Mission: Delish: WAITING FOR BABY BREAD: Sourdough Baguettes

Last school year one of the great moms in my class offered to lead some cooking lessons, which I happily agreed to. She taught the kids all about sourdough bread and its origins. Then she led the kids in capturing wild yeast, feeding a sourdough starter, and baking bread from scratch. It was an awesome learning experience I'll be excited to replicate in years to come. As a result, I ended up with a jar of sourdough starter for myself-- one that I've been feeding and forgetting about since the spring, which is a beautiful thing about a starter... It can withstand a lot or a little attention, whatever you're able to give it.

Now that we're so close to Baby G's arrival and I've have the summer and some maternity leave to finish my before-baby to-do list, I had a day around the house where I found myself just waiting. What to do now? Use the starter!

This was my first time baking bread from scratch, and it turned out really well considering. Baking bread takes a lot of time, but it certainly isn't complicated. It turns out that the steps are pretty simple, and there's nothing better than fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette. So worth it. I hope you'll give it a try!

Links for Getting Started:
Capturing wild yeast for sourdough starter
Starter tips
Baking site and advice/chat feature see links below
Sourdough recipes Can't wait to try sourdough pizza crust, pretzels, pancakes, buns... so much to do with starter!

Things to Note:
-Once you have your starter going, it's very easy to maintain. You can feed it (2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon water), every couple of days or every couple of weeks. Just let it hang out in a jar with some loose plastic wrap over the top in your fridge. You can afford to forget about it for a while, which is nice.

- The King Arthur Flour website has an awesome chat feature. When I wasn't sure about how long I should wait to make the recipe after feeding the starter and what I should cover the dough with, a real-time chat on the computer answered all of my questions!

Answers/tips from my chats with the experts:

After feeding your starter, it's better to let it hang out on the counter for 2 hours or so before putting it back in the fridge.
Leaving the starter out on the counter at room temperature for 2-4 hours after feeding it is necessary before starting the recipe
Yes, a fed starter is much better than an unfed starter. It will rise better.
They suggest covering your dough with plastic wrap. It doesn't matter if it's touching the dough or just covering the top of the bowl as shown in my photo, so long as there aren't any gaps for air to get through.

- Keep an eye of the baguettes at the end of their bake time. Mine came out a little darker than I'd like, so I had to forgo the last step of letting them cool in the turned-off oven.