Attempting Sourdough

I always admired those people that made their own bread and aspired to doing that when I “grew up”.  Well, I was grown up by then, but just didn’t dare try the delicate balance of growing live bacteria and yeast on my kitchen counter. I mean that doesn’t sound gross or anything. After getting sick and struggling with gut issues and ultimately bacteria issues, my doctor prescribed cutting out all dairy and gluten from my diet. My chagrin was evident, and I’m still debating if I should follow the dietary orders. Nevertheless, bread products are still good solutions for quick and easy meals from scratch and they contain several important minerals and nutrients. My real drawback was the number of food allergies I currently had and my lack of desire to cut one more thing out that I might become intolerant to as I had heard others report. Regardless, I knew the real reason so many people have developed problems with the current wheat products offered on the shelves of today’s grocery stores. Standard bread contains glyphosate which is an herbicide and a desiccant which is sprayed on wheat. It also happens to be an antibiotic which likes to kill good bacteria. Sounds terrific, right? Glyphosate and GMO crops go hand in hand, so in order to avoid it, I am determined to utilize only ancient grains. Ancient grains include Emmer, Spelt, Einkorn, etc. They are named as such because they are ancient. They were grains sometimes found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and have not been altered or have minimally been altered, but not completely destroyed by the modern agricultural glyphosate practice. At first I just decided to go with Spelt and found that it made for a pretty easy equivalent to baking with traditional wheat. But when Emmer went on sale, I decided to buy that one when I ran out of Spelt and found that it was nothing like the other one. Ancient grains are more expensive than traditional wheat that we are used to buying at any traditional grocery store, but the cost is a hidden cost in that case. I would much rather pay for the more expensive wheat than deal with a disrupted biome and chronic disease. When using Emmer, I found that the more ancient grain became hard and more gritty if I followed a recipe traditionally. It seemed difficult to work with unless I added more liquid to the recipe in the form of applesauce, milk, or coconut milk. This helped, but not completely. A different doctor had talked about doing sourdough as a good option for people who sometimes dealt with digestive problems as the sourdough often yielded easier to digest breads due to the bacteria and yeast activity in the bread. I decided to try it out. First, by watching several videos on how to create sourdough, then by reading several sections from books I had. Yes, I do have a cookbook obsession. After all that pondering and dragging my feet, I finally decided to try it, and it was so easy! Sourdough does require a daily 5 minute feeding and watering and stirring daily practice, but it is not some daunting task anymore. Essentially, the first three days require about a 12 hour feeding window and then after that, you can feed it once daily. I like to incorporate this routine into my breakfast routine. While preparing breakfast I will scoop some of the sourdough out of the jar (you may hear it called discard sourdough starter) I just like to put it into another bowl or whatever I am making that day and use it in a recipe rather than discarding it or making a specific discard recipe. Then, I can add half a cup of flour and half a cup of water to the recipe. This kind of baking requires minimal effort as I can mix up the water, flour, butter, sourdough starter, and a sweetener mix, and then let the bread rise hands free! I do love a good baking practice because you just mix it all together and watch magic happen. My one complaint is that I had to go on vacation for a week and had to put my sourdough in the fridge, as I have heard of other people doing, but when I got back it had turned sour. I am a fan of sweet bread, not sour bread. Anyways, I am attempting to fix my sourdough starter which was so delicious before the trip. I certainly hope I can fix it because although many people like sour sourdough, I much prefer the savory fluffy bread that I am used to making. If you are hesitating on trying out sourdough – don’t! You can do it I’m sure, and if you are able to find ancient grains, try those because they are healthier for you and the planet.