As I continue through the Sourdough Section of Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook I am learning a great deal about Sourdough and Starters. Today I did some sight seeing around Chico, and made another starter, a Next-Day Rye Sourdough Starter this time. Making a starter is fairly simple matter, and Suzanne Rosenblum writes that one should make a new starter for each time one bakes Sourdough. She writes that if you feed the starter you lose that initial sour flavor. I now have 2 from scratch starters going, one based beer, and one based on yogurt. The Next-day Rye starter that I have started today called for a slice of onion and a quarter clove of garlic. Quite interesting, not exactly sure what that does, but in went the onion and garlic! Can't wait till this starter is done so I can taste the results!
But today's bread was Sourdough Cornmeal Molasses Bread.
1.5 pound Loaf
1 1/4 cups white flour starter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons 2% milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons Molasses
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
As always I put the ingredients into the machine in the order given. Started the machine and set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes so I could check in to make sure everything incorporated. This time I had to add just an extra tablespoon of milk. The machine did its work, and 3 short hours later the bread was done.
I let the loaf cool for a few hours and then cut a slice. It was wonderful. I toasted a slice, buttered it and bit in. It was wonderful, the crust was perfect, the crumb perfect.
This is truly a wonderful bread