Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Same Name, Different Adventures



Look! In the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's...... Super!Mom! Able to leap over toy cars in a single bound! Faster than a spilling sippy cup! She can lay on a guilt trip more powerful than a speeding locomotive! With eyes in the back of her head, she can see everything!
Let me re-introduce myself. I'm Super!Mom, wife to Super!Dad and mother to Super!Kid(age 2 1/2) and Super!Baby(age 2 months). We have a housemate, Super!Uncle, and two dogs. The hubby and I have recently joined Weight Watchers, so a great many of the recipes I post will be low-fat or sugar-free or some other "healthy" thing, but don't let that scare you. I will do my best to include full-flavor versions.
Today, I'm posting one of my favorite things: bread. Specifically, whole wheat sourdough bread. I have a sourdough starter that is 3 years old. Its name is Boo, and it's STINKY. I prefer to use weight measurements rather than volume for baking, because it's more accurate.

Full-flavor:
1 lb. bread flour (but all-purpose flour works just fine)
8 oz warm water
6 oz sour starter
1/2 oz kosher salt
1/2 oz yeast

Combine yeast, starter, and water. Let sit for a few minutes, until it bubbles. Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add liquid mixture; mix no higher than speed 2 for 10 minutes. Remove dough from mixer, and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with moist towel or oiled plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled. Form into desired shape, bake at 400 degrees F. Cool and eat.



For the "healthy" version, substitute whole wheat flour for half the total flour. The above picture was a doubled recipe.

You can add just about anything to this dough-- I find that it's very forgiving. Roasted peppers are good, just puree them and use them in place of water, but no more than 1 cup "liquid" total. You can make onion rolls by toasting dehydrated onion pieces and adding that to the dough. Pecans, dried cherries, whatever strikes your fancy.