Last week I wasn’t able to get this recipe and video up, due to technical difficulties (and lack of sleep). But I worked it out with the help of Mr. Zucchini Runner, so we are up and running! I’m so excited too, because this is my new favorite food to bake in the kitchen. This loaf of bread is a labor of love. But like most foods that fall into that category, it is SO worth it.

I typically don’t post other people’s recipes on my blog – but homemade sourdough was a category I knew little about. So my joy of experimenting didn’t go very far when it came to sourdough starters and bread. I had no choice but to start with a recipe! Along the way, I figured some things out through trial and error, and then wanted to share it on the blog. This bread isn’t something you can whip up and be done with. This bread is something that you take your time to learn about and take the time to prepare. If that doesn’t interest you, maybe what I have to say next will.

After watching the show “Cooked” by Michael Polar, my fire for cooking was reignited.

For a while there, I really lost my desire to cook.

When I rebooted my blog a few weeks back, I said I would slowly share “where” I’ve been lately. So here we go, at least in regards to the food portion.

At the risk of getting too long winded, I broke it down in a bulleted list:

• Corine loved to cook and experiment in the kitchen, always trying new things and sharing them on her blog.
• Corine decided to take her knowledge of nutrition to the next level and get a certification in Holistic Nutrition.
• Corine started to feel overwhelmed by all that she learned – both good and bad – about the food industry, the state of our nation’s health and the incredible ability of the body to heal itself.
• Corine stopped caring about the food she ate, because she felt she was “fighting” an uphill “battle”.
• Corine tried to reignite her love of food by taking a raw vegan cooking class.
• It worked for a little while, but the feelings of being overwhelmed crept back in.
• Corine REALLY stopped caring about the food she ate. (We aren’t talking eating Twinkies and McDonald’s, but palm sized vegan cupcakes with frosting piled 4″ tall 2 times a week were totally normal for a while there.)
• Corine also started to lose her faith in the healing abilities of food when she got really, really sick for about a month in Oct. 2015.
• Corine got sad.
• Corine stopped working out as much.
• Corine finally said, enough is ENOUGH. I still love food, and food still loves me. LET’S DO THIS.
• January 1st was a new leaf. Fresh start. Sloooooow start.
• Corine watched the show “Cooked” and her fire for cooking was reignited!

“We all have powerful memories of being cooked for. That act of generosity and love is still in there for most of us and is very powerful. The meal is this incredible human institution… but we’ve lost touch with how that food has reached our plates.”

“This is more important than people realize. When you let a corporation cook your food; they cook differently than people do.”

“Cooking is knowledge.”

“In a kernel of grain, there is everything to support a whole life.”

“Is there anything less selfish? Is there any time less wasted than preparing something delicious and nourishing for the people you love?”

That last one right there, is what made the biggest impact for me. I feel our society has gotten to a place where we think spending time in the kitchen and cooking is a BAD thing. That our time is better spent elsewhere. Or even worse, we are enthralled with WATCHING or sharing a 2 minute (unrealistic version) of cooking in a video on Facebook, but then can’t or won’t find the time to cook ourselves. We all love the idea of cooking, but don’t like the idea of doing it ourselves.

I absolutely disagree that cooking is a waste of time, or that cooking should always be 20 min or less.

I can also absolutely see how easy it is to believe that too much time in the kitchen, is a waste of time. Because I was starting to believe it again myself.

I felt like I was fighting against the fast food chains on every corner, the 59 cent ice cream cone at McDonald’s, the frozen dinners in the freezer aisle at the grocery store, the billboards, TV commercials, online ads. You can’t avoid it. The ads and crap food are EVERYWHERE.

After a while, I just gave up.

I gave in.

I didn’t want to “fight” anymore.

It’s a lonely place to be.

And everyone faces the struggle to eat healthy, everyday. To find a TRULY nutritious meal outside of your own kitchen is a real struggle. And to me, it was — it is — ridiculous. We have food in SO much abundance, food on every corner, that it seems silly to think we don’t have healthy food at our fingertips. But when I say TRULY NUTRITIOUS I’m talking about foods in their whole form. Not the enriched stuff, or the packaged stuff that claims to be healthy. I’m talking raw fruits and veggies, whole grains that haven’t been genetically modified or stripped of all their goodness, the food provided by mother nature.

That is why I got back into the kitchen. Because I was reminded, so strongly, that it’s not a waste of time.

Time spent in the kitchen is love. Love for yourself. Love for your family. Love for your friends. It’s a choice.

If you disagree, that’s totally fine. If you agree, you will love learning about this recipe. I put together a video with the help of Mr. Zucchini Runner, because this loaf can be a real pain in the ass if you don’t have the proper tools. 🙂

Ingredients:
6 c. Einkorn flour
2 c. water between 90-100°F
1 1/2 tsp. real salt
1/4 c. sourdough starter (this is a GREAT video to watch if you are unfamiliar with what a sourdough starter is or how to start your own)

Necessary Tools:
6 qt. dutch oven (it’s pricey, but you will have it for life)
Kitchen thermometer
Pastry scraper/chopper

Nice to have tools:
Sticky Stuff Measuring Cup
Firm silicone scrapper (this one is PERFECT)

Everyday kitchen tools:
Oven that will reach 500°F
Large bowl
Strainer
Flour sifter (can also use a strainer)
Whisk
Wooden spoon or Kitchen-aid mixer with dough attachment
Plastic wrap
Cotton dish towel
Large spoon
Butter knife
1 c. measuring cup
measuring spoons

Original recipe is from “Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat” by Carla Bartolucci

1. Combine water and sourdough starter using a whisk. It will look like milk when combined.
2. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.
3. Slowly add flour and salt mixture to the sourdough “milk” mixture, mixing slowly after each addition of flour/salt.
4. Place in large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
5. Let rise overnight or for about 12 hours.
6. Once the time has passed, preheat oven to 500°F WITH the dutch oven (lid and base) in the oven.
7. Fold a cotton dish towel to fit into your strainer. Cover that folded dish towel with plenty of flour, and then push it into the center of the strainer. Set aside. (Best to watch the video for this part, go to 16:54.)
8. On a clean surface, dusted with flour, scrape the dough out of the bowl, using the firm silicone scrapper – directly onto the dusted flour surface.
9. Using the pastry scraper, scrape under and fold over the dough on all edges a couple times, just trying to gather and contain the dough into a ball of some sort. It will be VERY sticky, almost like taffy. This is where it is very beneficial to watch the video. (17:26 in is a good spot to watch.)
10. Move fast to scrape up the dough, and place into the strainer lined with the flour-covered towel.
11. Sprinkled with more flour. Fold edges of the towel over the dough and let rise/proof for 30 minutes while the dutch oven and oven preheats to 500°F
12. Once 30 minutes is up, reduce heat on oven to 450°F and remove dutch oven from oven. Remove lid.
13. Dump dough from the strainer into the dutch oven, ensuring you hang onto the towel. It will start baking immediately.
14. Place lid on dutch oven and place back in oven. Bake for 40 minutes at 450°F
15. Remove from oven. Remove lid. Immediately dump loaf onto a cooling rack.
16. Let cool for 2 hours before slicing.

The video below explains why it’s better to make your own sourdough starter and bread versus buying it from the store. It also gives step-by-step instructions on how to make your own no knead loaf of sourdough bread, using a dutch oven. Original recipe is from “Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat” by Carla Bartolucci.

If you decide to make this bread, and have questions along the way, please ask them below! I will definitely try to help. I am learning too, so maybe we can learn from each other.

Have you ever made your own sourdough starter? What about your own sourdough bread loaf?