Last night, a coworker appologized for a comment she thought I might have taken the wrong way. I had brought in some of my homemade sourdough to share. She made a comment that it was “better than restaurant bread.” I completely understood and was flattered. My first strong memory of San Francisco sourdough was at a little hole in the wall restaurant on fisherman’s wharf in the mid 70s. The first thing the waiters would do was to put a large basket of fresh sourdough bread on your table with plenty of fresh butter. The bread was amazing. The place served mostly fish, and although I’ve never liked fish, I always asked that we go to this restaurant when we visited San Francisco. It was the bread that I was interested in. There is something magical about a good loaf of bread with some nice butter. And so, when my coworker said my bread was better than restaurant bread, she took me back to my very first memory of the amazing and delicious San Francisco sourdough. That I have managed to capture the little critters in my own kitchen is amazing and exciting to me. Good sourdough tastes like it would be impossible to recreate in your own kitchen. I’m so happy that I can! I know each week’s batch is going to get better and better.
Last night we went to Pacific Cafe on Geary. It’s a wonderful place if you want a real San Francisco treat. They give you very full glasses of cheap white wine while you wait for your table, there are photo albums to look though, adorable, well fed stray kitties waiting by the back door for scraps of fish, and a great menu of fresh fish. Again, I don’t eat fish, but I appreciate a place like that. They have great San Francisco sourdough, served with butter, just as it should be.
Yesterday Tom gave me an early birthday present. He bought me a book called The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I knew I had to have it immediately once I found it and he was nice enough to give it to me three weeks early. The book’s pages ooze of a deep passion for bread and the book is truely a work of art. I am going to be very busy this year trying out all the recipes. Today, however, I am starting another batch of sourdough from my starter. Last week’s bake was a strong success and it appears that this week my wild yeast is even wilder and yeastier. I am expecting good things from tomorrow’s bake.