{"id":5166,"date":"2020-03-28T12:21:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T11:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidashe.info\/blog\/?p=5166"},"modified":"2020-03-29T19:04:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T18:04:54","slug":"variations-on-a-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidashe.info\/blog\/variations-on-a-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"Variations on a theme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have been getting a sourdough starter going – well done. A shout-out to three people who have contacted me and I know have some flour bubbling away on their kitchen counters: Zoe somewhere near Leeds, Lucy in Shropshire and Lois somewhere in New Zealand. Congratulations to you three (and everyone else who’s giving it a go) for starting your sourdough journey. After five days, your starter should be bubbly and you are ready to make bread. If it isn’t looking very ‘active’ keep going – maybe another day or two. Remember, while you are ‘getting it going’ you need to add to it every day. Starters develop and improve over time; so, if yours isn’t as active as mine… don’t panic – just keep going – your bakes will get better (and higher) as time goes by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, soon you will have tried the basic bread recipe<\/a> and will have had some success making small loaves. Now is the time to experiment… make one big loaf… try different slashes and shapes… add different ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, I made two large loaves this morning: one plain white and the other ‘seeded’. Here are some photos and instructions to inspire you. I started by weighing out two lots of white flour (500g each); one I left plain and to the other I added some seeds – I used linseeds (flax), poppy seeds and sunflower seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n