I Love the Smell of Baking Bread

I think I'm addicted to the smell of baking bread. This is what's in my oven right now:

I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with this bread. I'm baking it to practice making sourdough whole-wheat bread. Much as I'd love to, I can't eat all of this bread. So most of it will go in the freezer. Let me know if you would like to try some! My first batch came out great. This batch looks and smells even better.

I love having my house smell like bread--or rolls--and I like tasting it and having a limited amount for daily use. What I need is to have someone come by when I bake and whisk away all the rest of the bread. And I can still savor the lingering smell of baking bread.

Start Over!

I finally baked bread using natural fermentation! I first started this process about a month ago. A few days in, my first starter attempt lost all of its ability to expand, but I kept stirring and aerating it, hoping something would happen. I had hope because it had an interesting, fruity smell and it was not showing signs of mold.

But finally I did start over.  My second attempt was doing really well, until I moved it temporarily to a spot out of sight--and forgot about it! Sadly, it had to join the compost.

My third attempt worked well. Here is the result:

It doesn't look appreciably different from regular whole-wheat bread. But the texture is slightly stretchy and the taste is lightly tangy--a nice, light sourdough. Very delicious!

Instead of giving you the recipe, I will refer you to the book. There's a lot to it. I feel like I'm at the beginning of an adventure. A bread adventure!

Here is my mother starter, all refreshed and ready to tuck into the refrigerator.

This is what makes the adventure possible!