So you all know I grew my own starter and made my very first batch of sourdough bread. Here’s the two finished loaves:

And here’s one of them cut (the second one is in the freezer):

Also here’s my Dutch Oven that I absolutely love!

Now my thoughts:

1. My starter Rye-N did his job! The bread rose and had a decent crumb for an total novice bread maker. So yay Rye-N!
2. The bread had a really good “oven spring” which is the rise in the first 20 minutes of cooking. I’ve already said Rye-N did his job, but so did my Dutch Oven. They were a great team.
3. I kept hearing from all the videos I watched on making sourdough bread that it took time to get the dark color. My oven however, is an over-achiever and I was looking for ways to slow down the color. Ovens are all so very different.
4. The crust was very crackly-chewy and the inside tender. Overall I was very happy with the way my first try came out.
5. BUT! And this is the weird part for me, I was not ultimately impressed with the taste. I actually like my simple gluten-free bread I make better. The one with the cheaper flour (that’s relative — gluten free flours are more expensive in general). I am truly surprised by that, but it just means I have a fairly easy go-to recipe at my fingertips.

So overall, I’d call this a success for my first try. While my rye starter was a total rock start, I’m going to experiment with different starters and recipes over time. I’m having fun working with different yeasts, trying different things and learning in the process I still find it hilarious that I’m doing this now when I’m limiting both gluten and wheat in my diet, but that’s usually how I do things, LOL.

So that’s my big sourdough adventure! Now I have a question for you all: What’s your favorite kind of bread?

Happy Monday! Most of us in the U.S. lost an hour on Saturday night, and this year, I am feeling it. I usually adjust quickly though, and hope all of you do too!

Friday it rained, and Saturday was cloudy with a misty sprinkle here and there. Maggie and I ignored the moody weather and took a second walk to see the stream behind our house. Turns out, other dog walkers had the same idea They were all leashed and well behaved, so that made it nice for all of us. It’s a rare event for the little stream to make it’s way down the hills, and we all seem drawn to it, LOL! Well except at dusk-ish or dawn-ish when the coyotes are out. They were definitely hunting early Sunday morning and when I went out back, it sounded like they were near the stream. Maggie was having no part of going outside once she heard them — smart dog!

Also on Saturday, Wizard and I went to a big box home store, and found a couple pictures for the living room — I’m really happy as we believe the pictures will help tie all the elements of the room together (at least in our minds, which is good since we’re the ones who are living here )  While at the store, I looked at Dutch ovens and Wizard was over that dilemma. “JUST BUY IT!”  So I now have a Dutch oven, LOL.

Sunday I tried making sourdough. It was an all day event that produced two hopeful loaves which are the final proofing, or whatever it’s called at this stage, in the fridge. With no sourdough experience, I have no idea how it will turn out. We will find out today when I bake it! I’m also trying a gluten free pizza dough, I’ll have to let you know in the comments how that comes out since I’m writing this will the dough is rising. Note to self: Why do I tackle two projects like this in the same day? 

Oh and a random comment — the cold, freezes and snow in some areas did not kill the poppies. I’m surprised! When the sun is out, the hills light up in an orange carpet. We can see then from our dining room windows, and on walks. We are enjoying the moment as the heat and less scenic views will be here soon enough.

How was your weekend?

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week!

1. I have not made sourdough bread yet, but I’ll introduce you to my sourdough starter, Ryn-N. He’s really excited for his debut. I even had to move him to a clean jar and put a name tag on him. The first picture is Rye-N right after I “fed” him. The blue rubber band marks the level he’s at then. The second pic is him doubling in size after 6 hours, which means he’s a very active sourdough starter!
2. This is a gluten free bread I made yesterday. It was made with my expensive flour from Italy. I should have browned it more under the broiler, but I wasn’t sure the pan I was using could handle the broiler. The bread came out good, but I think it’ll make an even better pizza dough! I took this before I cut it because the sun was going down and I was losing natural light.
3. Wizard has been working on the sprinkler system for the hill. So the builder put one in, but it’s not adequate. Wizard took it out and was putting a better one in with four values so that we have options in the future. This project turned into a challenge for a lot of reasons, but today he got that part done. I am so proud of him! With all the frustrations and rain delays, he was patient, and he willing to walk away for the day when necessary. We have reached a age where projects we want to do take more planning, time and patience (and a few more sore muscles!) to accomplish but we’re doing them! Well he this part, he did, I just ran to Home Depot a few times to pick up parts But next week I get to move rock around so yay me!
4. This week I had what I hope was my final scan. This was to take a closer look at my gallbladder function and it looks good (my gallbladder is getting pretty arrogant at how many tests she’s aced, LOL). That great news. I’m hoping the doctor will agree with me that we can continue to try to manage this with diet and no more labs, tests or scans for awhile. I mean, if we keep this up, I’m going to start glowing in the dark from the various doses of radiation! But seriously, I’m not complaining, I was pretty sick and they were all taking my symptoms seriously. I’m very grateful as that is not always the case for everyone. I have to add that if sucky digestion and a restricted diet is the biggest problem I have, I’d say I’m pretty danged lucky. At least what I eat is something I have full control over, and I have time in my life these days to deal with that. Not everyone is that fortunate and I’m vividly aware of that. I am feeling better, stopped losing unintentional weight and have more energy. That’s progress.
5. It’s supposed to rain today. It’s projected to be very heavy in other parts of the state, but we’re not expecting too much here. There’s what appears to be a bigger event coming next week, but we’ll see as that can change. Rain is a good thing, I just hope it’s not too much in the areas already dealing with too much rain or snow.

