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Getting Started With Sourdough

Getting started with sourdough can be quite intimidating. As I shared a few posts ago, I started my sourdough journey at the start of the year. To get started there are a few things you should buy or ensure you have on hand. I did include them in my prior post, but so you don’t have to toggle between the posts. Fortunately, you may have a lot of these items on hand.

What you need:

After you get your goodies, the first step in getting your sourdough started is starting your starter. There are a lot of different recipes for sourdough starters, which can make it overwhelming. For my starters, I used the guides that came with my kits.

Sourdough Starter recipe:

What you’ll need: flour, water, starter jars and kitchen scale

Day 1: add 50g of water to the jar followed by 50g of flour. Mix with a spatula until you obtain a creamy texture. Mark the feeding level before covering it with a towel and placing it in a warm place without drafts. Come up with a fun name for your starters. Mine are Dough Pesci and Marlon Brandough.

Day 2: repeat day one steps (try to feed your starter at the same time daily.)

Day 3: you should start to see some signs of activity now, like bubbles on the surface or an increase in volume. Discard 1/2 of the volume and repeat the steps from day 1.

Day 4-7: discard 1/2 of the volume of the starter before repeating the steps from day 1. You should see an uptick in activity with larger bubbles and a slightly acidic aroma.

Day 7: it may be ready to use. I was able to make bread at 7 days with mine, but the bread got better as the starter aged.

If you bake often, like me, keep feeding it daily. Remember the most important part of feeding is to discard at least 1/2 of the starter. If you don’t discard it, there won’t be enough to keep the starter fed and it will die out. To keep up with my baking needs, I feed it about 100 grams of flour and 90 grams daily and have moved it into bigger jars.

If you’re not going to bake immediately, you can put the starter in the fridge and feed it bi-weekly. I’ve noticed that most sourdough recipes include instructions for dealing with starters coming from the fridge.

I live in South Florida, so there is plenty of moisture in the house. Keep in mind if you live in a drier climate, the amount of flour and water you need may be different. Play around with it a bit to find what works for your kitchen. I chose this starter recipe because it was pretty pedestrian, which I needed. I didn’t want an overcomplicated recipe that I may screw up. In the end, my starters flourished, so I guess I was worried for no reason.

Meet Dough Pesci and Marlon Brandough

A couple of closing notes on the starter:

  • Discard into the trash or set aside the discard for use in recipes. There are a lot of great recipes out there that use discard.
  • Be careful if you have pets, as the discard will ill your dogs or cats.
  • Don’t discard the discard into the sink as it can muck up your plumbing.

What’s your favorite candy?

My favorite candy is chocolate. I love it and could eat it all day every day. If only eating it like that wouldn’t make me both severely obese and diabetic. I am a chocolate snob and have Norwegian milk chocolate Freia delivered monthly. Everyone my kids ask where they are, I’m a bit cagey with them. While I am happy having a piece or two a day, they’ll kill all of the bars in a day or two. I’m also a big fan of Milka and Cote D’Or chocolate bars. Also, I’d never say no to Leonidas or Neuhaus chocolates.

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The Mighty Five

For some time now, hiking the Mighty Five has been on my bucket list. It was always going to be a matter of finding the time between the hockey trips, work, and visiting Jake. Last fall the stars aligned, I had taken time off and bought tickets on Delta to visit Jake in Utah already anticipating him going down range again. Fortunately, things changed and he wasn’t going abroad again. Consequently, I decided we should take the time to hike the Mighty Five. After all, it would have been criminal for him to live in Utah for four years and never take advantage of the National Parks in his backyard.

My trip was eight days, which gave us six days to traverse southern Utah and all five of the parks. To plan the trip, I used the Wanderlog app, so I could share our itinerary with our family. This way if something happened on a hike and they didn’t hear from us, they’d have an approximation of where we were going to be that day. This was an important tip I came across when researching the trip. Several trails in these parks must be respected as they can quickly turn dangerous. Also, the parks are in remote areas and cell service isn’t a given.

