Monday, April 17, 2017

T Stands For Tuesday & Sourdough Bread

  Good morning everyone,
    I am posting a wee bit earlier today, as I realized I am soooo behind on everything I want to get done before our friends from Wisconsin come down for their yearly spring get away to visit with us. They will be here early Thursday afternoon. We always cook up lots of good eats too, so a fun time. 
   I am trying to finish up the painting, need to go shopping, clean house, hubs doctors appt got moved to early thursday morning too so this week will fly by for sure.

   Please visit our hostess Elizabeth for our weekly T for Tuesday event where we share our week along with a beverage.

  I have been wanting to get back into sourdough baking again. Before retirement and before I knew I had celiac (no gluten) disease I baked all of our breads and loved the whole process. At the time I had several different soudoughs going on too for different things.
  I decided I wanted to do this again and I thought perhaps I would have better luck with gluten free breads as well-wrong on that so far-sigh.
   Friday evening I decided to get both starters out the wheat and the gluten free and bake us up some breads the next day. I recently purchased a starter from King Arthur Flour along with this very cool crock I have had my eye on for sometime now. This starter was a live culture and is a descendent sourdough from the 1700s-loving that!!  
   I have been experimenting with flours for the gluten free starter and I finally got one that is very active--but bummer the bread still not working out-I know there is no gluten to form the structure but my bread is just not getting baked through--so I am still experimenting- it looked really nice before I baked it too-sigh  I wanted to try this one more time with no added yeast and eggs to see if it would work with a more active starter.
    After this failure I searched online for recipes and looking at the photos of most of them the bread looked awful to me-not really baked or light.
    I did find a book online that I bought that has a totally different approach to gluten free bread baking that I am going to try and I have not totally given up on my sourdough yet either. I really don't eat that much bread but the price of a mini loaf of gf bread is totally crazy so I would like to master this-a challenge for me I guess lol

   However the wheat sourdough bread and biscuits turned out perfect. I originally had planned to set up the cast iron dutch ovens for outdoor baking but it got too windy by the time I was ready to bake--I need to work on some better fire breaks to put around my ovens-living in the woods there is always dried leaves everywhere, definately don't want to start a forest fire.

Here are some photos (click to enlarge)


                          King Arthur wheat sourdough

 
                             Gluten Free sourdough-you can see very active


     Next two photos my gluten free flour blends for breads



           I used this flour and also King Arthur Bread Flour


       Next two photos the sourdoughs being activated



                                       Wheat biscuits


                 The two breads rising in the dutch ovens



          These are the baked up wheat biscuits and bread-perfection lol





This bread was good timing as hubs went fishing on the lake friday morning with friends and they came back with lots of fish (two full buckets full)-so one of our friends made up fried catfish dinner for all of us again-so brought along the fresh baked bread.  I need to remember to grab my camera next time.


I don't drink any soda pop at all, and I am always looking for something a bit healthier that tastes good. I love these coconut water based drinks-they do have a bit of green tea caffeine in them but this brand does not seem to bother me with the caffeine. To limit myself to one of these a day-they say this bottle is two servings-I pour half of it my water bottle and then fill up with ice and water. Nice afternoon and evening beverage. I grabbed my spinning last night while watching tv   Iron Chef is back on Food Network always liked that show-the first new one was on the same time as a Hallmark show I love so will catch a rerun during the week.

Happy T Stands for Tuesday everyone!!



29 comments:

  1. I can't begin to imagine the challenges you must face being gluten free. Being from the wheat state, you would fit in about as well here as I, a vegetarian, does in this wheat and beef country. I like how you challenge yourself to these GF projects, and the biscuits look lovely and good enough to eat. I bet the bread tasted good, too.

    Thanks for sharing these baking trials, as well as your coconut water with us for T this week. So glad you were early, because that takes some pressure off me, too.

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    1. thanks Elizabeth-yes being vegetarian is just as challenging as the gluten free-I was a vegetarian for about 10 years or more during the late 70s into the 80s so again always reading labels.
      thanks for hosting

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  2. Looks wonderful, and it's good you enjoy doing this. It looks as if you are very organized, well done!

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  3. Your bread looks great ! I wonder if humidity has been hindering your attempts? Must say i have not tried a recipe that has been completely gluten free though.
    That catfish -yes please! pretty much a Pescetarian. Happy T day!

