All Wrapped Up - Pretzel-Wrapped Bratwursts

Yep, this is the perfect football food

It's been a long time since I posted here.  Over a year.  Why?  Because I got in a food funk...making the same things over and over again.  Honestly, there's only so many times I could expect people to read about tortillas and fried rice.  Luckily for my family, I've started to branch out again.  What motivated me? Football!  Nothing screams for good, salty food like football season - things like giant soft pretzels with cheese sauce or bratwursts smothered in spicy mustard. While they're good individually, they're even better combined. 


The only drawback of this as a football food is that they take a couple hours to make.  Nobody has time to make these when football is on!  Luckily, they're just as good re-heated, so you can make them on Saturday and not miss a single Jim Harbaugh tantrum or Ndamukong Suh head stomp.

The main reason these take so long is the pretzel dough, which takes a little over an hour to prepare (mostly rise time)  I used Alton Brown's recipe, which makes eight pretzels, and doubled it, since I had 10 bratwursts. Honestly, it would have been better to just divide the dough into 10 parts, as the ratio of pretzel to bratwurst was a bit high for my taste - I wanted the grease from the brat and the salt of the pretzel in every bite, and it just didn't happen. 


Really, for all I've complained about the time commitment, the KitchenAid did most of the work here.  All I had to do was pour ingredients in and set timers.  KitchenAid Mixers are the world's best inventions.  I will cut anyone who tries to take mine away.

While the dough rose, I cooked the brats, so they had time to cool before I had to touch them.  I was pretty proud of myself for thinking ahead like this, because normally, I'm the chump who's trying to handle lava-hot food without burning herself.  
Also thinking ahead (not because of any marvel that made me suddenly more organized and thoughtful - I was getting hungry!), I remembered to boil the water and pre-heat the stove before the dough was done rising.  Usually, when I make pretzels, I shape them and have to stand around sighing impatiently while I watch water heat up.  Not today!  Today, I was all over that nonsense! 

The top two sides for bratwursts - combined

If you like onions with your bratwursts, now would be the time to start cooking them. I wasn't on top of it enough to think of that.  Probably because I'm not the biggest onion fan, although most people I know are. Slice onions, saute them in butter, add beer, and ignore except for the occasional stir.  If you time it right, they'll finish right when the pretzels do.  If not, say they're done anyway - they'll be cooked enough that nobody will know the difference.  I'd suggest using a light beer, since the IPA I grabbed ended up making the onions a bit too hoppy tasting.

I hadn't really thought out how I was going to cover the bratwursts with the pretzels, just that I wanted to.  I decided to go with an artsy spiral wrap that worked out really well, as long as the ends were sealed.  Some came out looking a little awkward, as I got to the end and realized I had a lot of dough left.  As I said earlier, if I had divided the dough into more pieces, I wouldn't have had this issue.  Live and learn.  

I added some green chiles to a few of them, just to see how they'd turn out.  Freaking awesome, that's how.  I highly suggest adding stuff.  I will make these again with jalapenos.  I also plan on making some with a stripe of mustard down the middle of the dough, and maybe some grilled onions for my husband.  Pretty much anything that would taste good and not fall out (sadly, I don't think cheese would withstand the boiling and baking) should be added here.

Then comes the least fun part - standing over the pot of boiling water in front of a 450 degree oven.  Each pretzel has to be boiled for 30 seconds before getting an egg wash and salt, and then they go in the oven.  Deciding to make these on an 80-degree day was not my smartest move. Except they were delicious, and I had a beer during the boiling, so it wasn't all that bad.  Plus, they came out looking pretty cool, so I felt like a rock star.

I'm not sharing. Make your own.

We only had one left, which I threw in the freezer to see if they freeze well.  If they do, I'll set aside a day to make a triple batch of these just to freeze for an easy game-day meal.

Serve hot with beer-braised onions and spicy brown mustard. Or cheese sauce.  Or both; I won't judge.

Recipes:

Pretzel-Wrapped Bratwursts
1 ½ cups warm water
1 T sugar
2 t kosher salt
1 T yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour (4 ½ cups or so)
2 T melted butter
Vegetable oil
10 bratwursts
20 cups water, divided
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 T water
kosher salt or pretzel salt for sprinkling
OPTIONAL:
Green chiles, jalepenos, grilled onions, garlic, mustard


1) Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.


2) Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix until well combined.


3) Knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.


4) Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

5) While the dough is rising, add the bratwursts to 10 cups of the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 10 minutes, then remove the bratwursts from the water and set aside to cool.

6) 10 minutes before the dough is done rising, put the remaining 10 cups of water on the stove to boil and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

7) If making beer-braised onions, start them now (recipe below)

8)Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper

9) When the dough is risen, divide it into 10 equal pieces (about 4 ounces each)

10) Pat each piece of dough into a 2”x10” rectangle. Add any additional ingredients in a thin strip down the middle of the dough.

11) Working from one end, wrap a bratwurst in each piece of dough, being careful to seal the ends.

12) Add baking soda to the boiling water (be careful – it will fizz up!)

13) Boil each pretzel-wrapped bratwurst for 30 seconds, then remove from the water with a large spatula or a strainer such as you'd use when deep frying.

14) Place on the parchment-lined cookie sheet, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with kosher salt or pretzel salt.

15) Bake at 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

Serve hot with spicy brown mustard, beer-braised onions, and beer.


Beer-Braised Onions
2 onions
2 T butter
12 oz beer (lighter flavors are better)

1) Slice the onions as thinly as you can.

2) Melt the butter over medium heat

3) Add the onions to the melted butter and saute over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onions are soft and starting to caramelize

4) Add the beer and reduce heat to medium-low

5) Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is gone, 20-30 minut

Gluten-free Goodies

I have one word to describe gluten-free baking: sticky. I'm used to bread dough that is cohesive, kneadable, and shapable. Gluten-free dough is none of those things. It varied from batter to a thick, tacky dough.

I didn't take a lot of notes or pictures along the way, because I was too busy visiting and just plain forgot. Other than the bread I made, I only have one picture, and that only because Randy asked if I took pictures of the process. Whoops. I'll make up for it by posting about everything all together.

My GF flour stock: rice, spelt, soy, flax, and tapioca

First, the bread. When I was researching recipes, I looked for recipes that a) called for ingredients I had on hand and b) were simple. This was a bit frustrating, since most recipes call for “gluten-free flour mix” or something similar. That's just dandy if you want to go out and buy some pre-mixed combination. I did not. I had several types of gluten-free flour, and had to find a good mix or a recipe that specified flour types. To compound it, I also had to make recipes corn-free (the one mix I had all the ingredients for called for masa).

I settled on this recipe. I liked it because it was simple...and I had a lot of brown rice flour.

It looks neat, but not like bread dough!

As I watched the batter (I can't call it dough) mix, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it would rise and turn into anything resembling sandwich bread. The consistency was more like banana bread than any other bread I've ever made. I poured it into the loaf pan, for crying out loud!

Ready to rise

It did rise well, however – both times (more on that in a minute). I was surprised with how much volume it gained, since the batter was so loose – I wouldn't anticipate it being able to hold the gasses in like most yeast breads, or at least without something like a lot of beaten egg whites like angel food cake. Shows what I know!

The top does have a neat texture, though

The difference shows up when it's baked, as the loaf doesn't get the nice domed top that normal bread does. It stays pretty flat, and the final product is reminiscent of a sponge in appearance (thankfully, it tastes much better!) and has a light texture. Randy described it as “floofy”. I didn't try it, for some strange reason, but Randy and Megan both approved.

  

This is my first attempt - the top fell in a bit

Another difference from the bread I'm used to is my ability to gauge doneness. Usually I've got a pretty good eye, but not in this case. The recipe called for using a thermometer to measure the internal temperature. “Bah!” I said. “I'll be able to tell when it's done” I said. Then I cut into my loaf after it cooled and said “Blargh! That's not anywhere near done enough.” I started over, and used a thermometer. The results were much better. Weird how that works out...

One downfall – the recipe says to not store it in the fridge, or it will get soggy, and the shelf life is only three or four days. I know that part of that is the lack of preservatives and high sodium content of store breads, but part is also that I'm used to sourdough which naturally has a longer shelf life.

PART DEUX: Bread sticks

A little later into Megan's visit, I made bread sticks. Ok, I meant to make bread sticks, and made mini-baguettes instead. Impatience mixed with the stickiest dough ever seen on Earth got the best of me.

They're as tasty and healthy as they look

This was a bit more complicated recipe; not only did it call for multiple flours, the dough is much more difficult to work with. I have no pictures because I didn't think to take any, and if I had, I'd have had to wash my hands even more than I did to destickify.

