SOURDOUGH (part 2)

Having stumbled upon a starter, more by fluke than purpose, I decided to make one from scratch following strict guidelines. I used organic flour and spring water only. You can use whatever quantities you please, but in this ratio:--

Day 1. 1:1 Mix to a paste, loosely cover and set aside.
Day 2. 1:1 Repeat.
Day 3. 2:2 Repeat
Day 4. 4:4 Repeat
Day 5.  Rest
At the end of day 5 the starter was starting to work, bubbles were appearing, it smelt right, but was nowhere near ready for use. There are numerous factors which can affect the rate of growth. Anyway----

Day 6. Fed it again at the ratio 4:4.

Day 7. Better, but still not very active, so I decided to try and flick it over to a wholemeal starter.

           I took off a quantity at the ratio 4: 4 and then refreshed it at the ratio 4:4, but this time I grated a potato, squeezed the liquid out and topped it up to the required amount with spring water and used wholemeal flour.

Day 8. What a difference a day makes!! Bubbly and definitely active. Fed it with water and wholemeal

           flour at the ratio 4:4

Day 9. Repeat @ 4:4

Day 10. We have lift off. A wholemeal starter ready to use.

My booty!!  All 100% Sourdough Bread. Not a grain of added

yeast to be found.

SOURDOUGH (The Bitch Lives!!)

A few days ago, at work, I made a potato rosti mix. When I make rosti, I grate raw potato into a colander resting over a stainless steel bowl to drain off any excess liquid and proceed from that point.
Anyway, after I had finished I had quite a bit of starchy potato liquid in the bowl, so I added some plain flour to make a paste and set it aside. By the end of the day it was a bubbling seething mass, so I fed it some more flour and left it overnight

Day 2.  The mass as still alive, so that evening I fed her again. At home I started to research sourdough starters and found out that stainless steel is their enemy and to get them started you should probably use spring or filtered water, as distinct from town water, and organic flour. Alarm bells!!!!! Mine was in a stainless steel bowl, mixed with some town water and fed with ordinary, everyday plain flour.

Day 3.  Off to the supermarket and back with natural spring water and certified organic flour, armed with my wife's plastic mixing bowl, I arrived at work. The bitch was still alive, so immediately transferred her to the plastic bowl and that evening fed her with spring water and organic flour.

Day 4. She lives!!! Smelling slightly yeasty with a hint of banana and bubbling away nicely, fed her again
spoke to her lovingly and left her overnight.

Day 5.  Today she rests. No feeding required.

Day 6.  She is, what appears to be , an active, fermenting liquid sourdough starter. So I now have a semi leaven, plus pure sourdough bread doughs on the go. Will post the results.

FLOURLESS LEMON CAKE

There are loads of recipes for flourless cakes available in books or via the Internet.
Had some juicy, slightly old lemons, laying around so made a flourless lemon cake
and the result was surprisingly good. Stays moist for days and if you pour a syrup onto it
while it is still warm, it adds another dimension.
Here is the cake recipe:--

2.25 Cups Almond Meal                 

6 Eggs

12 Tablespoons White Sugar

Zest of  5  medium size Lemons

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Pinch of Salt

Grate the Lemon Zest

Separate Eggs

Beat together egg yolks, 3 Tablespoons of sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest

until light and creamy and double in volume.

While this is happening, Mix together almond meal and 3 tablespoons of sugar.

Fold together creamed egg yolk mixture and almond meal until well combined.

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks start to form and then sprinkle

in the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar and continue to beat until medium glossy

peaks form.

Add about a quarter of the whites to the almond/egg yolk mix and combine well

to loosen the mix a little and then gently fold in the remaining egg white mix.

Pour into a 20 Cm spring form tin which has been greased and the base lined with

baking paper

Bake at 190C for 50 minutes or until a skewer come out clean.

If you wish, you can make a lemon syrup with the juice of the

remaining lemons and after about 10 minutes, prick the top of the cake and

pour over the syrup. This should be done while the cake is still in the tin.

Allow to sit for a further 10 to 15 minutes and then release the cake from the tin.

Alternatively, dust with icing sugar prior to serving.

This cake is a great gluten free, dairy free option for those with allergies.