In The Kitchen with Betty

 

I've made bagels with Zombie Betty but never made bread before so I thought it might be time to give it a try. Zombie Betty is kept in the refrigerator in a kind of suspended animation. You take her out when you need to bake and feed her. That brings her back to life in a few hours and she's ready to be used.

My usual recipe made an unbelievably sticky dough. I fought with her all day. She shaped up a bit during her overnight proofing in the refrigerator. At least she didn't immediately deflate when I transferred her into the oven. Her oven spring was decent and I noticed she had a smoother crust than the other Betty's. 

Her insides-technically known as her crumb were...okay. Nothing to brag about. I'm still looking for those elusive big air holes you get when everything goes right. She tasted fine, not too sour. She joined all the other Bettys in the freezer which is overflowing with sourdough experiments at the moment. 

When you feed your starter you have to throw away at least half of that was in the jar to give it a fresh start. Sometimes  I toss the discard and sometimes I keep it if I have a baking project in mind. I thought I'd make waffles so I've been saving the discard for a few days. When I woke up yesterday morning my formerly half filled discard jar had come alive and overflowed all over the refrigerator shelf. What a mess that was to clean up. It was a sign that waffles needed to be made asap and they were. Lots of them. Blueberry Pumpkin with unsweetened applesauce, oatmeal, wheat germ and wheat bran. They are not exactly yummy but they are good for you.