Raul and Pablo

I've had a fairly long-term relationship with Raul, but Pablo is a recent addition to our household. Raul lives in the fridge and is quite sour these days. Pablo, apparently, prefers a more temperate climate, so hangs out in the cupboard. They're starters. For bread. Raul is a sourdough starter and Pablo is "Amish friendship bread" starter, though the bread is much more like cake, if the recipes are any indication (chemical leaveners, instead of microbial, and pudding). Beth gave me Pablo just last weekend (I think; I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep track of time, these days) and it's time to try him out. Naturally, instead of using one of the more cake-like recipes, I'm going to try to make actual bread. He smells plenty yeasty, so it just might work.

Meet Pablo:

He says, "Hola."

So, the directions for this stuff say to dole it out and that becomes day 1 (what Beth gave me). Feed it (equal amounts milk, sugar, flour) on day 6. Feed again on day 10 and portion it out in 1-cup increments, use the rest to bake. On all days  you're to "squish-squash-mush" the bag. I'm thinking of ditching the bag in favour of a jar. It also has you feeding it 1 cup volumes on day 6 and 1.5 cup volumes on day 10. I didn't add anywhere near that much, as I wouldn't know what to do with it all.

Feeding Pablo:

He says, "Yum. Gracias."

Note that the instructions say to use no metal. But you know how I am with instructions...

You also know how I am about thinking things through. Here's what happened when I decided to mix the flour in with the whisk.

I eventually got it all out and got the flour mixed in. It formed a tolerable dough (for bread). Kinda small, though. I covered it up and cozied it away in the cupboard. That's where I put stuff to rise, as it has a light under the cupboard that keeps things nice and toasty if I leave it on (which I do; I use it as a night light for the downstairs). If Pablo is anything like Raul, he'll need a nice long rise, so I'll let it hang out over night and see what it looks like in the morning.

 It says, "Buenas noches."

Good morning, Pablo-bread!

"Buenos dias."

So it rose, which is good. So I shaped it up. I've never actually baked bread in a loaf pan before. I've always just free-formed it. We'll see how it goes.

Let it rise again.

And into the oven.

It smelled really good while baking. I thought about putting a little vanilla in it, since it's somewhat sweet, but didn't. It kind of smelled like I had, though. Definitely a cake-vibe to the aroma.

And here it is, golden and gorgeous from the oven!

What does it taste like? Well, we won't know that until I and the peeps try it out tomorrow at work. It looks like it got a little brown on the bottom, but not quite black. We can always trim, if necessary.

And, just in case it ends up dry or bland or otherwise wanting, I mixed up some cinnamon butter to slather on it.