Rustic Sourdough Bread

P1010745

I secretly dream sometimes of being a baker, not the one who produces heavenly cakes, lush puddings or melt-in-your-mouth cookies, but the one who makes bread so deliciously that you instantly feel nourished at the first bite.

Along the walls lined parallel shelves of multigrain loaves, sunflower seed and honey loaves, sourdough loaves and baskets of breadrolls. The smell, a lingering mix of toasted wheat, baked yeast, seeds and nuts calls from outside the doorway for you to enter the room where magically a concoction of stone-ground flour, water, wild bacteria and many doses of patience wonderfully transforms from a dough into a loaf of bread.

Nothing beats bread made with passion, patience and attention.

When it comes to making sourdough bread, there can be no rush. Beginning a starter from scratch, it will take up to 4 days of regular daily attention and nourishment before it is ready for baking. Day by day, more rye flour and water is added to feed the starter. I am often in awe with such brilliant methods to make full use of our surroundings. Without using any yeast, the starter will start to rise and bubble from fermentation using wild bacteria in the air. (Perhaps now in KL, the addition of dust particles from the haze!)