I am on a quest to make a sourdough starter (or two or
three) that works, that is easily fed and maintained, and that makes fabulous
chewy crunchy-crusted bread that I can once more enjoy. This jar full of bubbly
strange-looking goo, is my new starter. I began it 62 hours ago, and it is now
going into the refrigerator until I can use it to make bread. I’d do that
tonight, but bronchitis and laryngitis from the coughing has taken over and
there is no way I am doing much of anything other than barking like a seal,
trying to breathe, drinking hot tea to soothe my throat, and taking antibiotics
and cough syrup. My friend Kelly
suggested warm bourbon, lemon juice and honey…I believe I may be taking her up
on that advice.
The reason I began this quest? I have problems digesting
wheat. It took years to diagnose the problems I was having as this particular
problem. But once diagnosed, then came the hard part---finding wonderful foods,
especially bread and pasta, that were gluten/wheat free. Most gluten free
breads are so dry they suck the saliva out of your mouth and are so tasteless
you might as well eat sawdust. While I
found a pretty good gluten free bread recipe, it has tons of ingredients, and
while it makes delicious toast, it’s heavy and breaks up when you try to make a
sandwich. So the quest continues.
Recently hubby Roy read an article about an artisanal bread
maker in Santa Monica CA, Jack Bezian, who contends it is NOT gluten that’s the
problem, but fast acting yeast. When fast acting yeast was made available to
the public commercially 50 years ago, that began the rise of gluten
intolerance. At least that’s Jack’s
contention. And from all of the people
who buy his bread and eat it on a regular basis (even people with celiac
disease) with no problems, I felt it was certainly worth a try, because I so
miss the taste of fabulous, chewy, crunchy bread the most.
I found out that Jack has been baking traditional sourdough
bread since 1966. NOT the stuff you get
from the grocery store, but made from a LIVING sourdough starter. Sourdough
starter is the traditional way of making bread. It’s how everyone used to make
bread prior to the commercialization of yeast.
Most modern bread is made with
baker’s yeast. There are many advantages to eating naturally fermented bread
instead of modern bread made with yeast. While it may But it’s not only the
starter, but a slow rising and lots of kneading that helps break down the gluten in the bread, and thus make it more easily digestible.
So I did a little searching on the internet and came across
an article for a sourdough starter and came across the 1847 Oregon
Trail Sourdough starter.
This starter and the sale of the dried starter began by a man named Carl
Griffith. If you go to
http://carlsfriends.net/source.html you can read about the beginnings of this
starter, why it is FREE (yup you got it right), who Carl Griffith was, and
print out recipes and support documents. You see the Oregon
Trail Starter foundation is staffed by volunteers and to receive
the starter you send a self addressed stamped envelope with your address and
receive your starter with instructions.
I did this two weeks ago, and my starter is now working and waiting in
the frig for me to make my first loaf of bread.
If you cannot find the web site, please email me and I’ll
get the information to you. As soon as I make the bread, I will send photos and
report on the results. I LOVE sourdough bread, and it’s anywhere close to the
deliciousness of San Francisco sourdough, if it bakes with a crispy crunchy
crust, and if it doesn't annihilate my stomach I will be the happiest camper on
the earth and be making lots of sourdough starters. And YOU will be the
recipient of this information and recipes!
Keep your fingers crossed and keep watching for updates.
