Anyone who knows me well would not find it the least bit odd that while everyone and their neighbor were out panic-buying seemingly ridiculous amounts of toilet paper in preparation for the coronavirus pandemic (my mother included), I was nervously assessing my pantry staples and baking supplies–specifically flour. After all, even two adults sheltering in place indefinitely can only use just so much toilet paper (contrary to what my mother claims), but running out of flour would seriously impede my comfort baking…and consequently jeopardize my sanity. So instead of hoarding toilet paper, I bought a 50 lbs commercial-size bag of unbleached all-purpose flour. I would’ve stocked up on bread flour too, but that’s proven to be a harder get.

Who the heck buys 50 lbs of flour to bake at home you may ask? Well under normal circumstances, not me. But these are hardly normal times and since the “shelter in place” order went into effect on March 16th in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, flour–all-purpose, bread, cake, you name it—became precious commodities, out of stock just about everywhere. I managed to snag the last bag of Bob’s Red Mill artisan bread flour early on and have been rationing it even since, cutting it with all-purpose flour for recipes that “require” bread flour—which I’ve discovered isn’t always the case. Sourdough bread, for example, while generally benefits from the higher protein content of bread flour, can be made with all-purpose. I spent a couple of anxious weeks scouring the internet, searching for alternate purveyors until a friend suggested I try a company called Cheetah, who were one of the first commercial food service suppliers to pivot and open up their inventory to everyday customers for pick up. So I drove down to a not so great part of town and waited in line (standing 20 ft apart) for my bag of flour to be unloaded off of a big delivery truck.

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A month and a half into the pandemic lockdown and I’ve used up about 1/2 a bag’s worth–not counting the 5 lbs I gave to my friend Karen. We’ve been trading ingredients, baking ideas, YouTube cooking videos, and Instagram pics among other things to spur each other on. She made kaya buns, I made pineapple bbq pork buns.

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We both went through a bagel and bialys phase.

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And of course, we’ve baked countless loaves of sourdough, which has become the number one baking obsession across the country–partly because commercial yeast is also in short supply so many bakers (novice or otherwise) have jumped on the “make your own starter” bandwagon. Social media is littered with visual testimonials–both impressive and hysterically atrocious–chronicling the often bumpy road to sourdough success (or in many cases disaster). Thankfully, our respective starters Barney and Wilma, are alive and kicking, though this hasn’t exactly shielded us from the occasional sourdough fail–like the one I had last week. Not exactly sure what the heck happened, though I suspect it was because Barney wasn’t as active as I though it was when I started making the dough. Needless to say, this loaf was destined for breadcrumbs.

Via Bon Appetit I found an independent small producer that specializes in organic products online called Janie’s Mill, ordering a 25 lbs bag of their artisan blend bread flour. I was slightly annoyed (with myself that is) to discover the flour was light beige in color, more on the side of a white whole wheat than the Bob’s Red Mill I was used to. Had I researched it better, I would’ve ordered a different variety. Oh well, at least it wasn’t 50 lbs. I forged ahead anyways, mixing the JM bread flour with my all-purpose, experimenting with different ratios until I came up with a sourdough loaf I was happy with.

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Ironically, äfter all the endless hours of intermittent stretching and folding, resting and proofing, my favorite rustic bread so far has been one that took the least amount of work and yielded the most delicious, lovely crisp, airy loaf–the 5 Minute Artisan Bread curtesy of Food 52. Best of all it uses all-purpose flour! I made a 1/2 batch. Being somewhat skeptical I didn’t want to commit more flour and yeast than necessary. I followed the recipe, adding only a little additional sourdough starter for flavor. Okay, the downside is that you do need commercial yeast, but it can be any type (dry active, instant, rapid rise, etc.). I luckily stocked up on both dry active and instant about a month before the lockdown so I was good to go. As instructed, I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl with a wood spoon, covered and set it aside to proof at room temperature for 2 hours, then stuck it in the refrigerator for 3 days–though supposedly you can leave it there for up to 2 weeks. No stretching, nothing! I pulled the dough out after 3 days, gently tucked and shaped it into an oblong loaf, placed it seam side up in my well-floured basket, proofed it at room temperature for another hour or so, then baked it as usual in my Dutch oven…and voila!

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Adding that bit of sourdough starter gave it more complexity of flavor. To prevent the dough from sticking to the basket, I used a combination of 50/50 rice flour and all-purpose which seems to work better than just all-purpose. And to ensure an extra crispy crust, I turn off the heat about 2-3 mins. before the timer went off. When the timer went off, I cracked open the oven door, propping it with an oven mitt, and let the bread rest in the oven for another 15 mins. before pulling it out.

Few of us are ever afforded this much “down time” at home to take on long, drawn out projects like baking sourdough bread or much less turn them into works of art. While being in self-imposed quarantine can make us all a little stir-crazy, it’s also an opportunity, if you are so inclined, to explore and expand your baking/cooking skill set. Having a baking or cooking project (or two) everyday keeps me centered and provides me with a sense of normalcy during a very uncertain, stressful time. Okay, so my mom and I can’t possibly eat all my creations–plus I don’t intend to come out of this quarantine weighing 300 lbs–but that’s what nearby friends, family, and “safe drops” are for.

Stay tuned for more isolation baking/cooking projects!