The recipe is multi-purpose – make two baguettes, nine mini-baguettes, or 18 bread sticks. I ended up with 10 mini-baguettes, even though I was aiming for bread sticks. It's completely my fault, too. The recipe called for putting the dough in a gallon Ziploc bag, then cutting the corner to squeeze the bread sticks out (again – bread dough you squeeze like pastry? Weird...)

Again, these are more textured than I'm used to; the flax meal helped.

The problem was that I got frustrated putting the dough in the quart-sized Ziploc and decided that rather than go through the process twice, I'd just force it all to fit. That didn't work out well – I should have just done two batches. The frustration that resulted from my efforts to force the dough to submit led me to cut too large of a hole in the corner of the bag. Since I was committed and NOT going to start over, I just rolled with the giant bread stick idea.

I really should have paid attention to the recipe when it told me to grease any dough I was going to handle, since it wouldn't work otherwise. They weren't lying. This stuff is sticky and uncooperative. It's also delicious. I started with this recipe but made some changes based on the flours I had on hand.

As far as I can tell, gluten-free flours can be interchanged with no difference in consistency, just flavor. I've only successfully made four gluten-free recipes, though, so I could be completely wrong.

And now, the recipes! Hooray!

GLUTEN-FREE SANDWICH BREAD RECIPE

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups warm water

1 packet (2 ¼ t) yeast\2 ½ cups brown rice flour*

2/3 cup corn starch

2/3 cup dry milk powder

1 T xantham gum

1 t salt

2 T vegetable oil

2 eggs

Combine water and yeast in a small bowl to proof

Whisk the dry ingredients together

Add remaining ingredients

Using an electric mixer, mix dough on med-high for five minutes (use paddle attachment of stand mixer)

Lightly grease a 9”x5” loaf pan and pour the batter in, spreading evenly.

Cover the dough lightly with greased foil or plastic wrap and let rise for one hour or until dough is just over the top of the loaf pan.

Preheat oven to 350

Bake for 55 minutes or until internal temperature is between 208-211 degrees

Cool on a wire rack.

*Every gluten-free blog, recipe, and advice column I read stressed that when measuring GF ingredients, you have to use a spoon to fill the measuring cup, then level it with a straight edge (back of a butter knife). Apparently, scooping the flours directly with the measuring cup can compact them too much and mess up the recipe.

GLUTEN-FREE BREAD STICK RECIPE

Ingredients

1½ Cups Cornstarch
½ Cup Spelt Flour
2¼ Cups White Rice Flour
¼ Cup Soy Flour
¼ Cup Flaxseed Meal
1½ Tablespoons Xanthan Gum
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/3 Olive Oil
2 Eggs
1 Egg White
1¾ Cups Warm Water (110-115°F)

Yield

  (9) mini baguettes (½ Cup of dough each), or
  (2) baguettes (half of dough per baguette), or
  (18) bread sticks (¼ Cup dough each)

Directions
Place cornstarch, flours, flaxseed meal, Xanthan gum, salt, garlic powder and yeast in mixing bowl; mix. Add, vinegar, sugar, honey, oil, eggs, egg white and lastly the warm water; mix (slowly). Increase speed to high and beat for 4 minutes.

Coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Work with the amount of dough necessary to form a single baguette, mini-baguette, or bread stick - whichever you prefer (half the dough, ½ cup dough, or ¼ cup dough) - at once.

Place dough on cookie sheet (allow room for the baguettes or bread sticks to expand as they rise).
Spray all exposed batter generously with cooking spray (this will help you form the baguettes - without cooking spray, dough will be sticky and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to work with).

With hands, form dough into long thin ropes, with thickness of shape depending on which variation you are making. Repeat as necessary making enough loaves to use all your dough. For mini baguettes and bread sticks, putting the dough in a gallon bag and snipping the corner can help ensure consistency in size.

Sprinkle tops of baguettes with salt and add any other desired topping (poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc). Allow to sit in a warm, dry location (free of drafts) covered loosely with plastic wrap for 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375° and bake (middle rack of oven):  
  35 minutes for baguettes, or
  25 minutes for mini baguettes, or
  20 minutes for bread sticks.

I Am the Lorax, I Speak For the Trees

I wish you would believe I drew this, but you won't and I didn't.

Randy's sister is in town for the week – hi, Megan! - so I neglected to write the regular Monday post, but that doesn't mean I've been slacking. Next week will be a gluten-free bonanza – bread, muffins, and bread sticks. Maybe even drinks served in hollowed-out pineapples. It's been a good week.

