Welcome to our #IReadItInABook feature where we eat cauliflower for breakfast, make food for unicorns and beach comb in November. This time we are attempting to make a loaf of bread that sings. Why? Because we read it in a book!
Sourdough
In Sourdough by Robin Sloan protagonist Lois is handed a sourdough starter and finds salvation from her stressful job by learning how to bake bread. The starter is no normal starter however. It sings, takes parts in wars and maybe even is capable of world domination. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds – read the book. Anyway all the lovely talk about crisp, warm sourdough bread got me thinking (and made me hungry): Could I make a sourdough loaf?
The challenge
Those of you who follow Book Social will know that this feature has had me in the kitchen several times. The actual book didn’t have a specific recipe so I took to my shelves and dusted off Paul Hollywood’s, How To Bake. Well we are in the midst of Bake Off so it seemed appropriate! Sure enough there was a starter recipe consisting of nothing more than flour (of the strong, white bread type), water (tepid) and an apple (organic). I didn’t have an organic apple so I washed the prettiest one from my fruit bowl and grated that in. It really was very easy to throw together and after that I had to leave it for 3 days. A feed or two later involving throwing half of the flour mixture away before adding more flour?!?!?! And it was (supposedly) ready to bake. Although I hadn’t yet heard any singing…
- The starter, day one
- Day 2
- Day 3
Hollywood handily includes several recipes you can use your starter in. Having some lovely local honey from a lovely friend I chose the Honey and Almond bread. It required a lot of waiting (14 hours) and the dough spread out a lot rather than up but the end result was tasty if not amazingly Instagrammable. Unlike in Robin Sloan’s book there was no singing from the bread or the starter, but I may have hummed a line or two whilst kneading.
- Hollywood’s version
- My version
Our daily bread
If you’re prepared to wait a week for a fresh loaf of bread then sourdough is well worth a try. It tastes lovely and, to be honest, it was quite easy to do. I’ve kept my starter going but I’m not sure if it’s something I will continue. I find keeping house plants alive quite stressful let alone live cultures trapped within a combination of strong flour and (non) organic apples! I do recommend the book by Robin Sloan though so give it a go, you might end up baking yourself. Or at least taking a trip to your local bakery.
Bring on the challenges!
If you have a book related challenge you would like us at Book Social to complete, or if you have done something purely because you read it in a book let us know in the comment section below. Don’t forget to tag us on social media #IReadItInABook
