BakerAunt
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We are having a rainy Wednesday, which is good for those trees we had planted last Friday. I decided to make Barley Crispbread again, as the recipe has proved very popular with my husband as well as with me. At least they are large, so they are not scarfed down as fast as the cheese crackers. I have been refining that recipe from the Swedish baking book, which means figuring out what flours to use, reducing the salt, and ignoring directions that do not work in a home kitchen. I do not own a 40x40 cm baking sheet, nor would it fit in my oven. Today, I decided to replace the 100g of wheat flour, preferably stone ground and high in gluten, for which I have been using Bob’s Red Mill bread flour with 50% BRM whole wheat and 50% KAF high-gluten flour, as I want to conserve my bread flour and use up the three bags of high gluten flour that has been sitting on my shelf. Given that my mixer can’t handle this small amount of dough on low speed (and maybe not on any speed), and that trying to knead with the mixer meant 15 minutes of continuously stopping the mixer to re-adjust, which I’m worried may wear out the mechanism, not to mention my patience, I decided to do the 15 minutes of kneading by hand after I initially mixed up the flours and waters and mixed in the melted butter. What could be more low speed than that? As it is a clay-like dough, it was easy to knead. I have not kneaded by hand for a long time, and I’d forgotten how soothing it can be. The dough is now rising. If it comes out well, I may go ahead and post the recipe here at Nebraska Kitchen, since the adaptation I was forced to do, given the lack of explanation about flours and other matters really does make this recipe my own.
I have a starter that gets refrigerated. I wake it up by letting it sit out on the counter, where it begins to develop bubbles throughout, then I stir it and use it, then feed it. So, it's not unusual that yours is more active when warmer.
Most directions for starters say to feed the starter, and when it gets bubbly, stir and use. I've always assumed with those starters that they then need to be fed again. I've done some of the KAF recipes that use a bit of starter to get a sponge going, and those seem to work best when my starter has been fed and has had time to get active--bubbling and rising up. (See Jeffery's Rye bread recipe.)
You could start by making a sponge with a cup of the sourdough and some water and flour and letting it sit and get bubbly for about 8 hours before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
In terms of amount of flour, it depends on how thick your starter is. Mine tends to be "thick liquidy" if that makes any sense. I've found that I need to add about 1/4 cup of flour per cup of starter to KAF recipes.
I usually put a bit of yeast into my sourdoughs, but I've been thinking of trying a straight sourdough and seeing what happens.
If you want, Aaron, I can post the long loaf sourdough recipe that I use. I put it in one of those pans that has the holes in it (has space for two but I usually make one). It comes from Sunset magazine, sometime in the 1980s. It includes a sponge--for sourer flavor--or not for milder.
I went to the Bob's Red Mill site last Wednesday, saw some items were in stock (but limited to two each) and placed an order for 2 bags of whole wheat flour, 2 bags of wheat germ, and 2 bags of steel-cut oats. They seem to have a flat rate of $9.99. They are limiting order to two of each. I don't know if that includes cases, so I did not do any of those. According to the UPS tracker, the order will arrive tomorrow.
I've yet to hear from KAF on the order I placed on April 13, which I only placed because I had Bakers Bucks expiring, and I could not get an answer from KAF on whether that expiration date could be extended. The website showed all three items in stock. I'll give it another week to see if I hear about shipping, then I may need to call.
We did our Tuesday grocery run today. I saw a bag of unbleached Gold Medal flour--and they rarely carry unbleached. Even though it was $4.99, I bought it; with our Tuesday Senior 10% discount, that at least makes the price a bit better, but I could kick myself for only buying one bag at $2.99 when we last went to Kroger on March 13. I noticed that the local grocery seems to be running low on some items, so I went ahead and bought more canola and grapeseed oil.
Meat shortages are supposed to be coming due to the closure of meat packing plants where there were major outbreaks among workers. The one in Logansport is among them.
We had to re-schedule our dog's veterinary appointment, as the vets are taking turns coming to the clinic, and we wanted to get the vet we've been seeing; she is good with herding dogs, as she has some of her own. The vet practice has been sending staff members out to the car to get the animal, but that won't work with our girl, who won't even let my husband take her for a walk without me, and we've had her almost six years. And she is terrified of the vet clinic. Last time we went, she hid under our chairs in the exam room, and the vet was initially puzzled that there was no dog present, perhaps not realizing that 40 lbs. of cattle dog could do that. If the vet agrees, I'll wear a mask and go into a back room with her so that she can get her yearly exam and shots. Otherwise, we will have to postpone it.
