Starters orders…
April 14, 2010
The unpleasant looking stuff in the picture above is my ten-day old sourdough starter. And, I’m rather proud of the bubbly gloop!
I made a starter a couple of years ago, and it was going quite well, until I put the whole lot into a loaf, forgetting to reserve some to keep it going. I was so annoyed with myself, I just couldn’t be bothered to make it again.
And this one is actually my second attempt at getting a starter going in recent weeks – the first one had a few little bubbles, but, after a couple of weeks, it hadn’t really developed. So I chucked it away, bought some fresh flour and tried again.
This one – a 70/30 mix of white bread flour and rye flour – is going great guns, with a lovely strong, fruity, yeasty smell to it. I think it’ll be ready to make my first sourdough loaf this weekend, so do come back to see how I get on…
And the cupboard was bare… 
April 14, 2010 at 9:44 am
Mmmm, yum…
Did I tell you I’ve started making bread? It began a couple of weeks ago when I couldn’t bothered to go out and buy a loaf, so I made one instead. Amazingly enough, it turned out perfectly! I’m now addicted to the whole ritual of it.
April 14, 2010 at 10:36 am
Ooh, fantastic! Bread-making really is much simpler than people think. And, I discovered recently, you can let most breads rise overnight (in the fridge is usually best), so you don’t even need to spend hours sitting around waiting for it.
I agree about the ritualistic elements of it. I even quite like the kneading!
April 14, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Here’s a weird thing–when I was 13 I attended a 6-week wilderness camp in the Rocky Mountains. One of the staples of the dining hall was fresh-baked sourdough bread. It was out of this world good. I loved it so much that one time I went overboard and ate a whole meal of it, and got quite sick. Here’s the weird part–in the 40 years since then, even a couple of mouthfuls of sourdough bread can make me feel ill. I can’t eat it.
Good luck with yours–but don’t over-indulge!
April 14, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Oh my god, I can totally imagine the strange things an excessive amount of sourdough can do to your stomach! I’ll remember that when I’m tempted to reach for my tenth slice…