One Down, Many To Go

The first experiment in new money-saving measures was an impressive success.  I washed three police shirts, two police pants, three other random pairs of pants, a denim skirt, and about a dozen shirts in early evening yesterday.  Put them on hangers and hung them to dry on the bathroom shower curtain rod about eight pm.  Everything was completely dry when I got up at six-thirty, except for the uniform pants which were damp where they'd been folded.  Those are out finishing up on the balcony railing.  I'm rather pleased with myself right now.  My laundry dollars now stretch twice as far with little in the way of extra work.  Pants and shirts have to go on hangers at some point anyway!

Now to get a sourdough starter started.  I've got lots of recipes, ranging from regular old bread, to pita, to challah and biscuits to try out.  According to The Glycemic Index Revolution, sourdough is better bread because it doesn't digest as quickly thus preventing one's blood sugar from spiking and dropping constantly.  Since I have issues with low blood sugar from time to time, this is a very important point to consider.  I also appreciate the duel advantages of not having to buy baker's yeast and, more importantly, bread.  

Let's say I get twenty-five pounds of whole wheat flour and ten pounds of white flour to mix in.  I'll spend around thirty dollars on flour.  Another ten for twenty-five pounds of sugar.  A couple bucks for a box of salt.  Our water bill is around fifteen dollars a month.  So about sixty dollars total for all these supplies.  Thirty-five pounds of flour will keep us in bread for about three months.  I'd spend at at least the same amount on already-made bread as I did on supplies and with wheat being one of the things going up in cost, I'm sure the bread on store shelves is going to go up in price significantly.  The base goods (flour, sugar, etc) will increase somewhat also but not as much as the finished product.  So, off to make sourdough starter.

In a large jar with a screw lid (I'm using a quart canning jar), stir 1 cup flour and 1 cup water together.  Leave the jar open on the countertop for up to three days, until the flour and water mixture gets bubbly.  Add another 1/2 cup each flour and water, stir to mix, cover with a porous lid (I just took a nail and hammer and punched holes in the lid, and put in the refrigerator.  Add 1/2 cup each of flour and water on a weekly basis.  What you do with this starter varies by recipe so I'll post details as I try new recipes.