I’m half Armenian, and some foods are just hard-wired in me as must have foods. Onions, garlic, bulgur wheat, lavosh, and nice, chewy, sour interior – crunchy crust – peasant bread. Being raised in San Francisco didn’t help… the sourdough bread there is legendary, and I have been missing it something fierce.
Mega here in Mazatlán has a couple nice artisan breads that are gorgeous looking for sure, but just always leave me longing for something else when I taste them. The natural food store on Zaragoza, Naturalia, also has good bread, but they are whole wheat and are a bit dry.
I have been thinking about sourdough bread and wanted to make some, but I thought I would need to find someone willing to share some starter with me. Then along comes Constantino with a recipe last week on his cooking blog Rancho Canyon Cookbook. I made the bread, and I have to tell you, it is even better than I could have hoped.
I made a quick vegetable soup to go along with the bread for dinner yesterday. I heartily recommend that you give it a try! And while you’re at it, throw a couple of heads of garlic cut in half and drizzled with olive oil in the oven wrapped in tin foil. Mash it up and it’s the perfect peasant spread for your perfect homemade sourdough. Thanks so much Constantino!
By the way, I also owe a debt of gratitude for the delicious spring roll recipe Theresa’s Cooking Blog provided. They turned out beautifully, I served them to company for lunch with some jasmine rice and jasmine iced tea.
Another thank you to A Little Cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate for her recipe for Agua de Jamaica. Delicious.
All I need now is a source in Mazatlán for real bulgur wheat (not couscous) and a recommended recipe for lavosh. I made it once years and years ago but no longer have the recipe.
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July 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Looks good!
I love the hard crust too, and it also makes great croutons for salads after a few days. Glad you made it!
July 5th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I have a recipe for lavosh (maybe even two), but have never made it, maybe when return we can make some together? I also have sourdough starter (which I got from Jonna and Mimi), but your bread looks perfect! There is bulgur wheat available here, it’s called trigo molido, they use it to make kibbi which is not really like Middle Eastern Kibbeh. The super has the fine ground but Baroudi’s has both coarse and fine.
regards,
Theresa
July 5th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Looks good! I can’t wait to try this recipe, which should be sometime next week when school lets out and my daughter’s graduation is over!
July 5th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
It all looks delicious! Could go for some comfort food myself.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I can’t wait to try this Nancy. Thank you. I went to C’s blog. Fantastic. I feel exactly the same way about bread. There’s a bread machine here at the rental and I’ve never been happy with the bread at all. When you have a moment, could you email me a recipe for a good, all purpose veg soup from scratch.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Okay I know what I am getting when in USA next week …
July 5th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Looks very tasty and hearty! Yum!
July 6th, 2009 at 7:36 am
That looks so good! I have been baking bread as well and wondering where to get my sourdough starter. I do like the Rancho Canyon site.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Constantino, I need to go back through your cooking blog and see what else I might be in the mood for!
Theresa, Our house swap fizzled so not sure when we’ll be back in Merida, but I’d love to make it with you! …and go shopping for some bulgur wheat!
Leslie, It’s easy, I put it together at 7 pm and it was ready the next day for comida.
IslaGringo, We need to comfort ourselves sometimes, this is the bread for it.
Jan, You’ll love the bread, I promise! And I will think about the soup but it changes depending on what’s in the fridge…but one rule is that everything cooks together with onion and garlic and olive oil to really deepen the flavor.
AMM, Oooh, don’t tell me you are going to San Francisco!
Jackie, Try it, couldn’t be easier.
LindaLou, Do you have a favorite bread recipe to share??
July 6th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Looks really tasty! I’m off to checkout that recipe…
July 9th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Thank you for mentioning my little old blog and la agua de jamaica. I love bread with a passion that borders on obsession, but for right now, I am limiting the carbs. Still, I will dream about your bread tonight.
Saludos!
October 5th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
[...] is responsible for dispelling myths and disseminating big bang level revelations. According to Nancy, who heard it from this dude, sourdough is as easy as flour, water, yeast, water, and that most [...]