my little pet

I have a pet, it is neither a he or a she, but it is very special to me. I like to call my little gender-neutral pet bubbles. This special little pet is a no fuss creature, as it only needs food once a week when I keep it in the fridge. Now before you call PETA on me, I should probably explain that this pet is not an actual animal, it is my sourdough starter. I call it my pet because just like a pet you feed and take care of it and it brings you little joys in the shape of loaves. And these loaves are pure delight!

One of my favourite smells/aromas in a kitchen is freshly baked bread. Bread will always stay one of my ultimate favourite things to bake and eat. There is just something about it that nothing else can compare to. So today I decided I will take a bit of a break from the sweet things and blog about my sourdough bread adventure. Sourdough, in my eyes, is the ultimate classic bake. It has been around for thousands of years and it is a trusted bake that never fails to deliver. It does have a distinct taste though that many people don’t enjoy. My dad hates it when I bake sourdough, because he is more of a soft white bread loaf guy. But my mom and I absolutely love the flavour and crunch of a fresh sourdough loaf. My sourdough adventure started last year October. I made my starter (pet) and 6 days later I had my first homemade sourdough loaf. My starter is still going strong, it’s currently chin-chilling in the fridge waiting to be taken out and activated to be used again.

I never thought to make sourdough as I always saw it as a complicated endeavour that required too much time and tears, but it really isn’t. I only really decided to finally do it because I was home busy studying for exams and boy do I love to procrastinate! But it didn’t take nearly as much time as I had ‘hoped’. The starter is very easy to make, it just takes time because it only fully develops after 4-5 days. But after that you can bake all things sourdough, all you have to do is keep your little ‘pet’ alive!

To make your little ‘pet’ you will need:

• 114g (3/4 cup) flour
• 114g (about 125ml) water

1. On the first day, mix the flour and water together and give it a good, vigorous mix with a spoon or fork. It should be a a thick sticky batter. Leave it in a large mixing bowl with cling film covering it, and store it in a place with a consistent temperature (around 20-25 degrees celsius). I left mine in a crockery drawer in the kitchen.
2. On the second day you need to feed your pet. You might see a few bubbles on the top, this is a very good sign as it means your pet is alive. Measure out the same amount of flour and water in a bowl as the previous day, mix them together and give it a good beating. Then add this mixture to your pet, mix it well, cover the bowl again and place it back in its little hiding place.
3. On the third day you will feed your pet again in the same way as you did on day 2. Your pet will probably have much more bubbles, will have increased in size and it will have a sour smell. This is a very good sign as it means your pet is ALIVE and doing what it is supposed to be doing!
4. On the fourth day you will once again feed your pet in the same way as you have for the past two days. Your pet should be much more bubbly and should have a strong sour smell, it should also have doubled in size. It should also be much more runny and loose than the previous days.
5. On this day you should be able to use your starter, yay! Your pet should be very bubbly, even frothy and it should have doubled in size. It should also have a pungent sour aroma. When stirring the starter it should be very loose and smooth. You can also take a quick taste to make sure, your starter should taste sour and vinegary. When it matches all these criteria then you can get ready to bake your sourdough!

Taking care of your pet:

Whenever you use some of your starter you need to replenish it and feed it. If you keep it outside and active you need to feed it daily and use it everyday or second day. You can also store it in the fridge when you don’t use it and feed it once a week. When you take it out of the fridge to feed it, keep it out for a day just to allow the starter to ‘feed’ and then you can put it back in the fridge. If you want to use it after storing it in the fridge you need to keep it out for two days and feed it each day, after those two days it is active and ready to use!

Once you get the hang of making and taking care of your little pet, baking sourdough is a (delicious) breeze.

I hope y’all enjoyed this post about my little pet. Tomorrow I will post the sourdough bread recipe I use.

Until then, keep it real!

Questions and comments are welcome!