Looking down the Virgin River at Zion National Park

To fine-tune the itinerary, I leveraged All Trails, the park services app, and several blogs to figure out the best trails to hike. This proved quite helpful although there was some disagreement between the park services and All Trails as to the difficulty of some of the hikes. Before you reach the park, it’s imperative to download the trail maps to your phone. While the trails at Zion and Arches were very well marked, it was not the case at the other parks. Each park has its guide to the park and trails denoting the difficulty of each trail.

Beautiful Bryce Canyon

There is a little extra planning that needs to go into both Arches National Park and Zion. If you want to hike Angels Landing, apply to the lottery. You can no longer hike this trail without a reservation. Similarly, you’ll need to be extra prepared to hike the Narrows depending on water temperature, depth of the virgin river, and weather conditions. As for Arches, you’ll need to reserve a timed entry window for admittance into the park during the high season. Like Angels Landing, the Fiery Furnace hike requires a reservation.

Even with a lot of planning, go into the trip knowing that you may need to be flexible on your expectations. There could be changes in the weather or rock falls that impact your ability to complete certain hikes. Moreover depending on what season you’re in, there could be road closures up in the mountains. The best time to plan a trip is spring and early fall. This will give you decent weather without all the crowds of high season. We were there in early October and the parks were still super busy. And of course, bring plenty of water both with and without bubbles. Jake and I would enjoy cold, crisp sparkling water at the top of every hike.

Hickman Bridge at Capitol Reef National Park

We started our trip at Zion staying in Cedar City, which is about 45-55 minutes north of the park. We have two full days at Zion. However, I would have gladly spent more time there. The next park we hit was Bryce Canyon, which was under two hours from Cedar City. We stayed in Cannoville, Utah, which is a tiny town that doesn’t have a post office or cell service right off Utah’s Scenic Byway 12. This was our base for both Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef Park. Our last stay was in Moab, which is near both Canyonlands and Arches National Park.

Canyonlands National Park

I planned for a full day at Bryce, Capitol Reef, and Canyonlands with 2-2.5 days at both Arches and Zion. Additionally, I planned 2-4 hikes a day or about 10-13 miles. Jake and I both trained for the trip, so we’d be able to tackle the more challenging hikes. I’d recommend that anyone looking to hike these parks do the same. We could have spent several more days at each park. Moreover, we could have spent another month exploring the incredible landscape around these parks. Interspersed between the national parks are several incredible national monuments, national forests, and state parks. There is something incredible to see at every turn.

Delicate Arch at Arches National Park

What I didn’t expect was the incredible drives between the parks. The drive from Cedar City to Bryce Canyon was breathtaking. Scenic Byway 12 was one of the most harrowing, yet beautiful drives I have ever taken. From the steep drop-offs and beautiful views of the canyons in Grand Staircase Escalante to the beautiful high mountain road with free-range cattle and changing foliage, southern Utah is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The drive alone between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef is worth the flight to Utah. I’ve written about our time at Zion and will be writing about our experiences at the other parks. If you’re on the fence about a trip to the Mighty Five, get off the fence and do it.

Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

The one thing that never gets checked off the “to-do list” is dropping off the donations at Goodwill. They seem to sit and sit in the garage for months or even years on end. I’m not even sure why that’s the case as it’s not difficult to drop the stuff off. Yet here we are with stacks of bags to be donated.

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Sourdough

After the holidays, I decided I wanted to keep refining my baking skills by adding sourdough to the mix. Consequently, I loaded up my Amazon cart with all the goodies and accouterments one would need to start their sourdough journey. Amazon has millions of options to help you here which can be overwhelming. I’ll walk you through the items I bought later in the post.

Baking with sourdough is a labor of love and patience. It can take a couple of weeks for your starter to get going and be strong enough to use for bread. Once I received all my goodies from Amazon, I got to work on my starters. I started with two starters in case I messed up one of them. The first one I started, I used a culture I had bought from Amazon. The second one I started, I used the recipe that came with the sourdough starter kit. As for the recipe, it couldn’t have been more simple as it was just flour and water.

