Sourdough Evolution

This past weekend I made Hamelman’s Vermont sourdough, which has 10% rye in it, along with some procedural differences.  What a difference all these little changes make!  The rye gave the crumb and soft and chewy texture, and overall the bread was more dense.  It made for a good solid bread for sandwiches but I prefer the more open structure and chew of the Reinhart sourdough.  I would post pictures, but they’re all on another computer.  Shouting, “Computer! Send pictures!” hasn’t been working.

I’ve started my apple ciabatta project.  On Friday I cut up some Granny Smith and golden delicious apples along with some Bartlett pears, then dumped them in containers with sugar and a little water.  Over the weekend I did the fermentation dance (also known as the drunken stagger) and by last night, there were little bubbles in the mix and a heady smell of hard cider!  I’ll be making some of the drunken ciabatta tonight to see if it will be added as a seasonal special to the Aurora Bakery menu.  Or I’ll just drink all my apple hooch and pass out on the kitchen floor.

Non-bread news:  the turbo-lace system on my Salomon running shoes broke this weekend.  I’ve only had these shoes for three months and although I’ve been exclusively running in them, they broke when we were out for a hike.  (Okay, I walked once in them.  And they broke.)  I took a great picture of the snapped lace, a dynamic photojournalistic tour de force but…well, you know.  Pictures.  Other computer.  Luckily I bought my shoes at REI and took them in for a replacement.  Here’s a conundrum:  I had the receipt which showed I bought them on sale.  But if I hadn’t brought the receipt, I would’ve gotten the full replacement price, which was at least $30 more.  Did I show the receipt? 

Yes.  I am honest.  And since my shoes were back up to the $120 price, I couldn’t replace them with the same kind.  So I got some Dutch wooden clogs that were on sale.  We’ll see how my feet hold up on the trail in those bad boys.

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Writer, architect, father, husband.

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One comment on “Sourdough Evolution
  1. Wendy says:

    Perhaps my favorite part of Star Trek IV is when Scotty picks up the mouse and says, "Computer" so sweetly to it. Doesn't REI also have a record of whether the item was on sale when you purchased it in their computer too? Although I am surprised they didn't just do a straight replacement anyway. Might have been worth sending them off with a nice letter to Solomon (srsly, you should start reading Consumerist, or have Cristina do it, it might be more her thing). But it wouldn't have been a quick fix. I've been meaning to do it with the Vibram Five Fingers I've bought that bummed out.Did you guys ever get around to mapping your elevation gains/losses during your Balboa Park run–there's a new app (NB TotalFit) that is really neat for tracking running and you can take pictures on the run without interrupting the route recording. But maybe my favorite is the goals and challenges you can set, it's kind of like Nike +, and if people have made their routes public you can find some cool runs.