Bonus! Maggie wants to say hi! Don’t let her all her gray fool you, this dog can fly when she runs and jumps onto the hill. It looks like she floats through the air! I wish I could catch it on video! She might be getting older, but she can still got some moves! (She made me say that!)

That’s my 5 plus a Maggie bonus. Now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

So yesterday was just one of those days. Nothing bad, just one irritation after another. And then this came:

My thoughtful sister-in-law knows that I love baking and that I need to go mostly gluten-and-dairy-free for awhile, so she sent me this book. She and her adult daughter do a lot of baking together and they love this book, so I’m confident I will too. It’s full of beautiful pictures and interesting recipes. I can’t wait to read through it all and pick out the ones I want to try first.

But even better is how sweet and caring a gesture this was. It made my day and week so much better! I’m so very grateful to have such a kind and thoughtful sister-in-law.

How’s your day going?

So I ordered a freeze dried mature sourdough starter Rye-N is still alive….I think. But I screwed up his feeding yesterday due to my trying to do too many things at once. I think he might survive my boneheaded move with a little extra care and a few more days. But when I saw my daughter-in-law this weekend, she recommended this particular starter so I figured I’d hedge my bets

Anyhow, the weekend was good. Busy, of course, but we seem to thrive on that lately, LOL. Saturday morning we had some people over to sign some papers. It wasn’t anything big, just finalizing a few things on our house. But they are dog lovers and Maggie made two new best friends! She loved them. Then later, we took Maggie and went to see middle and his wife. Maggie was thrilled to see even more people she loves. We had a lovely afternoon just hanging out, playing with Jett and Hazel (my two grand dogs) and and visiting. Maggie was tired when we got home!

Sunday I did a bunch of things that are boring to talk about. I did run by youngest’s house to say hello and visit Phoebe (another grand dog).

This is going to be another busy week, but better than being bored!

How was your weekend?

TGIF!! Let’s jump into sharing 5 random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Boy were we surprised! Wednesday we had high winds, rain, hail and finally SNOW in the afternoon! It was only for about 20 minutes but very fun for us. I’d say it’s the perfect amount since we have no real desire to live in the snow
2. I am once again getting my Humira after weeks of it being held hostage for a supposed deductible that was in the thousands. I spent weeks on this, calling four different entities involved (it’s very complicated), and one doctor appointment. My doctor by the way was furious, but there was nothing he could do to fix it. What’s a little frustrating is that I don’t know specifically who of all the people I talked to actually fixed it, but I am very grateful to them for doing it. It just goes to show that sometimes even when we can’t see instant results, things are being done behind the scene. And that “keep trying” often works.
3. I’ve officially named my new starter attempt Rye-N. He’s clearly a boy, if I ever make a gluten free starter, then that one will be a girl. And speaking of hobbies, lets transition to talking about yoga. My latest is an attempt to get better at yoga pose transitions. Specifically I want to do a better jump up from the down dog pose to forward fold. But my age and the titanium plate in my neck do not make this the most realistic goals Wizard just shakes his head when he sees me watching instructional videos on this. But to his credit, he doesn’t laugh out loud. While I might dream of doing it, I’m pretty good at knowing my limits once I start to try it. I really don’t want to get hurt!
4. Yesterday oldest called in the afternoon when he was driving somewhere. It was a fun conversation about nothing in particular. Some of it was stories he was telling me that had me laughing. But I just took a moment to appreciate that even heading into his super busy tax season — he’ll find time to check in with us. Oh and then I laughed when Wizard called youngest daughter-in-law to see if it was snowing where she is too. She answered with, “Yep it’s snowing here too!” I just cracked up. It’s not like he calls her a lot, but she definitely knew why he was calling Youngest son had gone into work (as opposed to working from home) that day and missed it.
5. Today I’m meeting Biker Witch for coffee, and tomorrow we’re going out to see Middle Son, his wife and my two beloved grand pups, Jett and Hazel. This has been a priority for Wizard and I for about three weeks now, so we’ll be really glad to see them!

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Yesterday, I’m made another sourdough starter. This one is made from rye flour. I was debating between wheat and rye, and made my choice based on being to buy a smaller bag of organic, stone ground rye flour, than I could of organic wheat flour. (To me, the term “organic” is just a short hand way of quickly identifying flours free of bleach or any other additives that can kill off the very yeast I’m trying to cultivate.)

I have sooooo many types of flour these days. All Purpose (aka AP flour), unbleached AP, bread flour, a couple gluten free flours, rye flour and something else I can’t remember. I’m going to buy an organic wheat next. And I’m coveting a very specific brand of gluten-free flour that is not made in the U.S. and therefore expensive, but that is supposed to made even better gluten free bread and pizza dough.

I never imagined I’d have so many different kinds of flours, LOL! Or that anyone ever needed all these flours.

But back to my starter. I want to see if I can succeed cultivating the starter and then make a decent sourdough bread. What’s funny is right now, I’m still on low gluten diet.  I’m technically on the low Fodmat, but I focus mostly on limiting gluten, dairy and animal products. I always think in terms of of limiting, not eliminating entirely, so I don’t feel deprived or overwhelmed. But gluten is definitely on the “Be Very Cautious” list right now (per my doctors, this isn’t me just trying to make life difficult — my stomach does that without my input, LOL). So, sure, now is the totally the right time for home made sourdough!

On the upside, since it’s a fermented bread, it could be more digestible than regular gluten bread. But for me, it’s really just the challenge. Sourdough is supposed to be hard to make, so why not make it?

So now that I’ve begun another starter, I need to name him so he’ll grow and thrive. Right now he’s a young rye flour and water slurry that I must be coaxed into a powerful wild yeast. Any name suggestions?