Death Match

I think it is in every slothful blogger's psyche to hyper focus on their absence when coming back from a long one. Struggling with the internal guilt of ones own erstwhile enthusiasm and forgotten dreams of a functioning blog... And then it detracts from whatever they were inspired to write about in the first place.

That done, albeit indirectly... I'm here to do a list. A list of things I've made in the last couple weeks, in particular, the breads I've made, and those I intend to.

You see, I've started a sourdough culture. I like to call it Fitzpatrick, sometimes Fitzroy, sometimes even Francheska. Sometimes I sing songs to it...  When my infatuation with sourdough was young, like my starter... I'd sing "Tiny Bubbles" to it...

Later, as Fitzpatrick matured and began to hit its own stride... doubling, then trippling its volume between feedings I felt a more cautionary tune for my pet was required.

And finally, after many a feeding, some cuddling, and serenades a plenty  I've reached the "you actually get to make bread with it" stage! Hurrah!

So far I've made some commercial yeast spiked dough with my sluggish starter. Mostly just to salvage spent flour from it. A flat and badly developed ciabatta type thing. A tasty but impervious to toasting loaf or two. And now actual sourdough boules, that came out with a mild tang, full flavor and an indecent amount of oven spring. Chewy caramelized crust too. Of breads I'd report?

Non-sourdough Ciabatta - came out admirably for my first attempt with a wet dough

Chocolate Bread - still working out the balance, but a braided dark chocolate loaf... promising.

Basic Sourdough Boules

Challah - At least one loaf turned out beautifully... (the other I tried freezing and the thaw/bake might have been badly time and executed)

On the billet

Sweet Potato Rosemary Garlic Sourdough - (aka Smash-fry bread)

Bagels

English Muffins

Cheddar Chive Torpedos (That one from that popular Peter Reinhart fellow's book)

Sandwhich loaf

Deli Rye (and subsequent ruben sandwich (made with homemade sourkraut possibly)

Wheat berry loaf

Smitten Kitchen's Black Bread 

Pannetone

'Amish' Friendship bread (pretty sure its not actually 'amish'...)

And then it gets even more vague... I want to get back to some whole grainy things. I want to explore mixins, added flavors... maybe an olive bread, or a feta and sundried tomato combo. I want to perfect the chocolate bread. Get the most sour out of the bread I can. I want to try different flours in varying degrees. See where I can go with it. Filled breads, quick breads, beer breads... which i guess is still a quick bread. But right now, my head-space is all bread all the time! My latest obsession. 

If I took care of my readers, I would come back with pictures and videos of my accomplishments... I could point out my camera is in past dire need of a memory card, and my computer died forever, but to be honest it likely wouldn't effect the outcome >.>