I made gluten-free bread - quite the different experience

Then these GF blueberry muffins, which were delicious!

Then we had pineapple drinks, and I coincidentally forgot to take pictures of the GF bread sticks. 

I did want to make sure I didn't totally skip all posts this week, so here's the regular Thursday garden update.

Baby bean!

It's a week for small successes. Our beans are finally starting to show up. We had tons of blossoms, but no beans showed up. I was getting discouraged, but then a few tiny little beanlettes showed up. These things are everywhere; I'm looking forward to eating them. I'm even more excited because we'll probably have enough to make pickled green beans, which I love.

The pumpkins are still winning the production race – there are now well over a dozen pumpkins started...on just one plant. We have three. Time to start looking up pumpkin recipes!

Itty-bitty pumpkins!

Future pickle!

The cucumber plant has decided to join the party, and has several small cucumbers on it, with more blooms coming out every day.

Similarly, the squash has eight or so small squashes growing.

[insert witty caption here]

Even the poor broccoli and cauliflower plants – the plants that Zoey helpfully weeded a week ago – are still alive. Six of the original eight, anyway. Most of them are a bit beat-up and rough around the edges, but alive is alive! 

The photographer should learn not to cast shadows like that...

 

English Muffins - Buttered Bliss

Why?  Because breakfast doesn't get any better than this.

The lower element for our oven finally came in this week. To celebrate...I decided to make English muffins. Which don't need the oven to cook. I didn't think of it last week, when I wanted a sandwich but had no bread – I was too focused on tortillas – especially after the wonderful and generous Page G gave us a tortilla press! Now, when I can make actual bread, I decide that English muffins would be better.

I'm logical like that.

There are two basic variations of English muffin recipes. One calls for making a batter, pouring it into rings, then cooking on a griddle or skillet. The other has a stiffer dough that gets rolled out, and the muffins are cut out like biscuits. The second method also usually calls for cooking on a griddle or skillet, although the odd recipe or two says to bake them.

Batter, pre-proofing.  I had to resist adding more flour.

I decided to go with the batter method, mostly because I made them once a couple of years ago and they turned out well. I'm not sure why I haven't made them again since then, but I can guarantee it won't be another two years before the next time. It probably won't be two days, honestly.

I used Alton Brown's recipe with the slight adjustment of using lard instead of shortening. Why lard? After last week's experiments in tortilla making, the feedback was overwhelmingly in favor of lard over shortening so we bought lard instead of shortening on our monthly shopping trip.

Turns out lard makes excellent tortillas – much lighter than oil. It worked out pretty well in the English muffins as well.

"Custom" muffin rings.  AKA wide-mouth canning rings

Like tortillas, English muffins are so easy to make that I don't know why I haven't been making them forever. The total time invested was less than an hour, half of which was waiting for the dough to proof. Once the dough was proofed, I was able to make the rest of breakfast while the muffins cooked.

Hot, fresh, English muffins for breakfast? Yes, please.

I had a little difficulty with covering the muffins as they cooked – mostly not thinking about the broiler pan I used touching the dough and messing it up. This is easily solved, however, by putting the rings closer together and/or putting something slightly taller on the griddle for the pan to rest on.

I went an extra step and toasted the muffins before eating them. I can't imagine eating an un-toasted English muffin – the extra level of crispiness is essential to the experience.

Halfway there

The other change I made was largely an excuse to play with my new digital scale; I decided to weigh the flour instead of measuring it by volume. Supposedly, it's the only way to go, since it will always be accurate, whereas volume measurements can vary based on sifted v. non-sifted, accuracy of leveling, etc. Some people insist measuring by weight is vital to properly executing any recipe.

I'm not entirely convinced – after all, I've successfully made oodles of things without weighing my ingredients – but I will admit I like the idea of accuracy. Also, I want to start putting actual cost comparisons up with the recipes that are more than just a guesstimate. Since most of the ingredients give a weight-based price, it makes sense to weigh out how much I use.

Of course, I didn't weigh all the ingredients for this, the first attempt. In my defense, I made these first thing in the morning and wasn't fully caffeinated yet. Also, some ingredients I don't have price variants for. I will get better, I promise. I'm making a spreadsheet and everything. Organization. I can learn.

