How Not to Bake Sourdough Bread

I've been baking bread for many years and consider myself an intermediate bread baker. Earlier this week, I decided to try my hand at baking sourdough bread, and I made sourdough starter. Fed and watered Francisco and on Friday it was ready to use. I followed the recipe and instructions to bake a delicious loaf. Since the process was to take a long time, I started at noon. I thought by 6pm, the house would be filled with an amazing aroma and I'd have a nice, crunchy loaf of sourdough bread.

At midnight, I was still waiting for the dough to rise. Himself and The Eldest had gone to bed. I played on Facebook. Checked if there were any blog postings. Then I cruised Amazon and Barnes and Noble looking for ebooks. Happily found my pal, Andy Fish's graphic novel, Werewolves of Wisconsin was finally available as an ebook.  Had a bit of panic when I couldn't find the book in my Nook selections. Took me awhile to figure out there's a separate comic listing.

I live in a rural area. No sidewalks, no street lights at night. My neighbor, Prissy, had gone to bed, and I couldn't even see the outline of her house in the dark. It was deathly silent, and then I thought I saw a flash of movement by the dining room window. Andy's character with the top hat and leering smile ( he looks like Baron Samedi) beamed up at me from the book. That was it! I was too creeped out and will have to wait until broad daylight to finish.

Somewhere, around 1:30 AM, I decided to go take a nap, get up and bake the bread around dawn. The dough looked like it had finally risen. I set the oven and the timer. The bread was a nice, golden brown and as heavy as a brick. Instead of baking a loaf of bread, I baked a beautifully shaped, door stop.

What did I learn? I'm too old to pull all-nighters. Too much of a candyass to read creepy stories in the dead of night. Next time, if I follow this recipe again, I'll let the sponge proof over night so the baking can be done in the morning.