St.Clair and SanFran
A week ago I came back from my camping trip to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. It is not the first time that we are in Yooper country with our travel trailer, it was a little bit on the colder side but camping and fishing was great fun.
http://tssaweberusa.wordpress.com/thomas/sommer-trip-to-the-up/
Before I left I forgot to feed my two starters (St.Clair, 100%, rye, and SanFran, 100%, AP) so all the tree weeks I was wondering if the two would survive and forgive my negligence. Coming home both had still a good smell but looked a little shaky. I started feeding them twice in 24 hours. The rye starter rebounded immediately and after four feeds I put it back in the fridge. SanFran took a little bit longer and after it tripled again as I was used too, I decide to bake some bread to make sure it is ok again. I was very pleased with the result and also SanFran went back in storage.
Thomas
Comments
I forgot to add the pictures of the crumb of this baguette, sorry.
Thomas
And I'm glad you got to spend some time up dere in da UP, yah. It's quite da place for campin' and huntin', eh?
Paul
Hey Paul,
You seem to speak Yooperish. Are you from the Northwoods, or just a fan?
Thomas
But I did spend 4 years in the Copper Country, picking up an engineering degree at MTU. So, yah, I can speak Yooper, if you get my drift. Never did learn to speak Finlander, though.
Paul
Mini
and graduated in 1977.
Paul
Oh well, Troll or not you know what's all about up there.
Thomas
That's where Troll country ends and the outdoors start
and that's what you get when you nose too much around up there.......
to porcupines. We had the excitement of listening to two skunks duke it out in the dark over a scrap of something that had gotten dropped under the camper while we were staying at Camp 7 Lake. Luckily for us, they didn't resort to chemical warfare.
Paul
Thomas,
What I would give to be able to yield a baguette like that! Success has been elusive for me.
I love the upper part of Michigan, but I didn't realize it can be cold this time of year. I went to the little peninsula jutting out NE of Traverse City last October for a long weekend, and it was just glorious! I think Michigan is one of the most beautiful areas in the U.S.-- cake diva
cake dive,
I'm sorry to hear that you had no success lately. I was lucky that I was able to work with Mark Sinclair in his bakery for one week, this was a real breakthrough. Maybe he is still looking for candidates. He answered on this blog, The Back Home Bakery.......
Thomas
Just checked out your blog on vacation. Looks like it was a great time! Except for the trees, you looked bushed (hahaha)! You baguette looks wonderful, what crumb. Starters are so resilient!
Betty
Betty,
I hate to cut down trees but I had no choice. Huge branches were hanging over the electrical cables and yes your right this is very cumbersome and dangerous work.
Thanks for the compliments.
Thomas
How dare you neglect my little child (rye starter)! Just kidding; the baguette looks great as does your presentation, of course.
-Mark
Mark,
I will make sure that St.Clair is treated well, he is wonderful and very, very strong. But no wonder he is from Kalispell Montana, tough people up there. Btw this baguette only looks so nice because you allowed me to learn from your skills. I believe the results proof that you are an excellent teacher.
Thomas
I lived in Traverse City for thirty years before returning back to the "Land of Ahs" (Kansas). My SD stater was good there and I shared my bread with a lot of friends. I brought my starter with me to Kansas and it has a new life. In fact, it is much more active and is more sour than in TC. I have not shared much of my bread here and the ones I have, my family does not like it. Their comment is that it is too sour. But they are not familiar with sourdoughs. I found no one that makes SD here. I make 3-4 loaves a week and eat them all. I just freeze the extra loaves. Question: Has anyone else frozen their loaves and when thawed notice that the inside is much more moist and the crust stays crunchier?
I grew up about 25 miles east of TC, but have lived in the KC suburbs on the Kansas side since 1992, not counting a 5-year sojourn in Houston.
Paul
It's small world. Would that have been near Kalaska?
Would like to know where you buy your flour? I have to go to Manhattan or Salina, which is a 150 mile round trip for me. Just would like to find some place that I could buy more than 5 lb bags.
Thanks
Duane
You know your places, Duane. Kalkaska is my hometown. I actually grew up on a farm a few miles outside of town but Kalkaska is where we went when we were "going to town" and where I graduated from high school. TC was the "big city" to me, back then.
Wow, you're out there if Manhattan or Salina are each a 150-mile round trip. You've also just wrecked my fantasy that rural places still had some serious cooks that wanted their flour in 10 or 25 pound bags. That must be an artifact of a previous era, rather than of geographical location. About the only places that I can find 25 pound bags of flour in Johnson County is at a Sams or Costco. Once in a while I see 10 pound bags in a supermarket. Thing is, all of that is bleached and bromated. If I'm buying white flour, I typically prefer unbleached. I'm sorry not to be able to give you solid recommendations for sources in your area. Are there any local mills that are closer? Any co-ops that you could order from? Any bakeries that might sell flour to you?
Paul