More adventures in sourdough: roadtrip to Big Bear

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After reading baker and cookbook author (and new Charlotte, N.C., pizza parlor Pie Town owner) Peter Reinhart’s story on bagels a couple weeks ago, I got out the sourdough starter labeled ‘Peter’ from my refrigerator. This particular starter is the descendant of the sourdough starter I made using Reinhart’s pineapple juice method, for a story on sourdough I wrote last January. I hadn’t fed it for months and months, but it reactivated quickly, and after a few days of regular feeding, it was strong and bubbly.

So, when I went to Big Bear last weekend -- to escape the smoke from our burning city -- I took the starter with me, in the enormous glove compartment of a friend’s politically incorrect car. We stopped for supplies and flour, and on Sunday morning I mixed a batch of dough (starter, flour, salt, water). Here’s a picture (left) of the dough rising in the back of the car, where it rose (wrapped in a plastic bag from the grocery store) while we hiked with the dog.

That night, I baked a boule in the rental cabin’s kitchen oven, then grilled flatbread I’d made from the rest of the dough (olive oil, sea salt, parsley) on the outside grill. Above are the results. Which just goes to show how portable -- and adaptable -- a container of starter is. Have bread, will travel.

-- Amy Scattergood

Photos of sourdough bread and rising dough by Amy Scattergood.