“How can a nation be great if it’s bread taste like Kleenex?” – Julia Child
Nutrition is a building block for life. Cooking is a way to make money for those who chose a culinary career. Food is a way to simply maintain a human connection during this time of social distancing. Preparing a meal or baked good is a way to remain mindful and ease stress during a tense time.
Current sporting events may not be available for the masses to consume. However, dipping one’s toe into a new skillset can bring elation of victory as well as the possibility of crushing defeat. For example, Matti Smith of SDPB has journeyed into the world of starting a sourdough culture. The foray has been filled with both crushing blows followed by jubilation.
Time at the stove fulfills a wide variety of needs. Heidi Bennett is home with her grade-school aged daughters. For her, time in the kitchen is an activity enjoyed by all and a way to connect, “I wouldn't say that I'm stress-baking. I think I'm trying to make our time at home more fun. Preserve some normalcy. I had planned these banana spinach muffins for St. Patrick's Day anyway. And my kids enjoy helping in the kitchen. So why not? We've got plenty of time.” The recipe for green muffins can be found here.
Early in the beginning of sheltering-in-place, Stephanie Peterson noticed that she was experiencing stress. “I thought I was handling all this pandemic stuff just fine until today,” says Peterson. “Today was the first day my entire family was home all day long, in close quarters. And things began to unravel for a variety of reasons. So, I just whipped out two of Grandma Moore’s pumpkin pies. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Grandma Ploog’s molasses cookies? Neighbor Pat’s lemon bars? Who knows? Time will tell.”
Stress baking is a real activity. (link to mindfulness blog post) Being present for a task like food preparation is called “mindfulness” and can help ease tension. Peterson has the added joy of using farm fresh eggs from her own flock of chickens.
Jeremy Ludemann finds comfort in a favorite soup recipe that uses some of his favorite and affordable vegetarian ingredients. “I've been trying to eat less meat this year in a way to discover new foods and I've always come back to this recipe and been satisfied,” says Ludemann.
Cravings may pop up from time-to-time and inspire an attempt at a recipe. DaVida Jaqua of Parker was inspired by a craving for Everything Bagels. “I LOVE to cook and bake, and I LOVE trying new things. So, the Pandemic is not the cause, nor stress or anything other than a strong craving.”
Bagels involve a particular process. “I enjoyed making them,” says Jaqua. “Nothing about the recipe posed a difficult challenge. However, they turned out too crispy on the outside. It's a challenge to get a bite. The inside is perfect. So, I will make this recipe again but will lower the oven temperature and shorten the baking time.”
DaVida shared a link to the recipe that she used.
SDPB Marketing Manager Matti Smith is a skilled artist and also enjoys baking bread in her free time. During the last two weeks she has shared the epic journey with “Tim,” her sourdough starter, with carrying friends. Active dry yeast is in high-demand in some markets. So, why not use this time to nurture one’s own culture?
“Facebook suggested a group called "Perfect Sourdough" and I joined,” says Smith. “Wow! It’s a bit like drinking out of a firehose! SO much info and so many new terms? You have to feed it or it DIES? I found that in Sweden you can hire a sourdough babysitter for vacation.”
Sourdough use is certainly a culture of its own, both literally and socially. As Smith shared, folks are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge of hydration levels, proofing methods, baking techniques and more, “The Facebook group was very helpful - the whole group has a library of recipes for everything. There are people who have sourdough starters from before the U.S. was a country! Some members had fancy baking vessels and methods. I just wanted to start simple. The pictures this group offers were the inspiration and now I had a place to come when I got stuck.”
For the casual consumer of bread, one might not believe that maintaining a yeast culture could come with drama and tribulations. It’s been something of a rollercoaster ride as Smith has coaxed and nurtured the strain she dubbed “Tim.”
After a week, Smith sent me this email: “... and I think I killed Tim. A problem with growing sourdough starter in my home is that we keep it cool in here. So our house is typically at about 68 degrees. Ideal temp for sourdough cultures to grow is about 78 degrees. There really aren't ‘warm spots’ in my house but the best place I could things of was the stovetop. Tim had been happily existing there for 6 days and has slowly been growing, until I forgot about proximity heat transfer when I was cooking pasta for my daughter yesterday evening. The jar got hot... really hot. And since that time there have been a few bubbles and no rising from Tim even after a good feed.”
