Peter, you're ahead of the rest

I’ve seen a recent uptake in bread making since people started isolating themselves. It’s amazing that taking the time to slow down has inspired people to try something new and a bit time consuming. I started making bread a little over a year ago all with the help of my friend Rick ‘Peter’ Peckenus. Who is Peter you ask? Well, he’s a growing boy who loves to help me make bread. Have you figured out what he is yet? If you guessed a sourdough starter, you’d be right!

Sourdough is super easy to start and keep up. All you need is some flour, water and time. I followed King Arthur’s starter recipe (here’s the link). There is a lot that you will need to discard during the set up weeks (or you can find someone who already has a starter and ask for some of theirs). Taking care of a starter is pretty easy too - you just need to feed it once a week if your starter lives in the fridge or if the starter lives on the counter you need to make sure to feed it every day. Typically, I’ve fed Peter with normal all purpose flour and some tap water but right now I’ve been feeding him whole wheat pastry flour and water. If you miss a day or week of feeding, don’t worry. Starters are very forgiving.

Why did I decide to start a sourdough starter? I thought it would be fun and I love baking. Plus sourdough is my favorite type of bread. I love the taste and texture of sourdough bread. I also wanted to start my hand at bread making so it was the perfect excuse to start him. It does take time in order to develop the sourdough flavor though. I am still very much working on developing the flavor for Peter. I think part of why it’s taking a while is because he lives in loosely sealed jar in the fridge.

Even without the flavor, I still really enjoy the bread and baked good I’ve made. I’ve also had to learn different cooking techniques I wouldn’t use otherwise. The very first thing I tried making with Peter was pancakes. They turned out ok but weren’t my favorite. The next thing I made was bread. Before this, I had never made bread by myself. Kneading has been a difficult skill to learn but I think I have gotten it down (or I hope I have at least). Punching the dough down is soothing and calming. When everything that’s happened over the last year, I appreciated having that outlet.

I’ve made bread (regular, French and focaccia ), scones (various flavors), sugar and chocolate chip cookies, brownies, muffins, beignets, waffles and I’m sure some other things. Bread is my go to because I love the kneading and time it takes. Plus there’s so many things I can try with it. This most recent batch, I tried in my dutch oven instead of a baking sheet. It cooked longer than normal but the crust was crunchy and soft on the inside. I’m excited to try that again.

Scones have been a hit with my roommates. They started as a struggle because I could not get a course crumble with the flour and butter. I tried cubing the butter, grating it. Nothing worked til I tried the food processor. That made the crumble I needed. My dough has been easier to knead and it comes out better than they were before. My roommates really like the chocolate chip scones I’ve made. I tried doing a cinnamon chocolate one but the chocolate overpowered the cinnamon. I need to try those again soon.

The vast majority of the things I have made are from a cookbook I got while I was on a trip to Alaska. At that point, I was struggling to find recipes online beyond bread recipes or the recipes I tried weren’t that great. The book I use is Simply Sourdough : The Alaskan Way (you can find it here). The only recipe that I’ve been disappointed by was the brownie recipe in this book but there’s many I have yet try. One day I will have tried them all.

One thing I have found as I’ve made different recipes is that I needed Peter bigger than I had him initially. When I have looked at other baker’s starts online (like this one), it seems that they care for theirs a bit differently that I do. I feed Peter and then take what I need after an hour or two. This typically allows for the bacteria to begin eating and producing bubbles. A few times after I’ve fed him and had to make extra because he grew too much too fast or I hadn’t taken enough from him. Regardless though, he hasn’t ever gotten mad at me for feeding him too much.


Have you been making more during this time or trying something new?

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