Cranberry Walnut Bread

Last Monday, I decided to make a sourdough starter. A starter, or a sponge, is a technique that was used in bread making before the commercialization of yeast in which a mixture of flour and water ferments over a few days, collecting yeast from the air, which then multiply. All of my previous bread making has remained in the realm of instant yeast and I was intrigued by the idea of a starter. My fellow intern, Iris, talked about using starters for bread and I thought it was the coolest thing to have a living organism in your fridge that would be able to make bread indefinitely! I did research the night before and was overwhelmed by the commitment required to make a successful starter. By far the coolest fact I learned was that starters will live forever as long as they are taken care of, and that there are some in existence today that have been alive for centuries! How cool!?

I started Monday morning by mixing 2 cups AP flour, 2 cups water, and one package of yeast, and covering the bowl (having not made bread in this kitchen before, I was told there wouldn't be enough yeast spoors in the air and to add yeast to the mixture to get it started, the rest will grow from that). Every twelve hours or so, I would feed it with another cup of flour and cup of water. By day two, the starter was almost 8 cups and I was becoming a little concerned that this project would take over my entire room (I didn't force my experiment upon my housemates, and so I left the concoction in my bedroom). I learned from a website that you could actually dump half of the starter and add back the same amount in flour and water again so it doesn't end up filling the entire sink. After only a few hours of adding the flour/water mixture, the starter would start to bubble and become incredibly foamy, increasing some in volume.

I figured to give my starter a try on Wednesday night as a sort of test run for the actual loaf I was planning on making for the 4th of July. I made a simple whole wheat loaf by adding 2 C starter to 4 C flour (I used 2 C whole wheat flour & 2 C bread flour) I then let that mixture sit in the fridge for 12 hours or so to let it proof (fermenting the dough). I then took the dough out of the fridge and let it reach room temperature for about two hours before adding some more bread flour and kneading for about 10 minutes. The recipe called for 1/2 C flour, but I found I needed to add much more since it was humid and the dough was too sticky. After kneading, I shaped the dough into a ball and let it rise for two hours. I baked it in a 450 degree oven for 40 minutes with a tray of boiling water underneath to make a thick, crisp crust. The loaf turned out pretty well and was a hit at the office.

The real loaf that I had been planning on all week was made on Friday morning. I did the same steps as above, but added 1 cup of cranberries and 2 cups toasted walnuts to the dough. This bread was gorgeous and quite delicious! It was one massive loaf that weighted a few pounds Below are pictures of the dough while it was rising and right after it came out of the oven.

Overall, my sourdough starter was a success and I will use it (hopefully) for years and years to come. If anyone would like some starter, let me know and I can give you some of mine!