Baking During the Remodel

I managed to bake some bread yesterday, despite the remodeling going on. It wasn’t a matter of having run out of bread (‘though we had), but a matter of seeing the neglected sourdough starter sitting in the fridge, going darker and darker, and of knowing that it would die in another couple of weeks if I didn’t do something with it. So, I pulled it out and let it roam free for a while (about 9 hours), and then turned it into some lovely olive bread.

I didn’t take the time to steam any whole grains to put in this (barley or oat would be choice), but it’s not missing it much. I took my basic sourdough starter, gave it 4 cups of water & enough flour to bring it back to consistency. After it’d been sitting out all day, I added some more flour & then removed a portion to go back into the fridge. To the remainder I added:

• 2 Cups Oat Bran
• 2 Cups Golden Flax Seeds
• 1 Cup Merlot
• 1/4 Cup Potato Flour
• 1 Large Onion, chopped
• 3 Tbsp yeast
• 1 Tbsp Yellow Mustard Seeds
• 3 Tbsp Brown Mustard Seeds
• 1 Tbsp Sage
• 1.25 Tbsp Salt
• 8 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary, chopped
• 16 Oz. “Spicy Pimento Stuffed” Olives
• 1 Cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes (well, not really: they’re from our garden; we dried them in a dehydrator)

From there, it was a matter of kneading, forming, rising, and sliding onto baking stone in a 500 Degree F. oven which had preheated for a good 25 minutes. Oh – and sprinkling some French sea-salt on top before they went in.

Note the granite tile? Grout’s still not sealed, but that’s going to happen tomorrow … or, rather, that’s what I’ve been told several times now. He’s running out of projects to do other than the ones he says he’s going to do, so I figure he’ll get to it when he’s got nothing better to do. Or, rather, just nothing else to do.

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