Emmalou

We've got a new pet...actually millions of them! Collectively, we're calling them "Emmalou." Around Christmas, my family was handing out starters for some Amish Friendship Bread that I was quite certain wasn't Amish (the inclusion of Instant Pudding in the final recipe was a dead give away). Anyway, I was intrigued by the bag I was told to "mush" every day and feed every 5. It wasn't that the bread turned out bad, just very sweet, kind of heavy, and not exactly the stuff you want as your daily bread (and okay, I was weirded out by the instant pudding necessity). So, I decided to start experimenting, cutting back on the sugar and milk it said to feed it. A few weeks later and I've got a starter that's bubbling away like crazy!


I was feeling like I was doing a pretty good job nurturing Emmalou (who was named while listening to "Red Dirt Girl" but got a slight twist, in deference to the artist--who knows, perhaps she'd considering having yeast named after her to be an honor). So, today was the true test--could I actually produce a reasonably tasty sourdough-type loaf of peasant bread with the newest member of our family? After all, we're missing Pane D'Amore so much---what we would give for a chunk of the cranberry-walnut bread or a slice of Pane d'Oro slathered with fresh butter! Yum! So, it seemed fitting that an experiment in baking might be in order for the new year. Besides, if you get the cogs turning correctly, homemade bread fits nicely with the graduate education-induced austerity program!

So, Emmalou gave a piece of herself to the bowl along with a bunch of flour, some water, and salt--so simple! We had put half of Emmalou in a separate jar to bubble away more slowly in the fridge for future experiments and took the part that wasn't used for bread and fed it for use in tomorrow's breakfast: sourdough pancakes. We'll see.

After letting Emmalou's progeny go to work for 5 hours or so, other projects demanded some attention, so with the bread-stone warmed, into the oven the boule went. 40 or so minutes later, out the boule came looking like true honest-to-goodness artisan bread. Amazing! I slid the baguettes in for their go in the oven and celebrated my success with a delicious Old Thumper.

Another half hour or so and out came the baguettes looking impressive in their own right. Amazing x2. We waited for it all to cool before diving in for a sample, and while not exactly award winning, I had custom-crafted some pretty yummy bread! It lacked the true sourdough flavor I was hoping for, but was definitely more than edible and bordering on pretty darn good. I'm sure Emmalou will be happy to give some of herself up for another experiment next week...for now it's on to sourdough pancakes in the morning!

P.S.
This is what our Saline Canine looks like when celebrating her birthday with a delicious homemade carrot and peanut butter cake...in tribute to Max.