Oven's back, baby! (and so is my sanity)

This September, we are swirling Nutella into sourdough, popping up at our favorite yoga studios, and bringing you along for the ride.  Because after spending what felt like an eternity without a working stove (it was 21 days, but who’s counting?), we are so happy and grateful to be baking again we’re never going to take it for granted.

So, what was it like not baking for three weeks? It felt like straight up torture.  No fresh bread, no recipe testing, not even a frozen pizza was made! I felt lost, annoyed, and kind of bored honestly.  I started baking bread when an ex encouraged me to bake something besides cookies, brownies, or basically anything sweet.  So, I bought myself a starter and made really bad bread for the next year and a half.  Flat loaves, dense loaves, overproofed, underproofed, if there was a way I could eff it up, I did.  I was frustrated at my inability to make a solid loaf of bread.  I went to pastry school, I worked in professional kitchens and bakeries, but this had me stumped.  Fast forward to a couple hundred pounds of flour later, and I developed a process that made what I think is the best sourdough bread.

What started as a little project has grown into a full-blown obsession.  I find myself watching bread making videos daily, reading blogs about the fermentation process and taking notes, joining too many Facebook groups about sourdough bread, and testing new recipes where I play with the flavor profile.  Now that I know how boring and bland my life is without a working oven, I’m baking again and loving it more than ever. 

On the topic of bread (do I ever talk about anything else?) I have some delicious sourdough options planned for September starting with my current fave, Nutella Crunch! Why spread Nutella on your toast when you can have gobs of it swirled in with layers of feuilletine (fancy name for crushed wafers) to give you the most delicious, fudgy, toast.  Life is too short for bad bread, so come and pick up your next loaf on Saturday, 9/6 at CPY West Loop.

Love and Carbs,

Sabrina