Bread Patience

Bread Patience
or is that Patients? Can making bread breed patience? Can eating the experiments make you a patient?
All I know is, I'm not usually patient, and I feel a bit like a patient here, now, waiting for the Grand Illness to pass.
But making bread from scratch, especially with homemade yeast, does at least *test* patience!

I've been keeping my grocery trips down to about once a week, which means I don't get fresh bread very often. So, like everyone else, I decided to try baking my own. And, like everyone else, I tried to buy yeast!

As there was none to be found, I tried a homemade yeast recipe. My first search for what to do yielded a wacko or two (as in "don't scrub the potato too hard" - like potato dirt is magical). Eventually, I found some reasonable instructions and explanations, but (of course) by then I'd already said what the heck, I'll try the magic 🙄. No, I didn't leave in any dirt, but I did leave the potato peel on. And I added salt as well as sugar - finding out later that the salt actually slows down the yeast growth. Not a good start for an impatient person...
All righty then. I got my potato yeast culture going.

Jar1 and Jar2

Three (THREE!) days later, I see some action

Jar1

Jar2

So now I start my baguettes - I only want 2, so I adjusted a recipe for more. I'm using what I call "yeast water" instead of dry yeast, so I modified for that too. And! Here they are! I had a choice - let the loaves rise on an oiled pan or on a floured towel. I nearly ruined my towel...

The loaves were so embedded in my towel, I had to nearly rip them apart just to get them off it! I used a *lot* of "dusting" flour during this wrestling match.

Way too much, but I finally got them baked.

It's pretty clear that at least *some* of the yeast survived and worked!

Since I was able to save my towel,  I decided to try again - this time,
- more flour
- a bit more kneading
- definitely no towel (oiled pan instead)

Dough ball

It was easier to work, but it hardly rose at all, even after 3 hours...

Is it rising at all?

Ready to bake

It was definitely flatter and denser, but still tasted good. Plus, it was prettier...

I was ready to give up. I started to throw out my yeast water, when I noticed a few bubbles! OK! I fed it some more, then waited a couple of days (yes, even more waiting!), and tried again.
Well. Three times is definitely no charm! This attempt didn't even deserve pictures. It might as well have been a doughy cracker.