don’t come at all.
My husband had taken the day off today. We had no committments and, other than getting up to walk the dog, no where to be at any particular time. For us, this is a rarity to be cherished. On the spur of the moment we decided to go to the Antique Rose Emporium but within minutes of our arrival the sky opened up and down came some much needed rain. It’s dry here. It’s beyond dry, really. We entered stage 2 water restrictions several days ago. According to the LCRA we only got 13.76 inches of rain here last year, making for the third driest year on record since 1871. Suffice to say, while the rain might have ruined our plans, we didn’t complain too much.
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I’d planned on joining Pinch My Salt’s BBA-Challenge. Unfortunatley I missed the cut-off date to join, but I’ve decided to play along at home anyway. The first bread in the book is “Anadama Bread.” Compared to many of the breads I’ve made using Reinhart’s books, this bread was quick and simple to make! The warm temperatures here in Texas made for quick rising times, leaning more to the 60 minute side than the 90. For someone used to making sourdoughs that have 4 hour rise and 2-3 hour proofing times, this bread went by in a blur – but not so quickly that I wasn’t able to take step-by-step photos.
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To me, there’s nothing better than fresh produce that comes straight from the farm. It often costs a bit more than what you buy from your the chain grocery, but unlike the price variance between Wal-Mart and H.E.B., Safeway, Randall’s or Kroger’s the difference is worth it.
For one, I know who I am supporting. I’m supporting that person, that person right there who handed over my produce and took my money with hands that have rich dirt still permanently embedded in their cuticles. I’m supporting them, and the cute tow-headed kid who’s counting my change on his fingers and wearing a money apron that’s four sizes too big because he’s out helping Mom and Dad with the family business. Read the rest of this entry »
It seems, at times, that there’s as many ways of making bread as there are stars in the sky. Unleavened flat breads such as injera that seem to have a closer relationship to pancakes than bread, more dough-based flatbreads such as naan, roti, tortillas and the like, yeastless “quick” breads such as cornbread, commercial yeast-risen breads, and the ever popular “wild yeast” or sourdough breads.
While I sometimes make bread with commercial yeast, I tend to lean towards sourdough. I enjoy the complexity of flavor and it is reportedly lower on the glycemic index as well. I certainly enjoy the challenge of making a bread that might take two, or even three, days to make. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to “The Yeast I Could Do,” a blog exploring the journey of bread, of baking, of gardening, and of things between. It may seem like an odd mix – the combination of baking and gardening, but what is a fresh loaf of rosemary sourdough without herbs snipped fresh from the garden?
The two are not so unalike as one would first imagine. At their core both baking and gardening take very few ingredients; patience, warmth, water, love. One may use soil and the other flour, but they are still both very hands-on, tactile, engaging pursuits that take one back to a slower pace of life. Neither bread nor plants follow a clock, they have their own time and we, as bakers and gardeners, are asked to step back, take a breath, to slow down from our hectic life and to stop and smell the rosemary.
This site is a mere seedling now. It is the youngest of sourdough starters. I have grand plans – interviews with local bakers and organic nurseries, magazine and book reviews, and a few more things besides. I’ll get there when I get there, and in the process I’ll learn and grow. It’s the yeast I could do.