SOURDOUGH COMPETITION

I am trying AGAIN to make a sourdough starter that really takes off and makes bread rise without adding commercial yeast. I think this is the 4th or 5th time I have tried and I just cant get it to work. have been watching Paul Hollywoods "Bread" show and Have become inspired again, it all looks SOOOOO easy , a mixture of flour and water and thats it, then a few days later and stinky bubbling goo of yeasts. Well, I think they cheat on the telly and add yeast to it as it doesn't work that well for me. And there is no way on Gods earth that the reason I cant grow yeast is because my kitchen is too clean...!!!???

Joseph is a keen breadmaker and we are currently in competition to see who can grow the best starter. We started together with one starter on the go, looked hopeful at first but the died pretty soon after I fed it!! Of course that was all my fault so we now have seperate starters on the go so I cannot be blamed for any fatalities. Incidentally ... we revived the original starter with a few grains of yeast left over at the bottom of an empty sachet. That is now blossoming !!

So here are the starters

 this one is mine

and this is Josephs

I'd say at the moment its close.......


This is some bread I have just made from the starter that had some yeast added to it

it has turned it out more like a cake. When I proved it for the 2nd time it turned into chewing gum and stuck to everything  so I was not hopeful as to the consistency but it looks ok and has some holes in it

and more importantly tastes REALLY good!!. Sadly I am on a fast day today so can't tuck into it in the way that I really want to, so just had a very small crusty bit.

Haven't been blogging much as have become obsessed with granny squares , they are so quick and very satisfying to make. Here is my stash so far, I can feel another blanket coming along!!!