Starting…

…to bubble nicely.

This is a 53 year old mother which I was given today at a sourdough bread workshop. I fed it during the workshop and it’s looking as though it’s alive.

Whilst I have baked my own bread for 30-odd years, it has almost all been yeasted. I have attempted sourdough from scratch several times, with decidedly disappointing results. So when I heard there was a workshop I signed up immediately.

I only found out today that a mother takes two or three years to stabilise and will provide inconsistent results for that length of time. I also discovered today that sourdough shouldn’t be kneaded. For both of these reasons it is no surprise whatsoever that my previous efforts were so mixed.

I shall nurture this mother and hopefully pass it on to others as the years go by. Organic flour is on Monday’s shopping list, and experimentation will begin asap.

It’s been a beautiful sunny day, so before she snoozed in the car while I learnt about bread, my dog took me for a walk at Cape Wanbrow, where the water was many shades of blue and was shadowed by passing clouds. Quite beautiful.