[mumofstig]

Grandson's birthday cake  He's being coached as a hurdler, so he's got runners all around his cake.

[snowdrops]

Lovely

[MrsPea]

That's lovely mum 

[MrsPea]

Todays bake Mince pies and Chocolate chip muffins

[mumofstig]

Drool 
Any cream to go with the mince pies? I'll be round in a minute 

[snowdrops]

They look lovely Mrs Pea, I’ve yet to make the first batch of mince pies 🥧

[New shoot]

Sourdough day.  I got the starter out of the fridge yesterday to feed it, so kept the overs out for the day to get going again and made the sponge last night (loose flour, water and starter mix).  More flour added and dough sorted this morning, left on baking trays to get on with it all day and off to work to me.

HM pizza for tea with sourdough base, plus a spare for another night part-baked.  It had grilled courgette and aubergine wot I grew and mushrooms wot I didn’t    Also lots of mozzarella 

Enough dough left this morning after making pizza bases to form a small loaf, so that went into the oven afterwards and is now cooling 

[Yorkie]

Wow, sounds delicious 

[snowdrops]

Now that does look good. I keep thinking of getting another starter going but really don’t eat enough bread in a week & I hated throwing it away 

[wighty]

I do remember seeing a programme recently that stated most (if not all) starter cultures began in a small bakery in the USA.  I do remember there being a 'fad' for a starter culture that you divided up and shared out between friends years and years ago, I was only young and my mum was really excited about it.  I wasn't old enough to understand or appreciate what it was.

[New shoot]

Now that does look good. I keep thinking of getting another starter going but really don’t eat enough bread in a week & I hated throwing it away 

Mine lives in a jar in the fridge and only gets fed weekly.  1 cup (American cup measure) of new flour, 1 cup of existing starter and 1 cup water get whisked together and put back in the jar.  The excess starter is left out for a day to wake up and it does only make 2 decent sized loaves.  They freeze brilliantly.  I have also discovered that if my plan to bake bread is interrupted, I can put the dough in the fridge for 24 hours and it will still be OK once retrieved and given time to recover.

I don’t make bread every week.  I would love to, but work and other annoyances get in the way, so sometimes starter does go down the drain, but it is only a cup of flour a week.  It irks me of course  The bread is so nice, I get over that with my next slice of toast 

[New shoot]

I do remember seeing a programme recently that stated most (if not all) starter cultures began in a small bakery in the USA.  I do remember there being a 'fad' for a starter culture that you divided up and shared out between friends years and years ago, I was only young and my mum was really excited about it.  I wasn't old enough to understand or appreciate what it was.

I made mine from scratch and it is quite easy, but I have shared jars of gloop with others who have asked.  I think mine must be about 10 years old now.  It does feel very satisfying to make bread with just flour, water, salt and your own yeast.  Don’t ask me why, but I just like the whole process.  Simple things you know     

[wighty]

I was telling Paul about it and he remembered his mum sharing a starter culture amongst friends as well.  He also told me about a firm called Rex and Lapp who retailed a starch based wallpaper paste whose recipe ran along the same lines! 

[mumofstig]

When I bought my last batch of flour, Bakery Bits sent me a free pack. They say

For a healthy starter, we would advise refreshing at least once every three weeks. The more often it is refreshed, the quicker the time between refreshing and baking.

https://www.bakerybits.co.uk/fresh-sourdough-starter-wheat

Each to their own, of course, but I don't actually prefer the taste, however, if civilisation starts to fail  and I can't buy dried yeast - I might change my mind very quickly 

[New shoot]

I did start with a white flour one and it is a lot more prone to getting too sour and off smells when you open it.

Then I started again with wholemeal flour and life is much more simple 

£14 for a little tubful is quite a moneymaker though. If times get tough, I might move into retail production