Patience is a virtue I don’t have, so you can imagine how anxious I was to get baking. Once the starter had been established for a little over a week, I decided it was time to rumble. Consequently, I found a sourdough recipe in my Better Homes & Garden cookbook that was fairly straightforward. The first loaves turned out a bit stodgy but tasted good. I have now made the recipe three times with each attempt looking and tasty progressively better. They say that sourdough practice makes perfect and honestly my family loves all the fresh bread.

I did try Paul Hollywood’s sourdough baguette recipe a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I got desperately ill between the first rise and the second rise. My hubby had to finish shaping the loaves and getting them set for their overnight rise. The following morning I did manage to get them in the oven looking semi-respectable.

If you’re looking to get started on a sourdough journey of your own, here are my must-haves:

Write about your first computer.

My first computer was a Dell desktop that I custom-built and bought for myself as a college freshman. I was so proud of my purchase. At the time, it was a cutting-edge computer. Now it would be an absolute dinosaur. At the moment, I’m rocking with a MacBook Pro having left my PC days just for my nine to five days.

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Getting Started Again

This week I found myself getting started again on my workout routine. Illness knocked me out of my routine over the holidays. I had resumed it, but a trip and then another stomach bug interrupted my progress. Unfortunately, last week’s bug knocked me out, so I took a week off to recover. Yesterday I started again with an amazing cycling routine with Emily on Apple Fitness+. Today’s workout was a Rihanna-themed treadmill workout by Sherica. As always, the workout was fire.

Taking a week off every few weeks is a nightmare scenario for me. It’s challenging after making so much progress over the late summer, fall, and early winter. Now I feel like I’ve lost some of those gains and am back at square one. Thankfully, the difficult part, which is getting started, is over. The trick is to be consistent and disciplined like I was throughout the fall. Hopefully, it warms up just a tad, so Arrow and I can return to running outside again. I’d run with Anakin, but honestly taking him outside to walk is akin to a CrossFit class. He wears me out.

What do you complain about the most?

At the risk of alienating myself or sounding too cliche, I complain the most about the quality of consumer goods. Not only does this make me feel old and that I’ve turned into my mother, nay my grandmother, but it grinds my gears. For example, we are on our 4th washer and 4th dryer. We’ve lived in our house for 17 years. These appliances should have a shelf life greater than four years. When they sold my great aunt’s house a few years ago, it had a washer and dryer from the 1960s that worked better than my current duo work.

One could argue that three hockey-playing boys take a greater toll on a washer and dryer than aging adults. However, I don’t expect my washer/dryer to last fifty years. I do expect them to last at least ten years. Honestly, I don’t think this is an unreasonable ask. I know I’m not alone in this as family and friends have experienced this with several different appliances, so there’s some truth in the cliche “They don’t make things like they used to.”

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Great Weekend

We had a great weekend around these parts. Our patient continues to heal nicely even if he is a bit cranky and annoying. Fortunately, he is not experiencing a lot of pain. Unfortunately, the lack of pain makes it harder to keep him compliant with his activity restrictions, icing the finger, and taking his medications. It’s been a constant battle for the hubby and me to get him to ice and elevate the injury. No matter how many times we tell him these things are designed to facilitate his recovery, he ignores them.

Thankfully, both Friday and Saturday nights provided a respite for me. Friday night I had the house to myself as the Mayor was at his girlfriend’s house and the hubby had a hockey game. I cooked a nice dinner, courtesy of HelloFresh, watched TV, and cuddled with the dogs. By the time, the Hubby got home dinner was waiting for him, but I had already fallen asleep. I was still exhausted from being ill earlier in the week.

I worked Saturday, but it was completely dead. It was an absolute waste of time. I would have been equally productive as an outfitter. Nevertheless, I spent the day counting down the hours to dinner and a show. After work, we headed to HardRock to have dinner and see Seinfeld with our besties. Dinner at Cipresso was outstanding. I had the best veal parmigiana I have ever tasted and our appetizers were equally as tasty. Afterward, we hit the slots before heading to see Jerry. The slots were kind to us, which was a bonus.

