My mate Billy

I have a very time consuming new friend, Billy. Billy needs constant nurturing, feeding, stirring and checking on. You might ask what is this friend? Its a sourdough starter! I have been learning to make bread since Christmas, with some brilliant successes and some dramatic failures!

Sourdough has been my most recent interest, it is what I would call a 'slow' bread making affair. You need to grow the culture first, this takes about 7 days of feeding and checking. It bubbles up out of control at times, once it broke out of the sealed kilner jar it lives in!

I have heard many people say they find the process complicated, I must say once the culture is grown I find the bread making easier than making bread with yeast and I love its taste.

Today I decided to try adding some spelt flour to the white flour and put it in a tin, rather than let it go freestyle. I must say it produced a stunning little loaf.

I also made some chelsea buns,( using yeast) my husband says they are far better than what you buy in the shops.

Billy the Sourdough Starter

Bubbling nicely!

The finished articles