Bread and Jam making supplies - where to find?

[ladyarkles]

Now that I have you captive in this thread.....

Could you explain to me about making a "Mother" for my yeast.
My son (who has just qualified in all kinds of chef-ery) keeps nagging me to make one, but he just talks me through the whole process so quickly that I get befuddled.
In his kitchen, their Mother was 150 yrs old and it was handled like a newborn baby.
Surely I would have to be really careful where I kept it (her?) as air-con and ambient temps must have an impact.

Thanks for allowing me to rummage through your brain!

~ Rachel xx

[Sachertorte]

Hi Rachel,

Sounds like you are asking questions about how to make a sourdough starter, which is made of wild yeasts and lactobacilli normally occurring on the grain (and the skin of the baker).

The idea is simple (mix flour and water in equal amounts and wait for fermentation to kick off) but in reality it is much more complex than just making bread with shop bought yeast and cannot be summarised in a couple of paragraphs.

There is a reasonable book called the "Bourke Street Bakery" where you can find some background to sourdough and good recipes and you can find it in many bookshops and Wheel and Barrow.

Or if you want to learn from a professional, you can come to my baking classes. I run a boutique artisan bakery called "Hills Baking" and I also teach home bakers and chefs to make and manage sourdough (the venture is called "The Hills Baking School").

If you want to find out more about the classes I run, here is the link:

http://www.hillsbaking.com/Hills_Bak...ng_School.html


Happy Baking

[ladyarkles]

WOW!
That sounds brilliant! Thanks.
I'll check it out.

~ Rachel