Fortunately, Smith had the Facebook group to turn to. “They suggested discarding all but 1 TBSP of my concoction that was Tim and trying again. ‘Don't give up!’ is a message you hear a lot on this group. So here we go. This made me really sad. I may have killed Tim! So, I went back to my familiar knowledge base and baked some delicious bread from a yeast recipe instead.”
Smith enjoys this recipe because of its simplicity for new bread makers. Her suggestions for ingredient alterations due to supply include: you may skip the egg and you can sub warm water for milk during yeast activation.
Soon after, I received a jubilant message from Smith: “Tim is ALIVE!!!” What wonderful news during this time of social distancing. The revival of a sourdough culture gone awry is something that we should all be able to rally around, particularly when we can once again get together to break bread in person again.
Matti began to prepare a loaf of bread using "Zombie Tim" (brought back from the dead). Again, there were some hills to climb, "For those unfamiliar it is a 3 day process: day 1- feed starter, day 2- make dough & rest overnight, day 3 bake. Day 2 I followed all the steps, but my dough looked nothing like theirs. It was really wet, sticky, it just spread out and formed a thick, plate-like blob rather than a ball when i attempted to work it. I lost a ton of it from it sticking to everything- the bowl, my fingers, the surface I worked on. As a baker I knew I should add flour but their notes kept saying "it will be sticky" and their instructional never offered a 'if dough is too sticky add flour.' I was worried with measurements so exact I would upset the delicate balance that is finicky sourdough."
Balancing hydration and flour and starter is precarious, but Smith trudged on, "When I dumped out my final slime-like dough out onto my prep area for final shaping on day 2 it just... spread. I was sure I had ruined it. I added a step in my creation where I added about 1/4-1/3 cup more of flour and kneaded it until it formed a shape resembling what A Couple of Cooks had in their video."
Patience is a virtue for baking. Bread even more so. I am certain that it was agony to wait the suggested two hours before Smith could cut into her loaf to survey her efforts. They were not in vain. I've since been subject to mouthwatering images of a freshly baked loaf from Matti celebrating her victory, "I was so sure it was ruined. It had very little oven rise, the top didn't really split or stretch the way all the pretty sourdough pics show. However, the crumb (appearance of the interior of the loaf) was perfect. Texture was a little chewy but I like that in a bread. Crust was a golden brown and it had a wonderful, mild flavor."
Two little people raced in to fight for the spoils, "My children can hear the sound of fresh bread being cut from a mile away and love fresh bread (no idea where they get that from) and in moments of my first cut they were demanding bread. My first two pieces went to them."
Smith continued, "I eventually sat down with my lunch- 3 pieces of bread, olive oil, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. I mix the later 3 in a bowl and use for dipping. It is way better than butter. Try it."
Two years ago, SDPB visited David Napolitano of Breadico for our food series Savor Dakota. Napolitano’s sourdough culture came with him from his time in Minneapolis. Now he bakes bread for patrons in Sioux Falls and teaches classes.
Here is a link to the full conversation.
And David also shared his views on sourcing ingredients locally.
Regardless of what item is made, the process of cooking, caring for oneself and others can be a very gratifying process. Celebrate having enough butter to make cookies, or at least spread across a warm slice of freshly baked bread.
Julia Child warns of a nation who's bread tastes like Kleenex. And if Smith's efforts are any indication, I think she and her family are doing ok, "There isn't much I can control in this world, but I think that is why this became important to me - it was something I COULD do. Even in this I didn't have complete control (I mean I mostly KILLED Tim at one point), but it was something I could transfer my focus onto. Food is something all cultures find a measure of comfort in. Zombie Tim reminded me the biggest part of the world for me is MY world, inside the walls of my heart and home and in the memories I make. This is a positive memory during a rough time. Even my failures gave me and those I talked to a good laugh. I look forward to making more things that bring me and my family the simple joy found for generations through the creation and sharing of things that fill our bellies. "