Sourdough Bread

I'm sick. I suppose it's one of life's little ironies that on my first day of vacation, my first study-free day in about three months, I got sick. Maybe it's all the stress, maybe it's because I've been hanging out with my sick (adorable) two-year-old niece, I don't know. Either way, my big beach plans and long list of things to bake has to wait now. So, no Boston Cream Pie, no airy ciabatta. No iced sugar cookies, no ice cream. Wow, just writing this makes me depressed. Either way, I searched through the freezer yesterday for some toast - staple sick food, and found to my surprise that thanks to my year-round toast-consuming habit, I was actually out of bread - just when I needed it the most. Another one of life's ironies, I suppose.

I decided that I needed to drag myself away from the couch, wash my hands really well, and start making bread. That's really the only way to go from toast-free to toast-full. I chose Susan's Norwich Sourdough (from wildyeastblog.com). I tried following the recipe exactly, but ended up replacing some of the flour (about 150 grams) with whole wheat flour (I ran out of all-purpose).

The loaves turned out beautifully. I'm really happy with my first real sourdough attempt - in fact, so happy that I'm making more - most of the bread has already been eaten! Thanks for the recipe, Susan! You can find the recipe over here, over at wildyeastblog.com