[noshed]

My friend made some for our works do and it was fantastic - lovely nutty flavour. I will try to get the recipe.

[Moosey]

mmmmm I love sour dough bread!  That would be a good recipe to have  

[Poolfield2]

I've got the Dan Lepard book called "The Hand Made Loaf" and that has sour dough in it. The starter takes 5 days before it's useable :shock: but then you can keep it in the fridge. The method is too long to type out but if you pm your address I'll photcopy it, or I could try scanning it.

I've found this http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm which will get you started If you soak some raisins in the cup of water before you use it then strain them out before use, it will speed things up.

Dan Lepard uses a bread making method I've never come across before and it involves very little kneading but it's slow and kind of addictive :roll:

[noshed]

That's the very bloke my mate was on about. I'm trying to get some of the starter off him (my mate) before Christmas.

[Poolfield2]

If you start it today from scratch, it would be ready before Christmas. It is like having a pet, cos you have to keep feeding it. I wanted to take mine on holiday with us but OH thought that was totally mad, so I just put it in the fridge and it recovered fine.

[unaspenser]

I love sourdough bread!  It's a lifelong hobby for me.  My current starter is almost 2 years old and gets better every time I use it.  it's amazing what that stuff will survive, and I always tell my other animals my starter is my favorite pet.  You can dry or freeze starter if you're going to be away for a long time, and it recovers quite easily with a good feed.  I use it for everything... biscuits, pancakes, waffles, etc.  Yum!

[agapanthus]

My friend made some for our works do and it was fantastic - lovely nutty flavour. I will try to get the recipe.

Please do noshed......my absolute favourite bread!!!!!      

[Oscar Too]

Once spent 2 weeks getting a starter going, and 24 hours making a loaf - it tasted just like ordinary home-made bread.  Never bothered again after that.

[noshed]

He's supposed to be bringing some in for me tomorrow so I'll let you know how it goes. Poolfield2 has kindly sent me the recipe so there's no excuse.

[unaspenser]

Once spent 2 weeks getting a starter going, and 24 hours making a loaf - it tasted just like ordinary home-made bread.  Never bothered again after that.

Yeah, it takes a while for the starter to get that "sour" taste.  My first half a dozen loaves or so weren't that great, but it gets better and better, and if you can get someone to give you some starter with a bit of age to it you won't be disappointed.

BTW, I might be convinced to dry and mail some of mine...

[Alex 98]

I love the stuff!!
Never tried making it though, although I make bread often
I'm gonna try it

Alex 98 (and 97, groan)

[Poolfield2]

Yesterday I swapped some of my sourdough starter for "Kefir starter" I googled it and online it's all about a yukky fermented milk but the person that gave it to me uses it with water and fruit so I'm having a go with that cos I don't like the sound of fermented milk :puker:

[hermon]

i used to drink kefir, its meant to be the best freindly bacteria you can ingest!  required taste though OH can't be in the same room when i drink it even though he drinks milk! had to chuck in in the end as i left it for too long and it went off :shock:

[unaspenser]

I've heard of starting sourdough starter with kefir or yogurt, and it's what my dad used to use, but I've never tried it.  I started my starter with flour and water and a bit of store-bought yeast.  Easy peasy.

[noshed]

Thanks to Poolfield2 I'm now up and running. I will report progress.