Seamus.

[hoveringsombrero]

I am going to be using the François tag for these entries to honour his memory. François was my first solo attempt (named by anthylorrel from my ama post about it) at a sourdough pet, which I tried to make from scratch, and was mostly succeeding but my living situation was a mess and it was really hard to keep track of him, so I never got successful loaves out of him.

However, my new housemates were very interested in trying this as well, so the boyperson purchased a dried starter from a San Francisco company and the attempt began again. It's been a bit easier since I'm NOT always having to be the sole caretaker this round, but we're apparently still working out the kinks in the chain of responsibility. But he's almost ready to start living in the fridge where he'll only have to be fed once a week.

The girlperson named this one, so meet Seamus!



He is mid cycle, fed about 6 hours prior to this picture so he's all bubbly and happy right there.

Here is the first loaf produced by him:



It's tasty but a bit bland and very dense. I forgot the salt, and I also underestimated how much he was going to rise and we went ahead and baked him because he was rising OUT of his bread tin (the leftover made two little loaves not pictured because they were quickly consumed). He really should have been two loaves, so that will be the case next time with that amount.

I have today's discard proofing (fed twice now without discard) to make a couple loaves. And the boy has requested an attempt at garlic cheddar biscuits as well so that's why a second feeding to make more so I can try that too!

I am looking forward to eating the many tasty children of Seamus!

Comments

[bdoing.livejournal.com]

I am so confused at what this is. o.o

[eris.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find any one page that really explains a sourdough starter. You could read the wikipedia article about sourdough and this page is fairly informative

Sourdough requires live yeast, which you grow and care for like a pet, many old bakeries have been using the same "mother" for over a hundred years.

[yuriko.livejournal.com]

I used to have a gigantic stuffed bear named Seamus. Like, 3 feet tall.