As many have these last few years, I've found myself without a regular source of income. I'm lucky in that there is income coming into our house via my other half and I do have other means of working until something steady comes along (or I get more clients...). Which is grand until you take into account that I cannot left to my own devices for very long. I need things to do. If I get bored, things happen. Sometimes it will be watching an entire series' worth of TV shows on Netflix. Sometimes it will be a hobby. Sometimes it will be learning something new. Sometimes, things that I do are not too successful. Sometimes the level of unsuccessfulness are rather epic.
This is why we cannot have nice things.
But we can, however, have bread. Lots and lots of bread. You see, I like baking things; it's edible alchemy! Delicious, delicious alchemy. Ground up wheat plus water plus yeast equals deliciousness. It's not gold, but it's damn close to me. Not to mention I'm a rather intense bread addict. In case you hadn't figured that out. When the Atkin's diet was popular, I had images of being the lone bread eater left yelling "you can pry my bread from my cold dead hands," a la Mr Heston while grasping a half-eaten French baguette. Bread is not negotiable for me.
But, back to baking! It's fun, quick and rewarding. I can whip up some mean cookies and cakes. Not to mention quickbreads like pancakes, waffles, biscuits, muffins, etc. I've even been known to play with yeast now and again, but not as much as it takes a little time.
But I have time, my friends. Lots of time. Hours every day after I finish with my small client base from my design business the boredom was creeping in. And, besides- bread is a habit that is it's own reward: it's cheap to make, homemade bread tastes great and the smell baking bread kicks the butt of every Yankee Candle on the planet. So, two 89 cent loaf tins and some yeast later, I was on my way. I made some dinner rolls and some killer cinnamon rolls, which were later used in a bread pudding, but I wanted more. This was too easy.
Enter Sourdough. Or, as I found out today from a German friend, Sauerteig! My parents moved from the midwest to California before I was born, so I grew up on this chewy, sour bread that will make me wax poetic at the drop of a hat. Namely Pioneer Bakery; their Sour Epi loaves and Roasted Chicken was my favorite meal growing up. No one outside of California gets it. Or makes it, really. At least that I've found. I've found some wonderful artisan loaves of non-sourdough over the years, but but it wasn't right. There have been loaves of bread that someone called sourdough, but they were all thinly veiled versions with very little sourness or texture.
I wanted Sourdough. Real Sourdough. But that's, like, hard, and stuff; you don't use those easy yeast packets, you use a wild yeast starter. Starters are alive, man. Alive! They are perpetually in some state of being active, not put into a freeze-dried coma (so to speak). It's like adopting another pet without knowing a thing about the animal you were adopting. They need attention and food. This was not a leap to be taken lightly. Google was kind enough to give me a few ideas, but I was skeptical. There were hundreds of ways to start a starter and a religious-like devotion to each method. I didn't want something complicated as I eventually was going to work more and didn't need the responsibility of a feisty bowl of yeast-goo to take care of.'
But, I was intrigued. This was a challenge and I needed a challenge. I was already a few seasons into watching Supernatural on Netflix and I needed to do something with my brain. I was descending into the doldrums and needed to get out. I needed Sourdough, too. Perhaps this could be self-serving on a few levels; no more boredom and I get a proper loaf of Sourdough! So, I found the least fussy starter recipe and took off running.
I'll just say this: you know you're a foodie when you can't sleep because you think you might have killed your starter. I didn't, of course. But that kind of diversion, an unexpected thing happening with something unfamiliar, was what I needed. I had something to do, even if it wasn't going to a 9-5 job every day. I went through many loaves of weird, but yummy, bread before I finally got my brain wrapped around how to use a wild yeast starter. I'm still learning, but I feel human again.
I'm not sure if learning how to make Sourdough or just the presence of good bread that did it, though. Frankly, I don't care. :)
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