The comedy show started late as people came in to find their seats. Honestly, it probably got off to a late start because the concessions (aka alcohol) were closing once the show started. I didn’t mind the late start as it would have been disruptive to start while people were still finding their way to their seats. The opener was Mario Joyner, who was fantastic. He had us laughing throughout his entire set.

And then came Jerry. I’m a huge Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, so seeing him live was a big deal. He lived up to, nay surpassed my expectations. His set and material were so relatable. We can all relate to going on a family vacation just to “fight at a hotel” instead of at home. His take on marriage, cell phones, and water features in Florida neighborhoods was hysterical. We didn’t stop laughing the entire time he was on stage. He is so incredibly talented. I’m glad we had the opportunity to experience it in person.

Naturally, we stayed up a bit later Saturday night than we are accustomed to doing. Consequently, we slept on Sunday. I had grandiose plans of baking cookies, and bread, planting herbs/tomatoes in terracotta pots for the patio, and trimming the hibiscus. Regrettably, fatigue prevented me from making my way outside to engage in any gardening activities. On the other hand, I found plenty of time to bake cookies and bread. It was my third attempt at a sourdough loaf and it turned out pretty good. They say practice makes perfect, so I’ll keep working on it.

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

This may surprise all of you, given the name of my blog, but my favorite sport to watch and play is hockey. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get back on the ice someday. I had to retire after tearing a tendon in my ankle and the whole thyroid thing. Nevertheless, I enjoy watching hockey whether it’s youth, high school (MN,) college, or the NHL. Each level of hockey brings something to the experience of being a hockey fan. It’s the greatest sport and community in the world. Our hockey journey has blessed us with the opportunity to meet some incredible people.

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Quick Update

Just a quick update on the Mayor. They rolled him back into the OR about 15 minutes ago. As expected, he was quite nervous about going under general anesthesia. I also am quite nervous about him going under general. Everyone at the surgical center has been amazing, professional and kind. He, naturally, was a big hit with the nurses. I’ll try to post another update once the surgery is over.

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Snail’s Pace

My work computer is moving at a snail’s pace and it’s driving me absolutely bonkers. I hate when the laptop doesn’t want to cooperate. The system is moving so slowly that I’m worried it’s going to drop my calls. Of course, it’s hard to get a call when nobody can reach you via IM, so there’s that. At this point, I’m hatching a plan to try and fix the problem. Hopefully, it’ll stop moving at a snail’s pace and start moving at a cheetah’s pace.

Speaking of problems, were the walking wounded over here. The Mayor sees the surgeon next week for his finger. He’ll likely need surgery to fix it. The hubby has an MRI next week for his knee, which he blew out in Jiu Jitsu. Unfortunately, he’ll likely need surgery as well. And here I am with a bum knee from who knows what. Fortunately, I don’t think it’s a serious issue. Nevertheless, we are a bit of a mess.

Our weather here is sunny and 68, which while cool for South Florida is much better than the weather everywhere else. Up in Tally, they saw low temperatures in the single digits. In Orlando, they were near freezing. I thought we might get a little cooler with this front, but I guess not. At least we can give the AC a rest for a few days.

Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

There are so many times in my life that I have felt loved. The time I’ve spent traveling with the kids has filled. That they desire to keep exploring the world with me makes me feel loved. And of course, my puppies make sure I know they love me every second and every minute that we’re together.

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Happy to be Warm

I am happy to be warm after a very chilly weekend in Canada. The Mayor and I had a great time, but I hate wearing multiple layers. Additionally, I hate the feeling that your fingers are going to fall off when you try to pump gas. Who needs windchills below zero? Not this girl; that ship has sailed for me.

I will admit, the falling snow Saturday evening was absolutely beautiful. Winter driving is for the birds. Fortunately, the temperature was warm enough to prevent the roads from icing over. I did, however, have to drive through quite a bit of snow going to the second game Saturday night. While Saturday’s temperature was manageable, Sunday’s weather was offensive. The chill of that winter wind is something you never forget, which is why I live in Florida.

