My first Sour Dough....Yipppeeeee!

You may have noticed I have a bright blue button on my blog...it links to a blog by a lovely lady who I have been corresponding with since I joined the Down to Earth Forum.......
Her name is Wendy.....Wendy has been guiding me through this sourdough adventure.....and she even sent me some of her own sourdough baby.....What a lovely offering.

So under Wendy's instruction.....here goes....this is what I have done so far........
After my sourdough baby's big trip across the border...well it needed some time to recover.....so after two days sitting nice and quiet...I moved it into bigger pj's as I fed it 3/4 cup of flour and the same in tank water.

Then the following two days, I did the same but fed it 1 cup of water and 1 cup of flour....It's growing up, so it needs a bigger feed...lol.

After the first feed

Bubbles, bubbles......

so about a week after the birth of my baby sourdough.....
I made the sponge for my first loaf of sourdough......
using:
2 cups of sourdough starter
2 cups of flour
2 cups of rain water

Mixed well, then left it overnight....(best to do this in the morning)

The evening of the same day.......I made my dough....
add the 'sponge' to a larger bowl....
add the following...
2 tspns of sugar
2 tspns of salt
3 tablespoons of oil
2 cups of flour

Kneed the dough for 15 minutes, it will be rather sticky to start with....and I worked in an extra 1 1/2 cups of flour (Wendy said about 1...so It's all good from here)
Then into an oiled bowl....and leave overnight....

 The following morning....Look how much it has increased in size...Amazing!

 Now gently punch it down....see the large air pockets in the dough....You don't want to disturb these too much...there's a huge one touching my fingers.

 Shape the dough, and place on your chosen baking tray....I thought this pizza tray would be good, but the heat didn't get through as well as I expected...so I will think of a different base for the next loaf....

Now that I have a loaf on the go, nearly in the oven....I have made another 'sponge'...using another 2 cups of sourdough starter....and the process begins again.......It's so exciting........
Don't forget to start feeding your sourdough starter again.......I've given it 1 cup each of water and flour..and I will do the same tomorrow.......

Ok...I'm rather inpatient sometimes...and as it was a lovely day...I figured I could speed up the process of the second prove.....by sitting it in my car.....ohhhh it was sooo toasty and warm in there.......

Look how much my dough has risen......Yep even more exciting now.....I can't wait to taste it....

By now my oven is preheated to much hotter than I normally have......and I have cut slits into the loaf...

 placed it in the oven on very high for 15 minutes....then turned the oven down to 190c...for another 30 minutes......

LOOK! OMG......Yep I'm yelling to tell the world that I made my first sour dough....and I owe it all to Wendy.......THANKS WENDY!!!!!!

My family were amazed at the huge size of the loaf....and couldn't wait to try it.....OMG it's better than any sourdough loaf I have ever tasted....I hesitate to think how much this would cost in the stores.....

Making a sourdough loaf isn't really that hard, you just need to be patient.......it's so worth the wait.....
I can't wait to try out other recipes using the sourdough starter....Wendy, If you're reading this....I'd love that pancake recipe you mentioned......
Please check out Wendy's blog, she is an amazing writer....Wendy was thoughtful enough to send Mum and myself a lovely 'Calendula Hand & Body Lotion'.....Wendy sells this lotion and other wonderful soaps and products through her shop at 'Find My Hearth'....

After reading about my paving, she thought my hands could do with some extra care.....Thank-you so much Wendy...Mum was chuffed to know that you thought of her as well.....

I'm so pleased that I have started this sourdough adventure.....Thanks Wendy...Bless Ya!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend....take care, I hope to see you back here early in the week.