Kitchen Quarantine, Sourdough Chronicles

When self-isolating started, I began to cook; it's therapy for me.  Lots of friends on social media were making sourdough, and I thought, that sounds like fun.  I'm really not a baker, bakers are the scientists (read that as the nerds) of the culinary world, they care about the temperature of the butter in a cake, and they weigh their ingredients.  Honestly, I don't have time for that.  But, since we are quarantined, I thought it would be a good science project.  So for 15 days, I fed this mixture of flour and water, and it became bubbly, and sour smelling.  On day 15, I fed the sourdough, then took 2 cups and made what were described as loaves for beginners.  And, Voila! We've got bread, and it's delicious.  Not too sour, with a nice crumb.
I used this recipe for the sourdough and then this recipe for the bread loaves. 

Day 1

Bread Dough---day 15

First rise

Divide the dough, then shape

Tonight I have some focaccia dough in the refrigerator and will be baking that to go with the Lamb Ragu that I was tweaking today.   This is the recipe for the focaccia that I made.  It was delicious, I didn't use enough olive oil on the top of it, but we still scarfed it down without any problem.

This recipe makes two 13-by-9-inch baking dishes---so we ate one, and there is one in the freezer, which is slowing filling back up again.  Tomorrow I plan to store the sourdough starter in the fridge for a week---we have enough bread, and focaccia to feed any army.  This has been a fun experiment, but as I said, this isn't my strong suit, I'd much rather throw ingredients together rather than have to measure everything, and watch something so closely.  Stay well and stay safe.