I hope you have been enjoying my ‘What would you feed me?’ series so far, in case you missed any from the last three weeks, do have a look at what Prudy, Susan and Selma made for me…
I’ve been so overwhelmed by such wonderful recipes!
I will bring you another recipe next week, today I want to tell you a story about the wonderful international blogging community at its best..
Nine years ago, a lovely lady called Celia, in Australia, created a sourdough starter, christened Priscilla. Priscilla has been the beginning of many successful loaves of bread and baking, and recently Celia dried out some of the starter and sent out the dried granules to many of her fellow blog friends around the world, with instructions on how to revive the starter and start baking. One of the recipients was my lovely Selma, who named her starter Twinkle and also went on to bake some wonderful loaves of bread. Selma also dried out some of her starter and sent out packets to her blog friends…including me!
Apparently the most successful sourdough starters are named, so I named mine Star. I always choose stars for everything, and what a perfect name for the daughter of Twinkle, hey?
Selma also sent comprehensive instructions on how to revive Star and how to bake sourdough loaves; I was a bit nervous as it was a first for me, and I’ve seen lots of the other bloggers’ amazing loaves, but I was also very excited to make it work!! I followed the instructions and started to revive Star and she bubbled up wonderfully..
And when she was ready, followed the instructions again to bake a loaf..the dough proved beautifully overnight and became a wonderful loaf of bread..
..I cannot tell you just how proud I was!! I was grinning from ear to ear, telling everyone who would listen about my first sourdough loaf! I tweeted photos, texted photos, Instagrammed photos, bored my immediate and extended family with my baking feats….like a proud Mum!! Luckily, my boys loved the bread, which makes me even prouder!!! And yes, even I had some, topped with za’atar..
I baked two more loaves this weekend (Celia warned me it’s addictive and she’s right!!) and they were even better!!!
Graham and Ben ate the entire loaf in one day, they just love crusty bread and this one came out really crusty, and I wrapped up the other loaf for my sister in law..
..who immediately sliced into it and sent a big thumbs up!!!
It’s been such a fun and fabulous journey, and something I would never have tried without having this blog and being part of this community, just another reason why I love it!! It’s so amazing how my sourdough loaf was created as a direct result of one started 9 years ago in Australia, I think that’s just brilliant and I love the connection that Celia has created between all of us who have received starters from her wonderful Priscilla, and that Selma has now continued with Twinkle. What Stars!!! And the support and encouragement they have both given me has been absolutely lovely, thank you ladies xx
For more details and directions about baking sourdough loaves, Celia and Selma can tell you so much more than I can, so do check out their blogs…I’m off to put my next loaf in the oven…isn’t that what everyone does at 6am in the morning???? oh no….it’s just me then…;)
Have a great day, from me and my Bob xx
Congratulations Elaine, those loaves look amazingly crusty and totally perfect! Obviously Bob is worn out after his early mornings!
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Ha ha! Absolutely, he’s crashed out again right now!
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LOOK at your brilliant loaves! What a glorious time we’ve had baking together! Thank you for sharing your magnificent creations with us – I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re enjoying it so much! And Selma really is the best, isn’t she? 🙂 xxx
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She is! And thank you so much xx
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Your loaves look amazing!!! You are definitely committed!!! At 6am in the morning I can barely keep my eyes open and grunt, let alone bake bread lol xxxxx
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Ha ha! I was awake at 5!!! xx
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😳😳
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And same again today!
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Lol why???
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Just keep waking up at 4.50 and not being able to get back to sleep 😟
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There must be something troubling you 😦 hope you are ok xx😘😘
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No, no, I’m fine honey – it’s the time that Bob tends to wake up and starts licking and scratching!! 😳😳
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Lol it’s like having a baby again isn’t it? Glad all is wellxxxx
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It really is!!!
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It looks absolutely GORGEOUS, Elaine !! I wish I liked sourdough; but I don’t. Nothing else to say, apart from the fact that I know I’m weird. :-\
I love the way the starter is now all over the world: that’s blogging, alright ! 😀
You’re clever, MSPF – no doubt about it.\
XXXOOX
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Thank you my lovely x x x x
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How sensational! I’m grinning from ear to ear for you. Do I spy a falcon enamel roasting pan that Celia advocates as great for baking loaves too? Yes, it’s addictive and so lovely to see the journey we all take and share. Well done!
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Ha ha! You do indeed spy a Falcon roasting pan!!! I just had to have one!
Thank you so much 🙂 x
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Congratulations Elaine, I love the beauty of this bread and the crackly crust on the top. Bravo 🙂
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Thank you x x
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Love the story Elaine. Priscilla is a granny now :). That bread looks gorgeous. I need to find some starter here for myself :).
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Thank you sweetie xx
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What a beautiful loaf of bread! I love the crusty texture. I would have a hard time not eating the whole thing.
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Ha ha! Thank you Julie 🙂
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The loaf looks nice and crusty and very tempting. Perfect with soup this time of year.
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Yes 🙂 thank you x
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Sigh… If bread envy is a “thing”… I think I have it! Lovely loaf, Elaine!
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Thank you so much 😀😀😀
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Congrats Elaine 👍😃 Your star is shining the brightest. One of the best sourdough loaves I have seen in a while😋😃
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Thank you so much! I’m so proud of her xx
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Wow – very impressed! I am sure Star is going to be around for a while….
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I hope so! Thank you xx
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It’s been such fun and so rewarding on this wonderful sourdough journey – I am so glad to see how well Star revived – it is good to know that, it works outside of my kitchen too! Your loaves look just fabulous – well done my lovely xx
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Thank you so much 😀😀😀 Star really is working a treat! xx
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Your bread looks absolutely amazing, Elaine! the texture, the air bubbles – perfect. Star looks like he’s having a great future ahead of her!
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Thank you 😀😀😀😀😀
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Elaine this is a real beauty- may I have this Star?? I’m practicing other methods at the moment, it will be on my blog soon, but I heard it’s good to get the starter from someone else- it brings luck 🙂 Have a lovely weekend xx
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I’ve dried out some of my starter and I’m just testing that it can be successfully revived – as long as it can be, then I can send you some 😀😀😀😀 how cool would that be?! xx
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This is awesome Elaine… I tried once to use sourdough but I guess I’m not a good “mother”… it lasted 1 once… but looking at your beautiful creations, I think I should try another time!
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Yay! Do it 🙂
Thank you xx
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This is such a great post, Elaine! Your breads look wonderful. And Bob is as studly as ever!
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Thank you honey, lovely to see you xxx
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What a great story! I know that Dubai-based Sally at My Custard Pie has made some gorgeous bread from Celia’ s starter. Congratulations on your most beautiful efforts. I have a Russian-born starter just waiting for the time I can give it the attention it deserves. I have been a terrible starter-mother in the past….
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Ah, I’m sure that’s not true!!! I look forward to seeing what you create xx
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Celia is one gifted & lovely blogger lady, isn’t she? I love your sourdough breads a lot!
They look amazing & wonderful too! xxx
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Celia really is lovely, so knowledgeable and supportive 🙂
Thank you xx
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