Portage River Farm

Janet has been refining her skill at breadmaking over the past few months. She began by creating her own starter by simply mixing flour and water and letting it grow. She worked with it for a couple of weeks until she had refined it to the point that it now makes very tasty soughdough. She keeps it in the refrigerator and each week uses it to bake a new round of breads.

The bread recipes seem to involve more steps of kneading and rising than those I have seen in cookbooks. She lets each batch rise four times for more than five hours in total before the loaves finally make it into the oven for baking.

The final rising step is done in flour-lined baskets as shown in the picture. Once they have reached the desired volume, she simply turns them out onto the baking stone, adds a little water to the oven to raise the humidity, scores each loaf top with a razor and bakes them to crunchy perfection.

She has been making some basic white and whole-wheat breads that have become quick favorites around our household. As well, she has been experimenting with added ingredients such as nuts, cherries and chocolate. I have done everything that I can to encourage her in this hobby of hers but we may soon have to retrofit our house with wider doors!