embark on the quest for the perfect sourdough recipe.
All this because of the conversation I had with the GBBO nearly contestant.
And all these years I had been put off doing it because I thought owning a sourdough starter was a bit like trying to harness a ginger beer plant. The blooming thing grows and with the growth comes some sort of malevolent other worldliness that you are quite frankly scared to turn your back on. All these oft repeated pearls of wisdom I trotted out from my usual no-nothing position. Is it any wonder folk quickly mark my card as a daft tart?
I feel suddenly like a born again something or other(?),a new mum crowing and gloating over her new born as if the first woman to have ever given birth.
This is my creation just three days old... isn’t it just the most beautiful thing you ever clapped eyes on?
I will bore you rigid with its progress as it grows and has babies of its own...
I have only very recently come to know of this thing called sourdough starter. It seems to pass from generation to generation as far as I can see and as one who has a total aversion to anything that might be 'out of date' in case it poisons me, it doesn't seem my kind of thing! It's a bit like sour cream, I never know if I can continue to use it after the first time in case it's really off and not just sour! I don't think I've ever even eaten sour dough bread, it just sounds off to me! I look forward to hearing how you progress with yours though. x
ReplyDeleteOh no MG, live a little, be brave, push back the boundaries, a few bugs never hurt anyone, especially ones you are actively encouraging. My sourdough starter has doubled in size and today I feed it and off we go again. The good thing is it doesn’t cry, get wind or need its nappy changed just a once a day sort out. I will return.... oooooh... Halloween awaits, if I disappear in a cloud of iffy looking spodge you’ll know I’ve been swept away by this living, breathing monster I have created.............
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If you are getting into making a starter I recommend that you read " Sourdough"...a novel by Robin Sloan. We did it for book club a while ago. (I more or less enjoyed it ! )
ReplyDeleteI bought some sourdough bread yesterday as " normal" bread has been giving me tum problems.......I had read that sourdough might not affect me and I certainly felt OK after eating it!
That book sounds interesting, although your lukewarm recommendation doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence Frances!
DeleteInteresting about the sourdough bread and funny tummies, I'll have to look into that. I make bread as a normal part of my life, once I get the starter up and running I can see how it fits in with my bread making. My only concern is it takes longer to prove and to knead, which being a bit of a speed queen I haven’t got time for all that carry-on. I just leave it to my trusty KitchenAid mixer, while I get on with far more exciting things???
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I've returned to sourdough bread making again..my long suffering starter sat in the turned off fridge for 4 months while we went to NZ..it revived ok (I have a plastic boxful in the freezer just in case..) I was given it in 2009...and it was twelve years old then. Some went over to America on the Mayflower and still live on, being used and renewed.
ReplyDeleteTo the point though, I re-started with a new book and I'm finding it the easiest yet..."DO/ Sourdough/ Slow bread for busy lives" by Andrew Whitley. ISBN 978-1-907974-11-3
I've changed to almost 100% Spelt flour as well..very tasty
Yes, I’m on a large proportion of spelt flour as well. I am just off to look up this book.
DeleteI love the longevity of these life forms. Can’t for the life of me think why I haven’t thought to try it before now, call it stick in the mud bias... what else?
Feel so blooming cross at all the time I’ve wasted. Getting excited now as I wait for lift off...
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Got it... ordered... thanks gz (@0@)
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