Meet Jorge...

Peace Y'all,

I show this particular blog NOOOOOO love. Yeesh. I'm a try to do better, but the mission of this blog is to show how I strive to live in harmony with the environment and I'm mostly good. But I shall strive to add on more.


OK...

I am currently experimenting with sourdough. I made a starter. I named it. (The sourdough community calls the starters 'pets' and say we should name them because of that. Yeah, I don't get it either.)I fed it... I mean Jorge (pronounced the Spanish way). I have about 3 cups of Jorge that has been brewing away on my counter for 2 weeks. Though.... It's not completely 2 weeks because I have used some and added more, if you get my meaning.

Why do I want to use sourdough? Because it's the crunchy natural way of approaching bread making. Technically I shouldn’t have need for yeast powder because Jorge captures yeast from the air. And making your own bread is healthier than buying that soft, preservative laden stuff in the store. My store-bought bread has been sitting on the counter in the bag for 3 weeks now and is not at all moldy. AT ALL. That does not make me feel good. Think about how it must just sit inside of you. I hear T.H.E.M. speaking in my head. I just want to feed my own people the best food possible. AND… Thanksgiving will be here 1 week from today and as is my custom, I’m interviewing food for that event. I should have 6 people sitting down at my table. I would like to make Jorge rolls.

There are many recipes on the internet. But most of them are the same. The curious thing about them is that they require yeast…. Why? Isn’t that Jorge’s job? If I gotta add yeast then the starter is just there for flavor. I can add something to make it sour. I don’t need to spend all my time fooling around with Jorge. The recipes call for baking soda as well. I’m not sure that is super natural, either. Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leaveners. Again, should not Jorge be doing this? I don’t believe that Arm & Hammer was around in antiquity. I would have seen it on the pyramids. The baking soda is added to neutralize the acids in the recipe plus to add tenderness and some leavening. I don’t get it.

Well my confusion aside, since I am NOT a food scientist, I tried a recipe 2 nights ago for rolls. It was the easiest I could find. It was from Emeril on the Food Network’s website. They make 8 rolls.

1 c Jorge
½ c oil
¼ t salt
¼ t baking soda
1 ½ APF

Mixed, kneaded, shaped and baked at 425* for 10 minutes

Yes they were easy. Yes they were soft. What they were not, was delicious. They tasted like the inside of white bread without the crust. They didn’t rise on the counter or in the oven. The God ate ½ of one to be nice. He wasn’t impressed. Then he surprised me the next day by being willing to eat more of them. (Remember there were 7 ½ left) I was surprised that they were still soft. I made a vegan sausage gravy, and he sopped it up. So it wasn’t a complete failure.

I suppose the lesson learned from that recipe is that I can make a convincing white bread substitute. Those rolls could be sliced in ½ and made sandwiches out of them. I would like to try them with peanut butter and see how the do. I might make some after TG and make sandwiches. We shall see.

For me to continue experimenting with Jorge, means I won’t have enough of him to make rolls next Thursday. Sooooooo…. I’ll probably end up making regular rolls on Thursday. But I will figure it out by next turkey day.



Peace