..perhaps all this time alone with only a baby and starter for company but I have an overwhelming desire to name my rye starter 'Bettina'! Why this name? I can assure you I have absolutely no idea but it's stuck. So allow me to introduce you to "Bettina Rye" - here she is apparently sleeping in the fridge.
(note: This is my husband's shelf-I don't drink Fanta. Lol-this is actually a great representation of our difference in food preferences!)
My spelt starter has yet to produce a reasonable loaf and thus endear itself to me in sufficient measure for naming.
In the meantime-what about you? Or am I a rogue loony patrolling the murky waters of this forum? I still smile when thinking of Anthony Bourdain's baker calling his starter 'The Bitch'.
Include a pic if you can : )
Helen
Replies
Hi Helen,
There have been a couple of discussions about names for starters but there has never been an appropriate thought in my mind until yesterday. Then it occurred to me that Magnet might be a good name - mainly because it sticks to the fridge.
Reminds me of many years ago we were nursing a snake back to health and we called it Westminster - it was a carpet snake you see. We also had a dog called Bulova - he was a watch dog.
Anyhow, enough of the nostalgia already. Here is a set of pics. I wouldn't dare take one inside our fridge.
These show Magnet just unstuck and bulking up after doing some 'bench presses'.
Enjoy.
Farinam
as I figured there was probably one somewhere but came up empty. Apologies to veteren members for the repetition.
Hey there,
I couldn't believe my eyes when I read your entry, Helen!
I have felt embarrassed to say even to my wife that the starter in my fridge is named after the biggest sourpuss I could think of. That said, I really loved watching him all those years ago....
Magnet sounds like a superhero! love it!
Olivier
hey! my title didn't appear on the post! my starter's name is John McEnroe.
That's hilarious.
Steve the Starter
he's one hell of a mother
the kids have named all the children - but there's so many i can't remember them all a now - although Graham stands out
My starter does have a name - it's Miss Bubbles. She was split in three a week ago due to her slowness to develop. I put a third of her into a pure spelt starter (which was a poor performer and now deceased), a third into a rye/plain starter (the star of the group) and the other third into a pure plain flour starter (good but not as good as the rye). I'm about to have a go at making sourdough this weekend using probably the rye version of Miss Bubbles. It's been an extremely interesting exercise, this sourdough starter business. I've got into it because sourdough is my favourite bread, but I can't buy it anywhere near home, so thought I'd find a recipe. That's when I discovered all this science around the making of this unreal bread! My starter was slow because it's been cold in Melbourne. A nice day or two led to an exciting explosion in Miss Bubbles, so to anyone trying to get a starter going in cold weather, stick with it. Keep on feeding it/them and it will eventually work. Have fun everyone !
Is it important to use "unbleached" bakers flour? I bought a bag of Defiance baker's flour but it doesn't say whether it's unbleached on the bag. Other flours do say this on the packet if they are unbleached. I've noticed that most recipes call for unbleached flour.. What is bleaching anyway?
Thanks.
Hello Trufflenut,
Effectively, bleached flours have been treated to make them appear whiter. I gather they actually use bleaching agents like chlorine, peroxide etc. It is also said that bleached flours give better volume and finer crumb than unbleached. I don't think there is a fundamental reason to use one or the other other than a desire to be more natural/organic.
I have used Defiance Flour and it seems perfectly fine though my preferred 'supermarket' flour is Laucke Wallaby.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
My starter's name is Beastlie.
I am taking Beastlie on an expedition to England (from her native land of Panama) where I hope to find better quality flour and a nicer oven which I hope will bring out her best qualities.
Beastlie has been divided and one incarnation is sleeping in a friend's freezer for a couple of months while a dessicated version accompanies me in search of unbleached organic flour and an oven that reaches 250 degrees.