For Barter: Homemade Sourdough Bread

Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago to Classifieds: For Sale
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I come from a large family.
I got tired of constantly trying to find the "perfect" birthday gift.
So, instead, I started making sourdough bread.

The bread is always a hit.
I have been offered cash money to make more on a number of occasions.
I have never considered the offer though because sourdough is a real tempermental beast.

However, I might be open to the occasional barter.
I bake the bread once every couple of months, so this is not an "on demand" offering.
I could easily bake one or two extra loaves for barter each time.
Each loaf would fetch about $7.50 if sold, so a like valued barter would be considered.

I offer the bread in the following varieties:
White/Rye
+/- Caraway Seed inside
+/- Sea Salt on top
+/- Sesame Seed on top
+/- Hot Pepper Flakes on top

The baking pans are coated in olive oil and cornmeal for taste and to prevent the loaves from sticking.

Note: this is a homemade product.
It is not made in a professional kitchen.
It is not for "commercial sale".
It is for free-will barter only.

Pictures will be posted after the next batch.

All Comments

  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I still have some of the mini heroes cards as I did local promotion.

    I just confirmed that my starter is "active" so I will be baking this weekend.

    I will take some pictures and post a link.

    Take a look when the pics are posted.

    A poster signed by the crew might be nice ;)
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  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "Starter" is a simple mix of flour and water in which natural yeast has been induced to grow.

    The yeast breaks down the carbs in the flour and excretes alcohol.
    A second, symbiotic microbe, lactobacillus acidophilus, consumes that alcohol and excretes a substance which turns the starter acidic.
    Once the starter turns acid, nothing else other than yeast and acidophilus will grow in the starter.
    So the starter is sterile and stable at room temperature.

    However, as the yeast breaks down the flour, more flour needs to be added.
    This is known as "feeding".

    Along with feeding, you need to toss some of the old starter or else your starter gets too big.
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  • Posted by jbaker 12 years, 5 months ago
    Here I go again ... off to Wikipedia. I have no idea what starter is and what it means to feed the bread.
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  • Posted by sdesapio 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    So Rick, I've got some Atlas memorabilia I can trade. I've got some left over official 11x17 "Who is John Galt?" posters, and 5x8 mini "Heroes" poster cards - both were used to promote the film at different events we attended this year and are no longer in print. I'll trade you one of each for a loaf of the Sea Salt. Good? http://imgur.com/rG0Ro
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  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I just checked the bag of flour.
    There is nothing on there that says GMO or Non-GMO.

    So, make of that what you will.

    I do intend to eventually grind my own flour.
    When I get to that point, I can probably answer that question with more confidence.
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  • Posted by WINDRIFTER 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You can bet everything on this thread is being looked at,be careful folks.
    Ok barter it is,i have things you can use.Send me an email (also being watched) when you are ready to bake.
    Again ,does your bread have gmo's in it?
    God Bless\
    Tom
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  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Interested in barter only at this time.

    Since business and profit have been criminalized in Obamatopia, I have a feeling that the second I say that the bread is "for sale", I'll have government goons citing me for not having a proper 3 bay industrial sink in my kitchen, for not properly applying sales tax, for not listing the ingredients and nutritional information, for not following federal guidelines in packaging and delivering of foodstuffs... should I even go on?

    As such, and certainly not because I'm against *making money*, free-will barter only.

    Thanks.
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  • Posted by CatieM 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yeah any time I tried to knead and do a second rising it never rose again. That is awesome you are making truly authentic sourdough.
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  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Drying the starter, flaking it, and storing it in the freezer is definitely the way to go.
    I only feed when restarting.
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  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Depending on temperature, I give the first rise 4 hours.
    I then knead, portion, and pan the bread.
    Depending on temperature, I give the second rise 2 - 4 hours.
    I then bake low to get even more rise.
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  • Posted by CatieM 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    When you mix your bread how long does it take to rise and go in the oven? I got bored with the mess of feeding it every day, I should have moved it into the fridge versus letting it die. O well
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  • Posted by Eudaimonia 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Starter only, no packaged yeast.
    I grew my own starter from whole wheat flour.
    Once I had an activated batch I spread it thin, dried it out, flaked it, placed it in a jar, and placed that jar in the freezer.
    I used those flakes to restart.
    It takes about 4 days to get a good start.
    My elevation is probably about 245 feet.
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  • Posted by CatieM 12 years, 5 months ago
    Question:

    I had a pretty good sourdough starter ( It has since died) but it would take two days to rise in order to achieve the consistency I wanted, but I am also at a high elevation.

    Do you make yours with yeast or just starter?
    If just starter, how long do you let it raise and at what elevation are you?

    I was just pondering, I think my making sourdough was mostly just a problem solving experiment.

    My boyfriend was highly amused with all of the test batches, and less amused with the smell and mess :)
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  • Posted by sdesapio 12 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    We're working on a quick PM feature to allow for contact info exchange as well. Should be ready momentarily.
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  • Posted by sdesapio 12 years, 5 months ago
    OK then... I'm in. Now I've just got to figure what I have to barter. :S
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