Comments and changes

In case you are wondering what happened here, I've changed the blog back to the classic format.  I noticed that the comment thingy was broken on the old layout, so in case anyone actually pops by this place and wanted to say 'hi', I thought I would change it back.  Though I think I will miss the old layout, this one has far less issues.

Could one of the four people who visit this blog comment and say hi so I can find out if the comments are working now?

Speaking about comments, I would love to hear any questions people have about sourdough!  I'm getting really frustrated with all these so called rules, and must measure, and exact timing that kitchen elitists dictate must be done in order for sourdough to work, otherwise you are a bad person.  It's just not true.  You can get absolutely fabulous results with a far more casual approach to sourdough.  Instead of people thinking that sourdough baking is fussy and demanding, I want them to know that it's one of the few baking methods that will modify it's self to your will and your schedule.  People read all these limiting rules online and in fancy books by famous bakers and they believe them.  Then they get frustrated and don't even try because they feel that baking with sourdough is something only a specialist can do.  This saddens me.  Sourdough is the kind of baking best suited for the Joe Every-man and Jane Every-woman.  It's the only style of baking I've found that can be transformed into whatever the baker wants, anything at all, from sweet lofty breads, to dense sour bricks - and what's more, you don't need measuring cups, scales or timers to do so.  If you miss the timing, then a few hours more won't hurt it - even forgetting the dough for a day or two can be recovered.  Every time I see someone being shot down because they dared to step outside the 'proper way' to make sourdough, I get a little bit angrier.  I'm just about at the point where I feel compelled to write a booklet that will help people take back the sourdough.  Though the more I format the topic in my head, the more I realize it's going to be a bit larger than a booklet.  I've read a lot on the topic, but I've never found a book that has all the information I want to put into it, or in a format like the one I want to write.  But if I could write it and could get one or two people to read it, they could reclaim a small amount of independence from the kitchen dictocrats and learn to trust themselves - If I could do that, then it would make me very happy.

And, because I hate to post anything without photos, here's a look at a (rather major) project I've been working on for the last two months.  It's finally starting to taste good and I'm almost ready to share what I've learned while making it.

Here it is, ready to be dug out of the crock.

This is just a small sampling of a much larger project I'm about to embark on.  But I thought I would try the month (which ended up taking two months) long project first to see how it goes.  If this goes well, it will decimate (reduce by one tenth) my grocery bill.