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The last week has been interesting, I made my first sourdough starter and then this weekend, I made my first loaf with it!

 A big thank you to Dabrownman, who gave me a great (and easy) way to get a starter going).

I didn’t used pineapple juice in the starter, just bottled water. I did have a bit of a battle with leuconostic bacteria during the first few days, but I just waited it out and the problem resolved itself.

 So here’s loaf number one:

Newbie to the site; trying to remember how I stumbled upon it...I think I was looking into grain mills and found this site highlighted in a blog. It was nice to find the "Lessons" section as well as the Handbook- so cool!

Well, here's my very first sourdough loaf! I've had the starter going for a couple of weeks now. Started with a 100% rye one and then forked it off into a 100% bread flour one. I had a kinda unusual time table for this loaf.

Built levain at around 4:30pm. Let that rise for 6 hours in a warm oven (pan with hot water in it)

  I made this loaf last week but didn't have time to post it until now.  I made a similar bread over last summer which came out great and this version was even better.  The addition of the beer and rye chops really pushed this one over the top.  I also used some white rye flour which is traditional in this style of bread.  The caraway seeds were added to the main dough mix for added flavor.

The crumb was nice and moist and flavorful.  Just an ideal deli style bread better than anything you will ever buy from the super market bread aisle.

As I was making a couple of loaves of white and still experimenting with rye breads I had some dough from both. I thought it would be fun for the kids to have a  mixed loaf for the weekend. And they did enjoy the combination, they filled up their tummies... Just having fun and experimenting!

Here we ae in the primary season in AZ and they have mailed out the early ballots to those who have signed up.  I was shocked to find that every candidate who was ever in the race on the Democrat and Republican side is still on the ballot ……even though many have dropped put.  But, there was one addition that no one knew was even running – the CEO of Apple Inc. – Tim Cook.  Who knew!  I’m guessing in he gets elected, Apple won’t be cracking open their phones any time soon.

I'm having a bread-tasting open house on Sunday. This year the theme is "Fruits and Flours"; fitting as it is 'spring' here in beautiful Victoria. The "flours" part of that consists of a variety of breads using combinations of bread flour with whole wheat, whole rye and whole spelt, and/or wheat germ or wheat bran. Methods vary from same day mix and bake (with a starter or pre-ferment made the night before) to bulk retard, shape, rest, bake to bulk ferment with an overnight proof in bannetons. Some are made with dry yeast, some with levain and some with a combination of both.

I'm a curious person and love trying out new things. When "Cook's Illustrated", one of my favorite food magazines, published a gluten free cookbook, I bought it, out of curiosity, even though I have no problems with gluten.

My Loaves Dont Begin To Compare To The Beautiful Loaves Ive Seen U All Bake. But These Are A Vast Improvement Over My Previous Attempts. I couldnt Have Done It Without your Wonderful Tutorials suggestions And Support Thank You All Very Much!!

Well, it is getting closer and I am happy with the crumb. This makes a great sandwich loaf. I started at 80% hydration, thought, but had a mucky mess, so must have screwed up the water weight. I added flour to get the dough to a workable, but wet consistency. I re-read Peter Reinhart's instructions in ABED on working and shaping ciabatta and found I had missed a step. The oven spring was enormous on this loaf. Easily 3.5 - 4x spring. I wish I had a before photo of a proofed loaf perhaps 11/4" high.

Crumb: