Anyone out there remember when one of your friends would hand you a baggie of goop and tell you its Friendship Bread starter? I have a very vague recollection of this from some years back. Some kind of Amish thing. I’m not sure I really ever made the bread.
Well, my dear friend Eva recently gave me some sourdough starter that is, apparently, 163 years old. How is that possible, you may ask? Has that goop been around since 1847? Perhaps not the goop itself, but the dehydrated version of the goop. (Note: this goop has no relation to Gwyneth Paltrow. Not that I don’t love her and her site!) So, according to the “legend” or “facts” or what have you, this yeast starter has really been making the rounds for 163 years.
Now, of course I was completely intrigued and very excited to make some bread from this sucker. And today was the day, folks. Well, kind of yesterday, too– it actually takes two days to make the bread. Man, those homesteaders worked hard.
The goop I have is called “1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter,” and my instruction sheet says that this particular starter headed west starting in 1847, from Missouri, eventually settling in Salem, OR. (It sounds an awful lot like the starter just up and walked the Oregon Trail by itself, doesn’t it?) The guardian of the starter speculates that it came west with one Dr. John Savage. If you don’t have a fabulous friend like Eva, you can actually get the powdered version yourself online here. And it’s free! All you need to do is send a SASE.
Anyhoo, I’ve been feeding and growing my starter for a few weeks now. And today I made The Doctor’s Sourdough Bread. I didn’t realize at the start that this recipe makes FOUR one pound loaves, so we have a lot of bread. No matter. I love bread.
Last night, I started by preparing the sponge, which is the starter with a few things added that you have to let sit overnight. This is what the sponge looked like this morning.
I added all the new things I had to add (like more flour, honey, wheat germ, yadda, yadda) and then I had to let that sit.
I'm never going to fit more flour in here
So, this is what it looked like after that sitting. It got a little unwieldy (as I mentioned, this makes FOUR loaves), so I had to switch to my ginormous, Massif Central bowl. Cause now I had to add 3 more cups of flour until the dough “cleans the sides of the bowl.” Ohhhhh-kay.
I got to the point I thought was right and dumped the dough out onto a board for kneading.
I'm supposed to knead THIS?
I probably added another cup of flour during the kneading process. I had to knead it for 5 minutes, which really doesn’t seem all that long. Trust me, it’s pretty long. Early in the process I grabbed a footstool so I could get up higher. It was some work, though. Where is Karen Grassle when you need her?
I ended up quitting at 4 minutes because I thought the bread was “silky” enough. And it looked like bread dough, for reals.
Like I said, 4 loaves. I only have 3 loaf pans (why, you may ask, do I even have 3? I make a lot of quick breads.), so I divided it into 3 loaves and put them in the pan. Guess what’s next? More resting and rising.
So, I took the 3 year old to swim lesson and then picked up the 6 year old at school, got gas, returned home and SWEET FERMENTATION, the loaves were unrecognizable. The before and after:
on the left, pre-rise... on the right, the bread is risen, indeed
The first photo isn’t so great. But you can tell that the dough is barely filling the pan, and then, well, voilà. Then it was time to bake them. Let me tell you, the smell of baking bread… there is little else that smells so heavenly.
And, tada! 163 year old bread!
in the oven
They’re actually still baking a little, so this post is as fresh as the bread. I’m trying to figure out what to have for dinner that centers around bread. I made Roasted Winter Squash and Apple soup last night, so I think I’m going with that, but the 6 year old didn’t really like it. He has a texture thing. So I might make him an open face sandwich with tomato and fresh mozzarella (which he adores). Any suggestions?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I can almost smell it. You gotta make French Toast with one of these bad boys.
This post is awesome. I had no idea that bread starter could be that old. That’s pretty cool. And the bread looks sooo good. I need to try making bread from scratch like this. The most I’ve done is use my bread machine!
Those three loaves and a pound of butter…Heaven!
Wow, that is some old bread. No wonder it needs to rest so much.
I too remember that Friendship bread thing. I am impressed that you made it–sounds like a lot of work! And seconding the French toast idea!