Christmas is coming…
Christmas is in the air. Many homeschool blogs have been a buzz with activities, projects and decorating ideas. We prefer to turn Christmas into a month long holiday, taking advantage of all the sales.
This year our families Christmas present was a new Breadman Breadmaker, which I promptly tested out by making a loaf of Cinnamon Raisin Bread that none of us were too fond of. I’ve never liked the way breadmakers bake the bread and this loaf was no exception, it was too dark for my taste.
Fortunately, my new Breadman has three settings (light, medium and dark), so I plan to give it one more try before I give up and deciding to bake my bread the old-fashioned way — in the oven.
As a suffer of fibromyalgia I have noticed over the years that consumption of wheat causes my fibromyalgia to flare up — unless it’s sourdough bread. Since I love sourdough bread, it was a marriage made in heaven. I can still have fresh bread and not have the nasty side-effects.
I decided it would be nice to have a continuous supply of sourdough bread, so why not make a sourdough starter. I followed the recipe in my Breadman manual. I wish I had done some further research because I found two other sourdough starters that I think would be much better than the one I started three days ago.
Here are the links:
Being the curious homeschoolers-at-heart that we are. My husband and I were curious as to the history behind sourdough. We found out …
“Sourdough is the oldest and most original form of leavened bread. The oldest recorded use of sourdough is from the Ancient Egyptian civilizations.”
I was fascinated to discover the reason I do well eating sour dough bread and it makes perfect sense — my doctor recommends that I eat lots of protein and sourdough turns carbohydrates into proteins…
Sourdough turns Carbohydrates into Proteins? by Chef Cookie Soles
I would like to share a bit of research I came across recently concerning “Sourdough”. What originally caught my eye was an analysis of laboratory tests. They say that Sourdough contains the greatest amount of protein for it’s weight and size of any comparable food. “Hmm” I thought “just how does that come about when it’s ingredients are all carbohydrates?” Apparently a wild yeast forms in the fermentation process of the starter. At that stage, a starch food is turned into a protein dynamo food.
I can’t wait to finish up my current sourdough starter science project, so that I can try out this recipe for sourdough starter (scroll down), which begins with boiled potatoes — how interesting. According to the recipe I followed, I have to keep the dough starter out for 5-days, stirring 3-times daily. Then I can refrigerate the dough.
I was amazed at just how many different ways there are to create a good sourdough starter. Do a search on YouTube — prepare to be facinated. One sourdough recipe even uses Concord Grapes in the starter, another recipe uses just flour and water.
I simply can’t wait to try out all these fabulous recipes. I’ll be sure to recommend my favorites. I have a huge pickle jar in the fridge just waiting to be repurposed, so I think I’ll transfer my sourdough starter to the jar, once it’s finished fermenting.
The best thing about Christmas is all the new projects and learning activities we find to do. What projects do you have in the works this month?