A Finished Product, 4 Days In The Making

Ahhh, finally! This is the longest I've ever spent on something that will go right into my mouth. 4 days ago, I made sourdough starter. I cradled it, sang to it and nursed it. Not literally but I may as well have! Finally I was able to complete the bread. Picture #1 shows it sitting after adding some flour, it had to rest for 8 hours. Picture #2 shows it rising after I added the rest of the igredients, this took almost 2 hours. Picture #3 shows two loafs ready to be baked. I had to keep brushing them with cold water while baking. Picture #4 of course is the finished and ready to eat product.

After I let these cool for over an hour I just had to taste it. The end slice was nice and slightly crisp on the outside and the inside was just as it should be which meant my kneading was good. I've learned you don't want large air holes, or even small ones. You want them right in between. My final say on spending 4 days to make bread? It was really good BUT didn't really taste of sourdough. I'm hoping that it was because I took a very small slice from the edge, maybe as I dig deeper into the loaf, I'll get that sour that I'm looking for. It sure smelled like sourdough while it was baking and the starter was very strong.

It's football Sunday and I will be watching football all day, but will make my lasagna to go with this bread for dinner. I'll post a picture.