SourDough Revisited

I have noticed that my hobbies and interests run in cycles. It is now June. The garden is all planted and I am not having a new baby; so we are back to sourdough.


See - garden all planted.

See - Caden is still little enough that I do not need a new baby, but big enough to play with the big kids. Perfect.
Time to move on to sourdough.


I have attempted sourdough in June 2004, June 2005, and June 2006. It has never worked. At least it has never worked very well. However, this is my year. I'm sure of it.

Why am I so sure, two reasons.

Reason #1 - This year I actually bought sour dough culture. Yes, I did. I know that Caroline Ingalls can capture her own yeasts and bacteria "by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand until it sours", but I have given up on being Ma. (I wonder how different those stories would have been if Ma had been the mother of boys instead of girls.)
Anyway, this year I bought culture from Sourdough International and I've got their phone number if I have questions.


Here is the Tasmanian Devil Sourdough Culture in a wide mouth canning jar mixed with 3/4 cup spelt flour and 1 cup water. Tasmanian Devil culture is supposed to be good with spelt, which is my grain of choice.

Reason #2 - Today I constructed me a "proof box." On our field trips to Fuddruckers and to Krispy Kreme Donuts, I took special note of their proofing cabinets. A proof box is the difference between professional and amateur. Of course, their proofing "boxes" are a bit large for my needs and quite a bit fancier than I need, but the science is the same.
Even temperature is essential to success. Critical to success. It is, shall we say, highly important! This year, I will have even temperature!

TA DA!

Classy, huh! I know you all want one for your kitchen counter. Don't worry, you too can build one. Oh, and also don't worry because my hobbies go through cycles - remember. Next month it will be moved to the garage and replaced with canning jars.

Here is the inside view.



There are some directions to building a proof box in the book that came with my culture which I modified slightly to come up with my own creation.

Items used:
Simple styrofoam cooler ($1.98 from Walmart)
cleaned up "chicken light" with a 25 watt bulb
dimmer switch for lamps (Lowes about $11)
probe thermometer with alarm feature to alert me if the temperature gets to high.

How does it work? Simple. The cooler is placed upside down over the jar. The light is turned on. The light produces heat. The heat is retained by the styrofoam of the cooler. The probe thermometer is inserted through the styrofoam to monitor the amount of heat produced. I use the dimmer switch to adjust the amount of light/heat given off by the light bulb to maintain the temperature between 85 - 90 degrees. The alarm is set to go off at 90 degrees to alert me to adjust the switch to avoid killing the culture. Fabulous! I love it!

I can think of a million uses for my new creation - raising my bread dough in it, keeping Randy's dinner warm on days he works late, maybe trying my hand at incubating ducks again.... The possibilities are endless! Happy Days!

If it works out, I'll keep you posted. If it doesn't work out, forget that I brought it up. Okay?