Baking Bread

And letting it rise on Resurrection Day! **
How wonderful.
I haven't made bread in a while, and although I would categorize myself as a novice, I do love a fresh loaf every now and then.
I've also been re-thinking the amount of bread that we buy. I'm telling you, with two adults and two little people we go thru a lot of bread. I spend at least $2.70 per loaf because I want to buy the good brands that don't have a bunch of 'junk' in them.
Some weeks it is crazy how many loaves we go thru. Perhaps we should cut the carbs, but really, I don't feel very inclined toward that solution. Instead I am pondering again along the lines of maybe (I think) I could make my own bread every other day or so. Am I good enough at making bread, do I want to commit to the time it would take to do that, is it worth it to me and my family?
Well, today feeling all wonderful with the holiday and having my family all around me, I answered yes to 2 out of 3 of those- the first was the only one with any question to it. Am I good enough at making bread?
Well, I am good at kneading after years of failure, and typically my bread rises now-a-days (a good sign), but I want my bread to be as healthy as possible. Healthy and not like a brick. I like lots of bubble holes in my bread. Is is possible to have healthy and soft/springy bread?
After doing a bit of research I have decided that I am going to start this new bread making season by trying to make a sourdough starter. With one (sourdough starter) I can have my own yeasty start without having to buy yeast at the store all the time.
I will still probably buy yeast, but less, and my family really likes sourdough from the store. I bet they will like mine too when I get good enough at it.
Today I found a website here that tells me how to make my own starter without store-bought yeast. I'm going to try it and I am going to blog about the journey and finally (hopefully) the end product of my first sourdough loaf.
Keep an ear out for how this little project is coming along.
Since I haven't started yet though, check out the loaves of whole wheat I made today. See the heel that is already missing? Can't resist fresh hot bread out of the oven. So good.
PS -to any readers who have worked with their own sour dough, if you have any tips, let me know. I'm super open to ideas.

**My husband was kind enough to point out the irony that today is the day that I decide to bake leaven bread on the most important day in the Jewish calendar for them not to eat leaven bread. I had to laugh.