Sourdough Bread

I thought I would show a picture of my sourdough starter. I have it in a white crock and it sits on the counter covered with cheesecloth. We were getting ready to make bread the other night so I snapped a picture. Samantha is here on Thursday evenings and it is our cooking night. We were making a simple chicken and bean soup for dinner so we had some extra time to make some pretzels and a loaf of bread for her to take home with her. Our pretzels were tasty, but we really need to work on our technique before I post any pictures of them!

Since Samantha is really showing an interest in cooking and not just helping to cook I have been trying to show her how to properly measure ingredients. When she was younger I would usually measure out the ingredients and have them in prep bowls for her. Here she is measuring out the flour:

This was a fun evening for us. She has used yeast before when she and her mom make pizza crust, but she hasn't made bread before. The pizza crust recipe we both use only has to rise once before kneading and forming into a pizza so this was her first experience with kneading and rising twice. I do have a bread machine that I use some of the time, but if I am making bread for sandwiches or toast I prefer the shape that I get when I bake in a traditional loaf pan. Plus since she is wanting to learn how to cook, I wanted her to learn how to knead the dough on her own. 

I so wish I had a bigger kitchen! That small amount of counter space that you see is the only counter space that I have. Just to the right of her working space is the sink. Teeny, tiny kitchen!