County Views.48
Knowing I needed things to keep me busy after the election, I had put up a few sourdough sponges on Tuesday morning, which yesterday became eight of the twelve loaves you see above. Somehow, the demands of my little colony of wild yeast, the need to knead the dough and encourage the yeasties to go forth and multiply in the new flour I’d fed them, was a good antidote to obsessively watching vote-count updates. Furthermore, it’s clear we Americans around the nation need to try to find a few things that we can actually agree on. To the classics of apple pie and baseball, might I suggest adding bread and beauty (beauty = yesterday’s post)? (With apologies to any readers with celiac disease or gluten intolerance…if you’re just anti-carb, well, try one of the round zucchini loaves & let me know…) The little yellow tea loaves are semolina-cranberry quick breads; the rounded zucchini loaves are sourdough base with a commercial-yeast boost, and the multi-grain are the first of my sourdough loaves that pleasantly surprised me with their robust rise, even before the oven boost. Arise, wild yeast, and teach us Americans a thing or two about making the best of mucky circumstances… 🙂 I began this little colony of yeast (also known as a sourdough starter) shortly after returning from Bangladesh – before then, I’d been baking since at least the Ford presidency, but always with commercial yeast and their fairly-straightforward kneading & rising realities. Learning the needs of my colony of wild yeast is a welcome combination of biology experiment, lesson in patience, and introduction to new mysteries. May we all find fruitful and healthy distractions when needed. 🙂
(so much world, so little time....) 
Looks delicious, Paul! Enjoy!
November 5, 2020 at 10:34
Paul: I, too, have become a sourdough guy the last few years. Here’s a photo of a two one-pound loaves of sort of an Italian style sourdough from a few months ago. I just made a big, crusty loaf of rye in an iron pot yesterday. Thanks for staying in touch. We’re glad about our benighted state of Wisconsin — even though we’re experiencing crazy rates of Covid-19, it looks like we narrowly squeaked by with our electors for Biden. Whew. Stay calm and bake sourdough bread. Love,
Andrew
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November 5, 2020 at 13:39
Yes, here’s to good and wonderful and healthy distractions. My yeast is doing pretty well, too, and it’s about to be tamed enough to produce a respectable loaf or two.
*Maria B. Hosmer-Briggs*
*w 315 395 6264w,alt. 315 637-1900 (Hosmer Violins–leave a message)*
On Thu, Nov 5, 2020 at 10:12 AM (so much world, so little time….) wrote:
> somuchworldsolittletime posted: ” Knowing I needed things to keep me busy > after the election, I had put up a few sourdough sponges on Tuesday > morning, which yesterday became eight of the twelve loaves you see above. > Somehow, the demands of my little colony of wild yeast, the need to k” >
November 5, 2020 at 14:15