The drive back to Detroit was uneventful. We didn’t see the sign advising us to “don’t pick up hitchhikers, prison area” that we saw on our way to Canada. They must have had some issues with jailbirds hitchhiking their way away from prison. I did think my fingers were going to fall off when I was pumping gas. To be blunt, I was thrilled when we took off leaving winter behind. The flight home was smooth and we even saw the SpaceEx launch from the plane. It was amazing to see, but impossible to photograph. Anyway, I’m happy to be home and happy to be warm.

What is your favorite animal?

What a silly question. Everyone knows my favorite animal is a dog. I love them. Our dogs are such a big part of our family. Maya and Athena, even though they left us physically are never far from our hearts or thoughts. Dogs love their family unconditionally and are always by your side. Their loving disposition and loyalty feed the soul. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that most dogs are super cute.

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Snow Storm!

We are in the midst of a snow storm here in Sarnia. It was absolutely beautiful earlier this evening as the snowflakes began to fall. Nevertheless, the beautiful snow also inspired some deep seated anxiety over driving in the snow. After all, this is the very weather we moved to Florida to avoid. Fortunately, it’s remained warm enough, so the roads, while wet and snow covered, were not at all icy.

Tomorrow morning, however, the temperatures are supposed to fall into the low twenties. I am a bit nervous the roads may get icy. Perhaps will have a plow come through cleaning the road and paving the way for us as if we’re dignitaries. (Wishful thinking obviously!). It’s also supposed to start snowing again midday Saturday. In all, they’re expecting anywhere from 6-15 inches of snow. Fortunately, the Mayor and I both upgraded our winter wear yesterday. Needless to say, my anxiety over driving is making me feel like a curmudgeon.

What snack would you eat right now?

As I write this, I’m enjoying some yummy breadsticks and cheese. I saw these at Walmart this morning and had to buy them. They remind me of spending weekends at my grandmas and eating Moo Town Snackers while watching Saved by the Bell. We ate in between games, which made for a really early supper. I’m a bit hungry, so this was the perfect sized snack.

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The Weekend

The weekend is here. Hopefully, it means that I’ll get back to knowing what day of the week it is. I
I dedicated the morning to completing household chores.  Honestly, I had every intention of doing this work over the holiday break, but it didn’t happen. Mostly because all three boys were here, but also because I got sick on Christmas night. Unfortunately, getting sick also meant I couldn’t spend as much time with the boys as I wanted to since I didn’t want to infect anyone.

After a quick liquid lunch, a protein shake, I headed to Palm Beach to go thrifting with Terri. Our first stop was the Church Mouse. It’s a fancier “thrift” store on Palm Beach island and the prices were equal to the location. Afterwards, we headed to Goodwill back on the mainland. Fortunately, Terri was able to find some gold at that location. We were going to stop at World Thrift, but we didn’t have life jackets or rowboats to get through the parking lot.

I spent the evening chilling with the puppies while watching The Morning Show. It’s quite entertaining and well down. Once my Amazon package gets here, I’m going to start working on my sourdough baguette loaves. Well, at least I’m going to get the equipment ready. Thankfully, it’s going to be a nice and peaceful evening. It’s nice to be able to watch the show of my choice without someone complaining or making fun of my choice. I’ll be taking advantage of this all weekend.

Meanwhile the Mayor and Hubby are enjoying the snow that’s begun to fall in Pennsylvania. Note to anyone looking for a new car, the Chevy Bolt doesn’t handle any amount of snow and will leave you stuck. In addition to the snow, the Mayor played two games. They lost the first game and tied the second one. They’re currently enjoying the Pittsburgh Penguins versus the Sabres game. I think it’s fun to experience NHL games in different stadiums or cities.

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

If I had a freeway billboard, it would say carpe diem. Mostly because I think people should live for the moment. Also, I like the idea of putting up a billboard with a dead language on it. Gotta be different!