The ability to make a delicious and beautiful loaf of bread from scratch is a skill that I have admired for years. Learning to bake a good loaf of bread requires practice. Taking simple ingredients like flour, water, yeast and salt and turning them into a quality loaf of bread, is not a simple skill to master. This past year was the perfect opportunity to test out recipes. With the entire family living and eating at home, we were able to bake loaves of bread that the entire family would enjoy. After watching videos of bread making enthusiasts, practicing in our kitchen and then adjusting the recipes to meet our own tastes, we have learned how create a high quality product at home in our own kitchen.
For sourdough, it’s all about the cultured starter. We began cultivating a sourdough starter over a year ago. We continue to feed it regularly, so that we are able to bake our favorite Shookhill sourdough bread at any time. A strong sourdough culture is the key to making delicious tasting sourdough bread. We have happily shared the starter and many loaves of bread with friends and family.
In addition to sourdough, we have made whole grain bread, baguettes, dinner rolls, pizza dough, calzones, cinnamon raisin bread and focaccia. This has certainly been a uplifting baking journey in the midst a challenging year. I now understand better, why we say, “bread is the staff of life.” Bread, in moderation, can be a delicious part of a healthy diet. Whether it’s a quick bread, yeasted dough or dinner rolls, the smell of bread baking is always a welcome aroma to come home to.
