S1E67 - James on Sourdough

Episode Summary

James teaches Margaret about sourdough bread. He provides specific instructions on how to start a sourdough starter, keep it alive, and how to then turn the starter into tasty bread. Margaret and James also discuss the intricacies of British vs American English and Margaret learns about a magical Belgian spoon.

Guest Info

James Stout (He/Him) can be found on Twitter @JamesStout or on the podcast It Could Happen Here. James has a book out called "The Popular Front and the Barcelona 1936 Popular Olympics." You can find it here.

Host Info

Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy.

Publisher Info

This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness.

Transcript

Live Like the World is Dying: James on Sourdough

Margaret 00:15 Hello and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host Margaret killjoy, and this week we're talking about that thing you're supposed to conquer: bread. We're talking about bread. Specifically, we're talking about sourdough. And we're talking with James Stout about sourdough. And that's what we're going to talk about. It's gonna be really exciting. I didn't make that sound exciting, but it is. Bread, and baking, and all that shit, something we haven't really covered on here before. And, it's something that I'm really curious about. This podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchists podcasts, and here's a jingle from another show on the network. [Hums a nondescript "jingle" melody]

Margaret 01:36 And we're back. So James, if you would be so kind as to introduce yourself with your name, your pronouns, and then kind of a little bit of your background with I guess, in this case, like bread or preparedness or stuff like that?

James 01:49 Yeah, totally. So I'm James. He/him for me. I have my background for this....let me think...I grew up in the countryside. So, I grew up like with animals around, with growing a lot of our own food too, just because that's the way we did stuff. And I think I moved to America in 2008. And without condescending too much, your bread is shit. And so, I was appalled by it. And I've been making my own on and off when I've been home long enough to do it ever since, I guess. And now I still live in the United States in San Diego. And I try and have a little bit of the, like the that sort of, I guess, like preparedness/countryside kind of life. Like, we have we have backyard chickens, and we bake our own bread, and we grow a lot of food too. So, I still try and keep up with all that stuff.

Margaret 02:41 And that's inside the city?

James 02:43 Yeah, we're not like...I don't want to make it out like we're in a high rise. I have a tiny yard. And then we've, I guess we've liberated the area in between the pavement and the road. I don't know what that area is called.

Margaret 02:58 A median.

James 02:59 A median. Yeah, it's been...because that's, that's like...

Margaret 03:02 Well a medians in the middle of the road. [Sounds unsure] Huh?

James 03:04 Yeah.

Margaret 03:05 I don't know. I should know.

James 03:07 Yeah, you know what I mean, that area that's like liminally public/private. And public, in the sense of owned by the city council, and you can do fuck all with it. Which, you know, isn't great. So, I obtained some lumber and I've tried to put planters out there as well.

Margaret 03:24 Oh, nice. What do you grow up?

James 03:25 Yeah, So I grow a number of things. I get them from...We actually had a very nice older guy...the other day and an older couple had left their keys in their car. And so I took the keys and put them in the house and left them a note saying, you know, "Come get them." And then they did, and they gave us a voucher when they came and got them, they gave us a voucher for a garden center. So, I'm going to restock my vegetables. But right now I think I've got kale. I like to go...so I do a lot of work in Tucson with a group of indigenous people there, and I like to buy indigenous plants. So there are a couple of nurseries in Tucson and go to. So, I think we have wolfberry. We have agave. We have golden currants. We have carrots. We have kale, Thai chilies, and beetroot.

Margaret 04:15 So this is a terrible...I haven't eaten dinner yet. This all sounds very good.

James 04:22 Yeah, this is...You're gonna be ruined when I bust out my bread from the oven.

Margaret 04:28 I mean, honestly, like bread is...I love bread. I understand that everyone has different body types and different diets. I'm so grateful. I'm not gluten free.

James 04:42 Yeah.

Margaret 04:43 I love gluten

James 04:45 Gluten is my guide star. If someone...I have diabetes, right? And it's like, I think there's a 10% coincidence of autoimmune diabetes and celiac, and I spent some time volunteering with diabetes education and various kinds of places and just...I remember like staying with some folks--and we all have diabetes, so it's fine--I was like, "Fuck, you have celiac as well? That sucks." Like, yeah, it must be profoundly difficult for people, and I'm sorry for them. There are ways to make your own--I think Bob's Red Mill has a pretty good celiac or gluten free blend that you could probably use with a sourdough starter. Certainly, if you fed that starter that flour over time and sort of messed around with your recipe you could probably get something going there. But it's not something I've spent a lot of time with. Fortunately, I'm blessed to be able to digest gluten.

Margaret 05:37 So, what is sourdough? Okay, I mean, I sort of know, but I feel like this is a good starting point, right?

James 05:45 Yeah. So, it's spontaneous fermentation bread, right? I guess...Like these days, people might be more familiar with like spontaneous fermentation beer like lambics and stuff.

Margaret 05:55 No, I don't actually know what spontaneous fermentation means.

James 05:58 Okay, so it's when you're capturing wild yeast--and capturing as a strong word--you're encouraging wild yeast from the atmosphere to come and live in a certain place. And then you're using them to ferment you're bread, or your beer, or what have you.

Margaret 06:11 Okay, so rather than going and getting yeast you're counting on...This is the way that you make alcohol in prison, right?

James 06:18 Yes, yeah. So I'm told. I'm sure. I mean I don't have firsthand experience with it. But yes, it is. And it's a way like ancient Belgian monks would make their beer, right? Like and you hear about back in