Sourdough Bread

Several of the wonderful blogs I subscribe to (and eagerly read every day) have been posting about sourdough.  Sourdough starters, sourdough bread, sourdough pancakes...the list is endless.  Having tried a starter in the past and failed miserably, you can understand my reluctance to try again.  But, as the old adage goes, if at first you don't succeed, bla blah blah.  So, I did.  And, although it's only been a week, I have to say, since it hasn't turned into an awful, growing blob like the last attempt, I consider it a success!  Yay for me!

I used King Arthur Flour's starter recipe.  It was very simple, with no hard to find ingredients.  After about a week of stiring it once a day (ok, I forgot one day), at the end of the week, I had a bubbly, albeit smelly starter!  I used a cup of starter and made a wonderful sourdough bread.  This particular recipe does require a bit of planning, seeing as it needs to rest overnight, but I found it was worth the wait.

I've been using the bread for some delicious sandwiches.  Whole grain mustard/mayo combo, with cucumber, fresh tomato, lettuce and smoked turkey....so good!  (Pardon the pictures, they were taken at work.)

(Ok, so this particular sandwich has smooth swiss cheese and crunchy green pepper, instead of turkey.  What can I say, I forgot I was out of turkey at work!)

Tonight, I'll be making this lemon dill avocado spread to go with my sandwiches, in lieu of the mayo.  I can't wait! Having a fresh sandwich always reminds me of visiting my grandparents' in Michigan.  Whenever we would come to visit, it was like they couldn't think of anything else to buy, so they would stock up on wonderful deli meats and fresh cheeses, so that we would at least have something.  In hindsight, they probably just didn't want to cook anything, but the memory is still sweet.