At-Home Experiments

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Along with being a student teacher, sourdough baking has completely taken over my life. I bake as gifts for people, for my friends and family, for time away from homework, and even sell it as a side hustle! Let’s dive into some of the ventures I have taken with Helga- even the fails.

Kansas Experiments

My boyfriend Noah plays college baseball in Wichita, Kansas, U.S.A. He lives in a small town outside of Wichita, with basically nothing to do; so, in planning to visit there during reading break, I knew what I needed to do. I packed up Helga in a small container in my personal bag, and prayed she would make it through security- and she did!

Once I got to Kansas, Noah’s roommates were excited to try everything I was going to attempt to bake throughout the week. Some of the items I baked were: Cinnamon rolls, jalapeno cheddar bread, parmesian rosemary bread, and chocolate chip cookies. I spread these out over time, so I had things to do while I was there (without a car…in -10 degrees weather…having to walk to Walmart when needed). I made sure to tell Noah to buy everything I needed to bake before I got there.

Kansas’ water quality is very poor; therefore, I had to use filtered spring water for my baking, which you are supposed to do, but I never do. It was the perfect temperature, since the bottles were kept in Noah’s room. This resulted in my baking turning out amazing, as the minerals in tap water did not interfere with the fermentation process. Moreover, Noah bought me organic, unbleached ingredients for my baking, which added to their perfection.

I had never made sourdough cinnamon rolls before, so I was nervous. I knew Noahs roomates and teammates would come and try everything, so I wanted perfection. They rose perfectly on the counter and were so fluffy yet firm. I realised, though, that I forgot to make icing for them- this is where I got creative. I love anything browned-butter, along with maple and brown sugar flavoured. I browned my butter in a pan, then added brown sugar and maple syrup to it. I realized that since the water content had evaporated from the butter, the brown sugar would not break down well, or at all, in the browned butter. I added a little bit of water back into it, which aided in the brown sugar breakdown. I wanted it to still be creamy and thick, like regular icing. I looked in Noah’s fridge and saw a block of cream cheese. I love cream cheese icing, so I figured, “let’s throw this in and see what happens”. The result was a creamy, sweet, browned icing that complemented the rolls perfectly. Noah and his roommates said they could eat easily 5 at a time if they could, as they were not too sweet (which regular white icing usually is). I now know how to make this perfect icing, without having to look up a recipe!

The regular loaves turned out great as well and were finished within a week. For the cookies, I followed a standard recipe that I had used in the past, but made sure to press the balls down with a spoon to make them flatter (last time, since I froze them beforehand and they lacked a high butter content, they did not spread out very much).

At-Home Experiments

I love baking regular inclusion loaves, and focaccia bread once a week for ym family. Recently, I have made the aforementioned loaves, while also making my step-dads favorite, cinnamon brown-sugar.

I have recently started an Instagram called “Kajsabakes”, where I post all of my sourdough ventures, while also selling my bakes. I have sold a jalapeno cheddar and a focaccia loaf to some regulars at Browns Socialhouse (my workplace). They said it was the best bread they have ever had, and plan on ordering more soon! I have also sold focaccia bread to 2 of my friends, who loved it just as much.

I had never batch-made loaves before- just one at a time. I knew I could run into some problems with this, which scared me since I was planning to sell them. I made 2 jalapeno cheddar loaves, one regular loaf, and some cinnamon rolls. My kitchen was around 15 degrees Celsius, which I knew was going to affect bulk fermentation. I figure I would just leave it for a bit longer to ferment, and it would be fine. What I also failed to do was feed Helga more than once after bringing it out of the fridge. She was clearly mad at me.

I want to delve into this more in my next blog post, so I’ll keep this short. My loaves turned out gummy and barely rose in the oven. I had never had anything turn out like this before. I was upset that I wasted my time and money, along with people’s time, and promised them loaves I could not deliver. I know it was the cold, mixed with Helga being stubborn, that affected my baking.

I did, however, make sourdough pizza dough for the first time for my friend Aden’s birthday. Everyone loved it and was very impressed by how I hand-made it! It was pretty easy to make, and gave everyone a fun activity to do.

Here’s a link to my Instagram!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.instagram.com/kajsabakes/&ved=2ahUKEwjB946K352TAxVzODQIHQHpE5oQFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw20b5AbfGjC4oCkHvTReb6Y