Comments on: Unbelievably Great

By: Angela

Angela — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:51:14 +0000

Hi Susan,
I stumbled upon your site while looking for a ciabatta recipe, (trying that this weekend) and I’m thrilled to have found it.
I was also looking for a Z-bread recipe that uses honey and am intrigued with this one. Does the recipe have to have the sourdough toss off? Does it help the leavening process, or add tang or something? can it be omitted or replaced with something else?
While finding a honey sweetened Z-bread recipe made me instantly happy, seeing the sourdough as an ingredient reminded me that I’m still in mourning…yes last week my sister in law unwittingly tossed out my 1.5 year old starter (grown from scratch) that I had hibernating in my frig. She thought it was something gone bad. Arrgg!
So you see, I’m without starter but would like to try your recipe anyway and am just wondering what to expect.

Thanks
Angela

By: sangeeta

sangeeta — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:23:09 +0000

Hi Susan …i recently started following yeast spotting and love all your posts..this one i stumbled today and loved the story . enjoyed reading it. The bread is great n i am going to try it for sure.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:51:33 +0000

Rajee, sourdough toss-off is what you would normally throw away when you feed a sourdough starter. A sourdough starter is a culture of wild yeast and bacteria that is used to leaven bread. It is “fed” regularly with flour and water. It cannot be bought in a supermarket, but you can make one yourself.
For more about sourdough in general, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough
For how to start a sourdough starter, see here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/13/raising-a-starter/

By: Rajee

Rajee — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:01:02 +0000

Interesting story. Wow, cant believe that u made it great bread with honey. Let me try it too and let u know. Can you pls tell me what’s sourdough toss-off (can be overmature)? Can you pls show me its brand with link which should be easily available in any regular grocery store like Kroger?

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:12:17 +0000

I loved loved loved that post! I am such a used bookstore junkie, but I’ve never had such a perfect experience. Is paying at your bookstore on the honor system? You actually decide on the quality of the book before you pay? That’s amazing. I love how serendipitous that whole story was. Just great.

By: kellypea

kellypea — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:02:40 +0000

I can’t wait to try this. It reminds me of the times when I had enough space for a garden and produced zucchini that — no lie — were a foot and a half long and several inches in diameter. Of course I made bread, and in those days, actually in a microwave. This is quite the find! I love the whole story!

By: TeeTee

TeeTee — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:47:02 +0000

Ahh serendipity, often a bakers best friend. Thanks for sharing!

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:03:37 +0000

What a wonderful story! (Not to mention the recipe, which will be tried in this house shortly!) It’s a special treat to find such a gem, and it’s often the old, truly-pre-loved cookbooks on my shelf that are the most special to me. I’ve been too busy to get to my local second-hand store lately, but I’m feeling a visit coming on. Thanks again!

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:07:39 +0000

What a great story. It sounds fabulous!

By: Madam Chow

Madam Chow — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:54:56 +0000

What a great post! Last year, I ordered a used book through Amazon, and to my great joy, the inside cover and blank pages of the book were filled with the previous owner’s recipes and thoughts. What a treasure!