Waste Not Want Not

After my horrible ordeal with the Sour Dough Bread being a miserable flop again, I broke the loaf up into large hunks and tossed it out into the yard for the birds. I figured either they would eat it or if not the squirrels would surely enjoy it. If neither of them wanted to partake of this bounty, I'd give it to the dog next door!  Since she is part shepherd and part wolf, I figured she would love it! A far cry from the dog food that she normally gets.

I checked yesterday evening and the backyard was filled with birds, swooping in and pecking away at the bread. This morning not one morsel is left out there!

I did make another loaf of regular white bread in my bread machine last night. I could hardly wait for it to come out of the machine. I love the smell and taste of warm bread!

That's It, I've Had It!

No more attempts at making Sour Dough Bread using a natural starter without any yeast!  In fact, I am going back to anything but Sour Dough from now on! I have tried and tried repeatedly and the loaf before this one came out hard as a rock  or a brick, whichever you want to compare it to!  Reminded me of the very first attempt I made at baking just plain regular old bread when I first got married!  Poor new husband, didn't know he married a woman who could barely boil water without burning it!  I do think that the first "french fried eggs" I made for him sorta gave that fact away though!  Anyway, back to the bread, I didn't start that project until late in the evening, and when it said to punch it down, put it into the bread pans and let it rise again, I didn't do that. I figured it could rise as it cooked!  Needless to say, I had two wonderful bricks in about an hour!

That is how I am feeling about this Sour Dough Bread at the moment. Now mind you, I've tried several different recipes from several different cookbooks and I really do know how to read instructions. So much for trying to be economical and make bread without having to use yeast all the time. I made an Artisan Loaf tonight, the outer crust was so hard I almost broke the bread knife trying to slice into it. Once I got it cut, the inside is gummy and gooey and it cooked for 45 minutes like the instructions said!  Oh well, back to the bread maker in the morning!

I hope the birds will eat it!