Today I presented a cooking segment at one of our Thermomix team meetings.  I presented sourdough.  I love it, and combined with cultured butter and organic chicken liver pate I am in heaven.

I certainly don’t see myself as an expert sourdough baker by any means, but I’ve found a technique that works well for me and my lifestyle.  Of course there are times when the sourdough started gets angry at me because I’ve neglected it and tastes pretty darn sour, however todays efforts I have to say were one of the tastiest.

What did I do different. Well here is the recipe that I follow which I have uploaded onto Recipe Community. I followed all the steps except for one difference.  I prepared the dough last night and after the last 5 minute knead I tightly covered my bread tin with glad wrap and placed in the refrigerator over night.  I pulled it out of the fridge at 6.30am this morning and placed on table, I did not put into oven until 12.15pm.  I wonder if that made the difference, if anyone out there is sourdough experts I would love to know your thoughts.

About my sourdough starter – it’s a rye flour based starter which I have had very little trouble with.  I feed it the day before I am making my bread.  I feed it the same quantity of rye and the same quantity of water to the same amount of starter available, for example if there is 1 cup of starter I put one cup rye flour and one cup water in and give it all a real good mix up.

I inherited my starter from a friend so I can’t tell you what exactly is in it, however if you live in the Dubbo area please contact Carolyn Simmonds, as Carolyn is arranging a sourdough workshop in the coming 6 weeks. It’s one not to be missed and the last time Carolyn ran a course such as this it sold out very quickly.

If you can get your hands on some starter please try my recipe, I’d love some feedback and if you’re in the Dubbo area please let me know if you would like some starter.

Cheers B