Bread Dough and Herman Sourdough Starter

I have yeast proofing in my grandmother's yellow Pyrex mixing bowl.  Rain patters against the windows--the weather has turned cool again.  It looks to be a good day for baking, for a fire in the fireplace, for reading or writing or sketching or stitching.

I fell down a bit of an Internet rabbit hole, but I have emerged victorious.  When I think about my history of bread baking, I think of my experiments with sourdough bread.  Back when I started baking bread, as the 70's transitioned into the 80's, it was a different world then, a world devoid of artisan breads. When we travelled as a family to big cities (like D.C.), the bakeries were a revelation (and they were separate, not part of grocery stores).

I loved sourdough bread, so when Southern Living magazine offered a recipe for starter and some bread recipes, I had to try it. The magazine called the starter Herman, and I did too. I kept that starter going until I left for college. I had hopes that my mom would care for it, but the family moved shortly after I started college, and Herman got tossed in the move.

I have done Internet searches for Herman starter, but they usually returned recipes for the sweet bread that I've always called Amish bread, although there's not much Amish about it--the recipe I used for awhile called for a box of pudding mix, among other things.  This morning, I finally had success, with a posting that includes a picture of the pages from Southern Living--the actual pages!

The post and the site wouldn't let me copy, download or otherwise save, so I copied out the recipes for the starter, the food, and the bread.  Even though I've bookmarked the site, I know from bitter experience that items vanish on the Internet.

I'm not going to start a batch of Herman sourdough starter yet.  I'm about to leave for the AWP conference in San Antonio, and I don't want to leave my spouse with a starter that needs care.  He's got enough to do with his 8 classes that he's teaching as an adjunct.

Because of this Internet rambling, I started a batch of bread dough.  It's not sourdough, but it will hit that same spot.  I foresee some pizza in our grandmothers' cast iron skillets in our Saturday!