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    1. Hi Linda the catfish was soooo good Our friend has a commercial fryer and it always turns out so good. I have been doing more reading and discovered you are right the gluten free breads do need more humidity I read that some recipes had a pan of water in the oven with the bread
      Happy T Day

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  4. Your sourdoughs look great. I used to have a starter and have been also thinking about starting another crock of starter. I think you might have motivated me. Love your King Arthur flour crock too. Hugs-erika

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    1. awesome that I motivated you! the sourdough is fun to bake with and reminds me that is how breads were made before purchased instant yeast

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  5. Well done for making the gluten free bread. It must be difficult to find things that are suitable for you. All fresh things to eat sounds really great

    Happy T Day

    Love Chrissie xx

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    1. thanks Chrissie we do mostly eat home baked-cooked meals here at home-the gf bread still a challenge
      Happy T Day

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  6. I was interested to read about your sour dough starters. My husband makes bread and made his own starter about 15 years ago, it is nurtured like the family baby. Home made bread is always the best as I'm sure you will agree.
    Happy T day.
    Yvonne xx

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  7. Wow.. I am thrilled about your GF baking ! Great - and alll looks so well!
    Enjoy your visitors!
    Happy T-Day!
    oxo Susi

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    1. thanks Susi the gluten free didn't turn out so well as the wheat but will continure to try

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  8. you are not to be envied about this disease! but it was great watching the process of baking you do, very interesting.
    happy t-day!

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  9. Wow, your bread looks delicious and I'm sure it tastes amazing! How wonderful to have your friends coming to stay and it looks like you have everything in hand :-) . Happy T Day and wishing you a lovely time with your friends! J :-)

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  10. Oh fresh baked treats are always the best.
    Your house must smell yummy too.
    Have a fun visit enjoying that fresh fish too.
    Happy T Day Kathy oxo

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  11. My daughter has had to cut the gluten out of her diet... not fun... Your bread turned out lovely Kathy.. Congrats to hubby for catching the fish.. my hubby has yet to go again.. but i know he's wanting to... Not a fan of fish... although i will eat some talapia now and then..Happy happy T day! Enjoy your visitors! Hugs! deb

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  12. If you find a way to bake gluten free bread, please share! My sister has severe celiac. I admire your determination. I'm sure you'll figure it out. A starter that dates back to the 1700s - wow!

    I'm addictd to diet cola and wish I could find something healthy that I like. I'll be looking for coconut water based drinks since I love the taste and smell of coconut.

    Happy T-Day, Kathy! Hugs, Eileen

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    1. Hello Eileen, I ordered a new book for gluten free bread baking that sounded interesting and like the authors had done allot of research-experimenting with ingredients and method-I will let you know
      I got my husband off of diet coke a couple years ago now he is drinking mosly iced decaf tea now

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  13. I love the smell of bread baking. I know it is alot of work, and it is difficut when the results aren't exactly what you expected. Luckily, you have had success, so that is good motivation. Well done. Love the king arthur crock pot.

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    1. thanks- I love the smell of bread baking too-nice and homey. I will keep at the gluten free bread and see what happens Happy T day

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  14. I love baking bread, but didn't have much luck with sourdough or whole wheat. Even with the addition of vital wheat gluten, my 100% whole wheat bread was more like a tasty brick. I only bake with King Arthur flour. They are located in Vermont and I'm in Massachusetts so all the stores carry it. My friend, Red, has incorporated paleo in her diet. I tried baking some muffins with almond flour. It was ok, but didn't react the way AP flour does.

    Your breads looked wonderful. No doubt with your experimenting, you'll get the hang of gluten free baking. Happy T Day

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  15. Hubby and I both love baking bread - I would imagine gluten free is quite tricky! I have to be more careful with sugar content so well versed in label reading and trying to find ways of avoiding too much sugar! Happy T day, Chrisx

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  16. Well done you for trying the gluten free bread. It's not easy and sour dough bread can be tricky. I too was going to suggest a vessel of water in the oven while you bake. Try that. My hubby's family are all coeliacs. His dad nearly died of it as years ago the disease hadn't been discovered. I have tried to make g/f bread from scratch, but here in Spain the special flours are not available. Only online, but with high postage costs a loaf of bread will cost around 10 dollars!
    The bread in the photos looks really yummy. Well done. And that fish! Wow! I bet it tasted really good.
    Sorry for the late reply but my computer has been playing up and im doing this on my tablet, which takes me much longer....
    I hope you have a lovely time with your friends,
    Hugs,
    Lisca

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    1. Hi Lisca-no worries you are never late for dropping by for a visit.
      I think in the olden days the celiac was called wasting disease cause that is what happens your body can not absorb the food as the flora in the intestines is destroyed-I had gotten down to 100 pounds before I figured it out on my own. I have a new book coming for gluten free bread baking that seems to have a totally different approach so am excited to read and try it. Happy T Day

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  17. Your Bread does look great... sorry the GF wasn't a go again. Having tried to cook GF for the youngest sons old girlfriend was a challenge. I was able to get some decent biscuits and zucchini bread but that was about it bread wise. Those catfish look so yummy!! Husband doesn't like fish so I don't get to eat it often. :(

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  18. I'll take one biscuit, one slice of bread, and a coconut water, please. To go. lol

    Aloha and hugs,
    Hunter

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  19. Dear Kathy,

    I hope you get your bread figured out! Now that hot weather's coming, it will be perfect to make sourdough. I haven't tried gluten-free bread, but I have made pancakes that were like wallpaper paste out of a baking mix!

    Love,

    Marqueta

    p.s. We found a nice little place by Ava that we are wanting to offer on, once my husband gets a job transfer. Such a beautiful area!

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