Sourdough for the Senate: Georgia Edition

Sourdough for the Senate: Georgia Edition

We have recently gotten the best news: Joe Biden will be our next president and will bring decency, compassion, and stewardship back to the Oval Office.  

Alas: we cannot rest. 

President Biden needs more reliable blue in that Senate chamber so that he can govern for ALL Americans and to restore the soul of our country.

Will you help me, help him, by participating in our second Sourdough for the Senate: Georgia Edition?

Last weekend we raised close to 2,000 dollars for Democratic candidates for Senate. We made a difference and had a blast as we baked.

Here's just one email that I received:

"Your class was so much fun. I absolutely enjoyed it more than any other Zoom meeting I have done since March!! It made me feel joy. And hope. You are a truly amazing and gifted teacher.

I cannot wait to bake with it and all of the tips and techniques I learned from Sourdough for the Senate."

As many of you know:

In March, the weight of the world came crashing in on me, on all of us. Locked in my home in fear of an invisible killer, a worldwide pandemic, an environment in ruins, a rudderless country, homebound due to a pandemic and a criminally negligent national COVID response, I dug deep.

Deep into dough that is.  

Since March 13th, 2020, I have baked between 4-8 loaves a week. At first, my loaves were flat and misshapen. But I practiced, listened to books on tape, watched Colbert on my iPad, and got better and better.

And now I want to help others find the same path to glory while we raise money for a good cause. 

Please join us as we learn to make Sourdough for the Senate once again. This is a three-day zoom course that will actually take no more than two hours of zoom time.

Most of the time spent on sourdough is in the waiting and the rising. :-)

I am now an experienced COVID anxiety baker and will demonstrate while you make your own sourdough. At the same time, we will raise some money to send some really great people to Washington to take care of business.  

For this course, I will walk you through all of the steps of making a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread for a minimum donation of 35 dollars per person that will go entirely to Act Blue. We are baking to support our two Georgia Democratic runoff candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. 

Official Zoom classes will begin on December 5th. There will be a couple of basic steps on Wednesday, December 2 and Friday, December 4th for that you can easily handle on your own.

First: donate to Act Blue using the attached form no later than November 27 so that I know how many starters to prepare for the group. The minimum donation is 35 but please give what you can so that when Biden is president, he actually can govern. After you have emailed me a pdf of your thank you note/receipt from Act Blue--please send it to juliegoler@gmail.com-- I will start feeding individual starters for all of you. 

I will also send you a detailed recipe as well as “need to haves”. The critical items and ingredients are also below.

 If you live in LA, you can pick up fresh starter from me in the days leading up to the event at 1030 S. Alfred Street, LA, CA 90035 (please bring a small glass jar--I will give you 10 grams of starter so it’s really only a tablespoon). Just bring a small glass jar: think baby food size. You can also bring a small plastic container. Once you begin to feed the starter, you will want to move it to glass.

 If you are out of town/out of state, I recommend ordering a starter from King Arthur Flour here (order it early so that you know that you have it). You can also go to a local bakery that sells sourdough. If they bake their own sourdough, they will definitely have some culture ready for you to take.

Details: 

Preparation and baking days: Friday, December 4th through Sunday, December 6. Please note that Friday and Sunday require very little time. You will refresh the starter on your own in the morning at 7:30 AM. You will begin to pre-ferment part of the dough on your own at 5:30 PM. Each one of these steps takes no more than ten minutes.

Saturday, December 5th Zoom classes are at 9:30 AM and 4 PM.  

Sunday, December 6th Zoom class is at 10 AM. 

What you need: 

Baking sourdough is not like baking anything else. You need a scale. This one is super cheap, very accurate, and easy to use. Ozeri ZK14-S Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale 

Dutch oven. I use this one: Lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. White Enamel Dutch Oven (Oyster White) Lodge is great and well priced. The combo cooker is also great and many people prefer it. Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Combo Cooker, 2-Piece Set, 10.25

Parchment Paper. 

Grocery Items:

900 grams white-bread flour

100 grams whole-wheat flour, plus more for dusting

20 grams fine sea salt

100 grams rice flour (I buy Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Flour but any rice flour will do.

Here's to making a difference with our dough!

Julie