Blah Blah Blah

I killed my sourdough starter a couple of years ago.   It had taken me a long time to create him - I think it took two attempts  -   and I had kept him fed and refreshed for a loooong time, even when I wasn't making sourdough (or similar) breads.  And then I just stopped. I missed one refresh, which turned in to missing a couple,  which turned into me not wanting to open the jar......and he died. Or at least,  I couldn't face trying to resurrect him.

I couldn't be bothered to make another one.  Its OK when you're making sourdough, but if you're not, it's a bit of a faff and a bit of a waste of flour.     Ater our recent scandi bread course, I  decided to try again, but this time I bought two sour dough starters from Bakery Bits.   

I refreshed them, following the instructions carefully, and then I made a sourdough loaf from one of them, using their instructions.  It was OK.   It wasn't fab, but it was OK.    

I felt vaguely reassured that I had, actually, been looking after my home made one correctly. Well, until I let him die of neglect, of course.

Today, a kilo of fresh bioreal yeast arrived.    It had seemed like a good idea when I ordered it.  I remembered that a kilo was much better value for money than 42g portions, even if i ended up throwing a load away.         They were out of stock at the time, so it was back-ordered   Today's yat is, therefore, very fresh and will stay useable for nearly 4 weeks.

I have no idea what I was thinking I'd make with it.

DH is going to make a rye loaf, I think.  We've been on a bit of a hand made rye kick for some time - apart from the last week when we've been having sourdough.  I miss the nuttiness and moistness of the rye.

I might try a white loaf in my machine. Usually, it's not possible to use fresh yeast in a breadmaker; I assume the programme isn't long enough at the right times for it to work?    Our breadmaker does have a setting for fresh yeast though,  so it would be rude not to try it.