Soured on Spring Break

This month's #letslunch theme is Spring Break foods.  Now in my younger days when I actually had college spring breaks, food was the last thing on our minds.  A bunch of us once jumped in the car on a whim and drove from Temple University in Philly to Florida, for some orange juice.  Of course, we didn't drink it straight as OJ but that's another story!  So spring break food consisted mostly of sandwiches grabbed from a random deli or a blue Slurpee from 7-11.  Of course now that I am a grown-up, or so I like to claim, sandwiches are a more refined affair.  This sandwich, in honor of #letslunch spring break, starts with my very own sourdough bread.
 sandwiches rule:

I've always wanted to try to make my own sourdough bread.  I love the crusty, chewy sour version from my days living in San Francisco and it's rare to find a similar loaf even in a bakery.  As you know, you must make a starter or 'mother' and as Rebecca (@hobnob) explained to me, you also have to name your mother.  Meet Josie (on her first day). 

I made the starter and fed her diligently for 5 days.  On the 6th day, I tried to bake a loaf but it turned out with the texture of Wonder Bread. Tasty, but not what I was after.  Enter Evan Myers (@navemyers), rescuer of breads and sanity.  Using tips that he sent me, I learned about making a preferment , proper methods for mixing and proofing as well as fabulous baking tips.  So I took my time, made the preferment and baked the following day to mazing results!

























Proofed & ready for the oven.  At this point I had the oven jacked up to 500 degrees, the pizza stone had been in there for an hour as well as a hot pan on the rack below.  I placed these loaves onto the stone and then immediately threw a whole mess of ice into the hot pan below the stone and shut the oven.  The result is a lovely crust with crunchy exterior and slightly chewy interior = yum!

























Now, do I need a little more practice? Of course, I have yet to achieve the San Francisco texture I want but I will keep trying since the quality of the second loaf was so far superior to the first!  Now that we have bread - I'm on to make the sandwich! (I may post the sandwich later but wanted to make this post for lunchtime!) - edited to add - I posted the pic at the start!

























A BLT was my first ever #letslunch post so it feels right to turn my masterpiece (OK, so it's not really artisan but'm working on it) into a BLT.  Now I gotta go make some mayo & fry up some bacon - see you soon and happy #letslunching!