Based on the prices I do know (everything except sugar and salt), I can safely say this recipe costs less than one dollar to make. It probably comes in under fifty cents (I can't imagine the cost of the sugar and salt combined are much more than 10 cents, considering how little the other ingredients cost).

I may have had trouble waiting...

Considering the output – eight English muffins – the per-unit cost is somewhere less than $0.13. Costco's best price is $4.33 for 12 muffins, or $0.36 each. While 36 cents doesn't seem like an outrageous price, who doesn't like getting something for 1/3 of the price? There's also – as always – the bonus of ingredient control.

  These turned out wonderfully, with all the nooks and crannies you could hope for, just waiting for butter to melt into them and jam to seal them off.  I may or may not have eaten more than one before I let Randy know breakfast was ready. This probably off-set the health benefit of making my own.  I'll just have to make them more often so the novelty wears off and I can resist temptation better.

Beautiful.

RECIPE

• 1 cup warm milk ($0.19)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt (divided)
• 1 tablespoon lard ($0.05 max – guessed on weight)
• 1 envelope (7 grams) dry yeast ($0.04)
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour, sifted ($0.16)
• Non-stick vegetable spray
• Special equipment: electric griddle, 3-inch metal rings (or wide-mouth canning rings)
  

Total known cost: $0.44. Total estimated cost: $0.60.
In a bowl combine the milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and lard. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast starts to bubble. Add this to the milk mixture. Add the flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
Preheat the griddle to 300 degrees F. This equates to medium or medium-low on your stove top – 4 or 5 on the dial.
Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat thoroughly. Place metal rings onto the griddle and coat lightly with vegetable spray. Equally divide the batter into eight rings. Cook for 6 minutes. Remove the lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 6 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool. Split with fork and serve.
.

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Muffins Against Muffin Tops

Last year, I was informed of a wonderful grain called quinoa. Quinoa is special because it's a grain, but also is a complete protein. How cool is that?  It's also high in fiber, calcium and potassium and is gluten free. It cooks like rice, and has a nifty chewy texture.  How did I go so long without knowing about it?

Anyway, I was looking for a healthy-ish snack that I could eat during my ridiculously long commute so I could get home and exercise without falling into the trap of being hungry and just making dinner. I needed something I could eat with a minimum of fuss and that would satisfy me without making me feel too full to run. I finally settled on quinoa muffins. I figured that muffins – Costco-style aside – are small, so the caloric content couldn't get too high, and if I made them with quinoa, they would have more in the way of nutrition.

I no longer have the long commute, but I am pregnant and find it increasingly hard to make it to lunch wihtout eating something. These muffins fill the bill – one is just enough to satisfy me without tempting me to eat a double lunch or large amounts of snack foods.

I started with this basic recipe fromMartha Stewart. I was trying to make it a little healthier, though, so I reduced the sugar and replaced it with more dried fruit. I could probably reduce the sugar more – next time I'm going to. If I remember. I know dried fruit isn't completely low-cal or healthy, but at least there are some nutrients in it other than, well, sugar.

I also replaced some of the flour with whole wheat flour and ground flax, which had surprisingly little impact on the taste (I've since made them both ways, so I can compare). These are not super-sweet muffins, but the dried fruit gives them enough sweetness that they satisfy the desire for something sweet while not being cake in disguise. They also have a nice variety of texture – muffiny with little dots of chewiness from the quinoa and fruit – that make them feel a bit more substantial.

Butter doesn't make them healthier.  Weird.

My final recipe:

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil, such as safflower, plus more for pan
• 1 cup all-purpose flour*
• ½ cup ground flax*
• ½ cup whole wheat flour*
• ½ cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1+ cups assorted dried fruit**
• 3/4 cup whole milk***
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  

*original recipe calls for 2 cups of all-purpose flour

**original recipe calls for ½ cup raisins

***non-fat would work just fine, but we always have whole milk for Zoey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, brush a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, raisins, and 2 cups cooked quinoa; reserve any leftover quinoa for another use.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined; divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

This recipe makes 12 muffins, if you fill the tins all the way to the top. You could probably get 15 muffins out of each batch, but since that means either dirtying another pan or doubling the overall cooking time, I always just fill 'em up.

I make a double batch and then freeze them; each day I pull one out and by the time I'm on my prep period, it's thawed out and ready to go. These aren't going to win any awards for Healthiest Snack Of All Time, but they have some good nutritional benefits, are filling, and are enough of a treat that I don't have to convince myself that they're the smart option and I should enjoy them more - I really do enjoy them.

