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Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

my first New Zealand sourdough – say hello to Lucifer

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… a thing of beauty… a thing of love… from the moment I began to create the mother starter last week I felt something would go wrong… I didn’t know if it was lack of confidence because of the sad demise of Lucretia but something in my bones felt wrong… the process for reactivating the dried starter was something I had never done before… there was a lot more liquid than I was expecting… there wasn’t the bitter/sour smell that I would normally associate with a classic sourdough… and then I forgot to feed it on its third ever day of its new life… and then I went down to London for 3 days and totally forgot to put it in the fridge…

… so it is a miracle that what I baked today can only be described as the most perfectly perfect sourdough  I ever did make… chewy… holey… just the right balance of sour and doughy… with a darkly crisp crust… heavenly…

I used 100g of the Mother starter made up from the wonderful NZ starter that Lucy sent me… and then essentially used a basic white loaf recipe using 275g of water, 500g flour, 1 tablespoon of honey and 2 teaspoons of salt.  I also used a classic ‘no-knead’ method which I have found to be so easy to do now… and the only other thing I did that was slightly different was place a roasting tin full of water into the oven prior to baking the bread which created a lot of steam, which I think is responsible for the fabulously aerated rise… anyway, the results speak for themselves… joyous!
if you’d like to purchase you’re own NZ Sourdough then check out this site

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Comments

  1. The KitchenMaid says

    That looks AMAZING! I am so happy for you – I'll have to send this link to Neville (the sourdough man), am sure he will be chuffed. Now, can you dry some and send it back?

  3. Janice says

    Hope you filled those holes with something tasty! Well done, I made a sourdough in 1980 when I brough back a starter from San Fransisco, have never made one since, maybe I should.

  6. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    I think I feel the same about sourdough as I do houseplants (and greenery in the garden!!) – that I love the results but I'm terrified of killing it before getting that far!

    Fabulous bread! I may turn to sourdough yet!

  7. Ruth Ellis says

    That looks absolutely stunning – in fact I couldn't find the right superlative! It looks perfect. Hopefully one day one of my sourdough experiments will turn out that well!

  9. Shu Han says

    LOOK AT THOSE HOLES! that's a beautiful loaf which can only come from a (don't let my starter hear) perfect sourdough starter!

  13. Javelin Warrior says

    I have to admit this looks pretty damn perfect 😉 The crust is gorgeous, the air pockets inside are wonderful and the color/texture of the center looks moist and utterly chewy… Love this…

  14. Neesie says

    Wow I could just do with a slice with my cuppa.
    It looks amazing. I've tried to make a starter from scratch and failed dismally.
    You're an inspiration ;D

  15. Chele says

    I would say you have named him perfectly, he seems to thrive on abuse and neglect lol. What a perfect looking sourdough, well done ;0)

  22. Javelin Warrior says

    Dom, you already know I love this bread, but just stopping by to let you know I am featuring this post in today's Friday Food Fetish roundup (with a link-back and attribution), but please let me know if you have any objections…