I’ve been a bit behind schedule on the farm this week. I had a busy start to the week on Sunday, but then I came down with a cold, and have spent most the week either in bed, or wishing I was in bed. My congestion started to clear up a bit this morning, and I haven’t been in near as grumpy a mood, so I figured it was about time to get caught up on some of the projects I had going on around here.
I got the sourdough prepped and ready last night, and then I let it rise overnight. The thing I find so fascinating about sourdough is that you don’t add any yeast; you grow it. The sourdough “starter” basically starts out as two tablespoons of non-bleached flour, and two tablespoons water. You stir them together and let it sit at room temperature overnight, then you add two more tablespoons of each again(this is called “feeding” the starter). You repeat the process for a few days, and the natural yeast that was on the flour will start to grow. You gradually up the dosage as your starter grows, and in about a week you will have about two cups of very active ‘starter’ that smells like beer and is very bubbly.
My starter took about fourteen days to complete, and it was ready to be used earlier this week, but then I came down with that wretched cold and it got put on hold. Anyway, I finally got around to turning the starter into dough, which basically just involves adding lots more flower, and letting the yeast you grew do its job. After dinner tonight I threw the first loaf into the oven and about forty minutes later… Perfection.
I am officially behind schedule with the wine though. I woke up all motivated to get caught up this morning, only to find that over the years I have somehow managed to lose the cork and vapor lock for the secondary fermentation jug. I will have to run into town tomorrow to hunt down a replacement, and then operation ‘strawberry wine’ will be back on schedule.
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