Yesterday was super busy ~ my physical with the primary care, helping with festival baking (we're doing baklava, which is what sells the most because it's a pain to make), then the dermatologist after that. I was home before 3 pm.
My plan was to make Emilie's sourdough with white cheddar and fresh dill. I've never made time to make this recipe when I was working, mostly because it's rather time consuming and the weekends were generally catch-up and chores. However....I should have waited until 5:30 or 6 to start this bread. By the time I was done with everything and it's ready for the bulk rise (sourdough needs a long rise period, usually 6 to 10 hours, which I typically do overnight), it was only 7pm. The suggested bulk rise was 8 to 10 hours. At 70 degrees ~ currently it's about 8-10 degrees warmer than that these days.....we're having a heat wave. I calculated.....9 hours is 4 am. I reluctantly set my alarm for 4. When I got up and blearily went downstairs, I was shocked to see that the dough had risen all the way to the top of the container I use to bulk rise ~ a 6 liter container! Holy crap. I sure hope I didn't over-proof it (which means it won't rise as much when I bake it because the sourdough starter has done all it can do...the trick is to stop the bulk rise when it's doubled in size). So, it's in the fridge for a few hours, which deepens the sour flavor. I hope to bake no later than 10 am. It's supposed to be 96 today. Baking in the afternoon is out of the question. IF it is successful, I'll post a photo. Fingers crossed.
Was I able to go back to bed and fall asleep? Nope. I tried. I think it's going to take me awhile to get the hang of this retirement thing. :D
Luckily I have no appointments today, and the only thing I've planned is to play racquetball this evening during ladies night.
This is an old photo, but the group is pretty much the same.......
I might do a bit of sewing, definitely do some dusting, wash the sheets, etc. Or, maybe not. Or maybe. :-)
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Love, 365
****The good news ~ the bread is fabulous. The flavor is amazing!
*****The bad news ~ our dryer died. Probably can be repaired, but we'll have to wait almost a week for it. Getting out the clothes drying rack.....
Those sourdough flavours are intriguing. It's about time I baked another loaf. Hope it turned out well
ReplyDeleteYour days seem to busy enough.
I've never made baklava, a pain as you say. Love to eat it though!
We roll up the baklava, with 6 layers of puff pastry. Honestly I don't know why we make it in rolls, putting about 10 on a full sheet pan, then cut them at a diagonal. It's a giant pain. It takes a lot of time to do...but "it's the way we've always done it" sort of thing. We will also make baklava cheesecake, which is really popular. The crunchy bits from the ends of the rolls is saved for baklava sundae's...probably my favorite!
DeleteYes, I have been making a point to be busy....I think I'm afraid not to be!
Um Um sourdough Bread. Me I am surrounded by freshly baked Cranberry cookies, what a wife! Gotta a love her. Still have some of her Chocolate cookies with carmel bits yet to be eaten.
ReplyDeleteOh, the cc cookies with caramel bits sounds so delicious! There's nothing better than to marry a baker :-)
DeleteI'm a fan of sourdough bread, all flavors :)
ReplyDeleteSounds delicious.
~Jo
It is delicious, but I was a little disappointed that I didn't much notice the dill. Otherwise, yummy!
DeleteTrust me you are going to wonder how the hell you had the time to work!! 😂
ReplyDeleteOh, that's easy ~ just take away all the fun stuff and stick it all on the weekend, along with laundry, cooking, house cleaning, etc.....
DeleteI'm not a baker, so have never tried sour dough bread; but back in the day my Mom made bread and I remember how much work it was. Getting up at 4 am to check on the bread...yikes! Used to play racquet ball in leagues until I had so many sprain ankles I decided it wasn't all that healthy for me. Think I was too competitive; as every time I played in a tournament I would get injured. Sorry about the dryer, it could be more expensive to fix it than buy new...sadly that's often the case and why we've become a throw away society. Popped in from a mutual blog friends blog to say hi. It's always fun to meet new bloggers. Hope you'll swing by for a visit.
ReplyDeleteSandy's Space
I'm glad you stopped in! *Disclaimer: I've only had to get up at 4 once. Will make sure I never have to do that again :D
DeleteI have had my share of injuries ~ broke my right wrist and left humerus, badly sprained left ankle, a black eye, lots of bruises from being smacked with the ball. What I learned is that if I can't get the ball, I can't get the ball. We mostly play for fun and exercise, but there's some competitiveness in there for sure!