Back to Sourdough....I can't stay away!

So I seem to be a sucker for punishment. I had no real success with sourdough bread but I am finding my own too bland at the moment and the price of good sourdough leaves me breathless so I have been scouring the underbelly of the internet to find more about sourdough success. There is a whole world of information and passion out there just focusing on naturally leavened breads! I saw one heated debate where a forum poster stated that another poster's wife was the devil incarnate... somehow this was relevant to different styles of sourdough starter!
A very good resource is The Fresh Loaf and one from just around the corner from me from Oatlands Tasmania we have The Sourdough Companion . I have also been relying heavily on this River Cottage recipe.
I think I am getting there. First I discovered I was just being lazy and not feeding my starter enough. Here is my starter:

I cook the excess up as a big pancake for the chickens:

I made a sponge according to the river Cottage Recipe: 

 Then I sort of freaked out because my dough was too dry and I added more starter. 

This loaf was more successful than my previous attempt I have blogged about a couple of years ago but the bread was very dense and too sour still.

It looks good though....
I have another sponge with a better fed starter going as I type... fingers crossed..I really must try to stick to the directions more!

Winter Sun. Whole foods.

It seems an eternity since I last blogged. I keep trying but the posts are half baked (which reminds me I have a slice in the oven and mustn't forget!).

I have been getting more exercise, having fun using body weight exercise to increase my strength and fitness, squats, pushups, crunches etc every second day to try to keep warm and keep the happy endorphins pulsing through to keep away the SAD I seem to be prone to in Winter. I have also been taking walks every day in the watery winter sunshine and so far so good!

 I notice that when I exercise more I start eating better and when I eat better I have more energy and exercise more, whole foods and raw foods are playing a bigger part in my diet these days and my energy levels are really good! I have bought some rapadura to use instead of sugar, bought some whole organic rye and celtic salt to try to make my cooking that little bit more nutritious rather than using all refined products. Resting on the bench is my first attempt at sprouted bread, something I had given up eating as it costs $6.50 a loaf but it seems it may be simple enough to make, there are recipes and variations everywhere but I have sprouted some rye, ground it up (in the Thermomix of course, but I believe any good food processor would do it) and mixed in some rapadura and yeast, left to prove and hopefully I can bake it and have a halfway convincing result!

I have made a whole rye loaf (not sprouted), milling the rye in the Thermomix and using the flour with a bit of vital wheat gluten, yeast and salt. I kneaded it a lot and left it to prove a long time (which seemed to produce a kind of alcohol but didn't affect the finished product) it made a dark, sour dense loaf which luckily was exactly what I wanted!

 450G rye (ground into flour in Thermomix)

50g vital wheat gluten

360g water

50g butter

5 g salt

40g rapadura

10g yeast

mixed for 20 seconds on speed 5 and then 1 minute 30 secs on interval, left to prove over night, kneaded by hand for 10 minutes and proved for another hour, baked at 220C (could be done with a stand mixer or food processor or by hand I guess!)

I also made a sort of cream cheese/marscapone  which I spread on the bread and had with red onion, delicious but gave me heart burn (better check on that slice!.. still good- the thermostat isn't the best on the oven so times vary wildly...).

The boys have started at another day care where they have their own lunches instead of having them provided which is working out much better- it turned out that Master 4 was only ever eating a tiny amount of vegetables at lunchtime and nothing else so it is much better for everyone (and our wallets- the new centre is much cheaper!) as he is helping choose what goes into his lunch box and consequently actually eating a lot of it. It is good practice for when he goes to to school next year and for me too as I will be getting repertoire of lunchbox friendly snacks! So far I have few favourites (or rather the boys do):

carrot and cheese sticks

raisins and wholemeal crackers,

fruit buns (homemade).

I will try to incorporate yoghurt and popcorn in next week. 
The slice (with ground almonds, ground oats and rapadura to give it some redeeming features) is out of the oven now, slightly unevenly cooked but one day I will get a new oven...