Herman is still going strong here. I've had him since January, and we've settled into a nice routine. I feed him 125ml each of flour, sugar and milk every 5 days, and stir him vigorously every day. Then about once every 10 days I either give a portion away to someone else, or I bake something.
So what sorts of things have I been making? Well, there's the carrot and pineapple cake that I blogged about previously. But my absolute favourite so far is probably the cinnamon buns.
They were so good that I ate one before I remembered to take a photo. Yum! I used a recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com - My only tip would be to really leave them to rise for a long time once they are shaped and filled. The sourdough mixture rises more slowly than traditional yeasts, but it's worth the wait.
The other great recipe that I've tried is called coffee cake... except that rather confusingly it isn't a coffee cake. It's a pecan and raisin spiced cake. I'm guessing it's coffee cake, as in "cake to have with coffee". But it did lose me for a while there! As I was baking I kept waiting to add the coffee but never did. Sigh. Not very on the ball, me.
Once I'd got over the no-coffee aspect of this coffee cake, my mind started to boggle slightly at the instructions as well. This is how the uncooked cake looks. Nice, huh?
Then you add a topping made from brown sugar and magarine (or butter)...
Yum! The mixture is then baked for 40 minutes or so...
...before you add a glaze of brown sugar and butter. It's a double topped with butter and sugar cake! I nearly chickened out of adding the glaze, but I'm glad I didn't! This is the most deliciously scrummy cake. I froze half of it and have been feeding it to the guys working on my garden all week. In fact I might just go and get another piece now.
Finally, as if one sourdough baby to keep an eye on wasn't enough. I just couldn't resist when Jeni offered me some of her bread sourdough starter. We're having a sourdough starter-along on the Fyberspates group on Ravelry (you'll need a Ravelry account to see that page, but it's free and quick to register), so there's lots of help and encouragement to get your own going if you fancy it.
This starter takes up less space, and doesn't need quite so much feeding. I just add more flour and water a day or two before I want to make some bread. And oh boy, the bread it makes!
I did the sponge and first rise stages during the day yesterday, and then left it to prove overnight. This morning it was HUGE. And tastes amazing. I'm eating a slice with butter right now, and trying to resist the urge to cut another slice...
My only "problem" now is deciding what to bake next. Do you think I have baking startitis as well?






