Meet Maggie. The newest member of our family. We have Maude, Poppy and Gurtrude, our chickens and now Maggie. Named after Maggie Beer before we even recieved her, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that one of Celia’s chickens had once been named Maggie.
This is how Maggie arrived to us, after reading the instructions twice, I felt like I was diving into hot water. This was something new and fairly intimidating. Let me tell you that Celia (Fig Jam and Lime Cordial) was a wonderful help via twitter.
After feeding Maggie up 3 times throughout the day she was finally ready to bake.
I followed Celia’s basic sourdough tutorial to the letter until I misread 25g of oil for 250g, so I scooped out the oil and continued on my merry way. 
At this point I stopped taking photos, and have failed to at this point every time I have baked sourdough since. Celia’s instructions are wonderfully clear, so I suggest you use those.
Since my first loaf I have had some different outcomes using the same recipe. Maybe the extra oil made all the difference, maybe the weather made the difference, maybe I wasn’t playing music during the kneading of the various loaves? Who knows. What I do know is I love baking bread, I’m so rewarded when eating a slice of toast in the morning, so happy to see those golden loaves of goodness come out of the oven.
I have since tried baking a fruit loaf, with approval from many family members, and have plans to bake another ASAP.
Have you ever baked bread? What about sourdough?
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Just fabulous, Clare! I’m so glad Maggie is making you happy! 🙂
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Maggie is making me so happy, and about to make others that happy too. What a wonderful gift!
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Yay! Maggie, your brother Kevin says hi. I totally agree with you. Baking bread is one of the most satisfying things ever. Beautiful loaves!
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Hi Kevin! Baking the loaves are such a joy, and so much less scary than I expected!
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I am slowly adding grains back in to my diet one by one with big gaps in between but will probably never eat wheat again. I love sour dough and will miss it heaps, especially while following your adventures with the recipe. It must be so rewarding.
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It is very rewarding. It’s a shame that you wont eat it again, but you need to look after your health first!
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Good for you – and in this heat too. I keep meaning to start making my own bread but we have a great bakery about 200 metres from our front door and and and….. One day…..
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It’s tough living near an amazing bakery. We do too, but I don’t have to walk the 200m when I’m baking it in my kitchen. Let me know if you’d like some starter.
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You’re a braver baker than I, Clare! I’m terrified of breads which needs starters!
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It’s the least scary of breads I think. It’s so easy, so satisfying, and SOOOOO delicious.
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Yeay! how wonderful. the sour dough is still growing spreading and becoming loaves everywhere. well done
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It’s so delicious! The sour dough will continue to spread around the world!
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I’m so jealous of your chooks 🙂 Your sour dough looks awesome! I tried to grow my own cultures but sadly forgot to feed it and it died… 😦
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Our chooks are lovely! I love going out there and having a chat!
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Love baking my own bread and total sourdough convert here too. I made my starter following instructions off youtube but reading the GNOWFGLINS book on sourdough has taught me so much more and made it a much easier journey for Bertha, my starter, and I. Bertha is a cold loving starter and 100% biodynamic rye and keeping her in the fridge means we are not total slaves to each other. She’s a big girl (about 4 cups worth usually) and I give her a huge feed when she gets under 2 cups so I make up my no knead dough every 3-4 days and bake every 2 or as needed. It’s an easy relationship we have, Bertha and I. 🙂
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Sourdough is the best! We have so much at the moment that I’m not too cook anything for another 2 weeks I think!
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