My niece, Gen, approves of these muffins!

Nutrition info (courtesy of Livestrong.com)

Calories per muffin: 219

Total Fat 7.45g (11%)

Saturated Fat 1.1g (5%)

Cholesterol 20.1mg (6%)

Sodium 267.6mg (11%)

Total Carbohydrate 34.46g (11%)

Dietary Fiber 2.98g (11%)

Sugars 15.69g

Protein 4.86g (9%)

Percentages are all % of Daily Value.

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Patience, young grasshopper.

My current quest is to bake a good loaf of sourdough bread. I love the flavor of sourdough bread, but I rarely feel like paying $4 for a loaf. So making my own, it is. However, I've never had any luck with sourdough bread. To me, a good loaf means more than just taking a sourdough starter and ending with a loaf of bread; I have done that. What I really want is that good San Francisco Sourdough taste. And so far (15-20 loaves in), that hasn't happened.

So I looked up what I could possibly be doing so wrong – by the 6^th week of using a starter, it should have some solid sour flavor, damnit! Turns out sourdough is a technique, not a guarantee of sourdough flavor. Sucky. Also, that amazing San Francisco Sourdough flavor? Created through adding various chemicals and not using the sourdough starter process at all. Sneaky bastards.

I did find some techniques to amp up the sour flavor, however. One is to have a stiffer starter. Most of (ok, both) of the starter recipes I looked up called for refreshing the starter with equal parts flour and water; to get a better sour flavor, you should use at least a 3-to-2 flour-to-water ratio. Also, use some rye flour in the starter because it takes the bacteria longer to work on it, which increases the sourness through creation of more...bacteria-sweat? Ok, I admit, I don't remember the exact reason it works better that way, and I'm way too lazy to look it up. Finally, the wise voices of the internet said to increase the rise times all around; like good barbecue, low-n-slow gets the best results.

This is where I really have trouble – I suck at time management. I mean well, really I do, but I'll usually start by thinking “Hey, I should make some sourdough buns for dinner tonight,” then two hours later actually starting them. Unfortunately, using the base recipe, that still means that at a MINIMUM, the buns won't be done for 9.5 hours*. And, when I only let things rise for the minimum time (which is always, because Zoey for some reason objects to eating dinner at 10:30), I end up with dense buns/bread that is a disappointment all around.

This weekend, I vowed to be different. Better. I would plan ahead. I would let the bread rise until doubled/to the height I wanted, regardless of how long it took. Friday night, I started the process – I took a cup of starter, added flour and water to it, and left it on the counter to get ripe. Fermented. Sour. Whatever. In the morning, it looked good – nice and bubbly and ready to go. So far, I was about 10-11 hours into the process (although only about five minutes of that required any effort on my part).

Looks like it's ready for action!

I added more flour, kneaded it (thanks to my Kitchenaid, that involved next-to-no effort, other than adding a little flour now and again. I love that thing), and let it rise for 3 ½ hours or so. Having it ready to start this process first thing in the morning was a good plan. Total time investment: 15 hours (active effort time: 15 minutes).

Finally (I am not a patient person) it rose enough to punch it down and shape the loaves. Then I had to let it rise for ANOTHER five stinking hours. This is not a process for people with patience issues. One website suggested letting the shaped loaves rise in the fridge for 12-18 hours. I do not have a three day attention span for a single batch of bread. The a five hour rise will have to do. Total time investment: 20 hours (active effort time: 17 minutes).

After what felt like twelve eternities, the bread was ready to bake – for an hour. The smell of baking bread is one of the finest things known to man. I don't care how much a person has just eaten, the smell of freshly baked bread will make them drool. I'm pretty sure it's hardwired into the subconscious.

See the steam? That's because I cut it before I probably should have. There's that lack of patience again...

The bread turned out pretty well – it definitely had more of a sour flavor, although not as much as I hoped. It also had a better texture, although it probably could have used one more hour of rise time, believe it or not. Was it worth the 21 hour time investment? Probably. This is only the first loaf I've made since first adding rye flour and decreasing the amount of water when refreshing the starter; I expect the sour flavor will increase a bit more with further refreshing. I have high hopes for the next batch.

*This can be shortened if you use a recipe that calls for extra yeast added. Real sourdough, however, doesn't need extra yeast, just extra time and patience.