During this past winter I started some sourdough starter and Art did his best to tell me what I needed to do to make that wonderful rye bread............ Well after a few tries it was obvious that I was surely not doing it right, after all with my loaves you could darn near pound a nail as opposed to Arts perfect loaves. The ravens loved the fact that I could not get it right but it sure bothered me.

Just prior to this years Tucson show Art told me that he would just bring down what he needed and bake bread in his hotel room and then I could see exactly how he made the perfect loaves. Well as those that were at the show during the time Art was there he made at least one loaf of rye bread daily. This did the trick as I saw immediately I was not getting my starter extra happy and well fed prior to making my bread.

After we got home with FRED “Arts sourdough starter” I did my best to make him as happy as possible and kept him well fed. The first batch 2 loaves of sourdough rye actually came out well enough that Suzi and I ate half a loaf that evening. Needless to say with the opportunity to actually watch Art do his magic I learned enough to get it near right.

It is now a few loaves later and I have most of the kinks worked out, this weekend I made four loaves, one sourdough rye, one sourdough whole wheat, one extra sourdough white and just to try it out one sourdough semolina. It is hard to cut up a new loaf and not eat nearly half the loaf because the bread is soooooo good. We have yet sliced the semolina and most likely will tonight I snuck a small end piece when it was first made and it may be a bit too tough but don’t know for sure yet.

As with everything Art does he strives for perfection and with his encouragement I am approaching in my opinion a near perfect sourdough bread.

Thanks Art, Fred and I are getting along well and I am doing my best to keep him a happy camper.

All my best ........ Danny

P.S. We most likely will not be buying bread at the market from this time forward.