Raspberry Lemonade and outings in Melbourne

Summer weather is on the way out.  I am not too bothered but I will miss the summer fruit.  We have had some gloriously juicy nectarines and some joyfully cheap berries.  We bought so many punnets of cheap raspberries that Sylvia and I decided to make some raspberry lemonade.  Lovely pink lemonade to drink between summery outings.

Our neighbour had given us some lemons she was not using.  The resulting raspberry lemonade was wonderful.  It smelled of raspberries and had that slightly floral flavour which took the edge off the lemonade.  It was far more successful than my attempt at raspberry lemonade many years ago.  (A shame because the photos in the old post still make me happy.)  I guess it helps that we make lemonade quite often.  Once you have lemonade down pat, it is not hard to tweak it with raspberries.

The raspberry lemonade saw us through quite some fun time.  Let us share a few outings.

We saw Amanda Palmer perform at the National Gallery of Victoria.  I took the above photo before the gig began.  I really loved seeing her perform in front of the artwork in the Great Hall but was a little sad that they turned off the lights on the magnificent stained glass ceiling.  Most of the time everyone was too mesmerised by Amanda Palmer but it wasn't always easy to see and my eyes would have enjoyed wondering to the artwork on the ceiling.

Our tickets to Amanda Palmer included entry to David Hockney's "Current" exhibition.  The exhibition costs $25 to enter so it was good value to buy a $30 ticket to the gig and have the exhibition included.  I would not have got along to this exhibition otherwise and, having no expectations, was pleasantly surprised.  There were the small pictures above that were created on an ipad.

And there were the large pictures that covered a wall such as the above trees and the below photo of chairs.  While I enjoyed the variety of the small pictures and the long gallery of portraits, I really like the large pictures that make me feel like Belle in Reaching Tin River when she runs into a blown up photo to try and become part of it.  Don't worry, I didn't run into any of these pictures.  But I just loved that scene in the book and have never forgotten it.

An Indian dinner, an exhibition and a gig is a rare treat of a night.  Now that we don't do it so much, I get amazed to see how many people are out late when we come out of an evening show.  As it was the Friday evening of a long weekend, there was a party atmosphere, with the Moomba fun fair lit up in the distance.

We also got along to the Sydney Road Street Party this year.  The Brunswick section of the street is closed to traffic to make space for market stalls and performers.  We were there to see E play with his ukulele group outside the Town Hall.  They were great fun.  Then we wandered around the stalls.  We admired the above meringues and toffee apples but resisted temptation.

Instead Sylvia decided she really wanted an ice cream from the Billy van.  It was warm enough for her to buy a new rainbow sunhat.  We had been snacking on some nibbles from The Source Bulk Foods Store.  E got a sausage in bread from a BBQ.  I looked at vegan burgers, gozleme, falafels, curries etc.

Finally I decided on a Vegan KFC Taco from Basco's street stall.  It was a Korean fried cauliflower, Asian slaw, vegan mayo, gochujang sauce, pickled ginger and fresh herb.  Basco was popular.  The wait was lengthy.  As I waited I noticed that the taco was marked as spicy.  It was indeed, but not too hot for my delicate tastebuds. I loved my taco and just wished I had ordered two of them.

I'd love to visit Basco for a meal.  They seem to have lots of interesting vegetarian food.  Sadly they seem to only be open in the evening which is less convenient for me.  Maybe one day.

The last event to share is the Undiagnosed Children's Awareness Day in Northcote held by Syndromes Without A Name (SWAN).  We stumbled into the event thanks to a recommendation to go along.  It was a fete/fundraiser with the usual bouncy castle, cake stall and raffles.  Mostly Sylvia and I had the Grill'd sliders, the sweet slices and zooper dooper flavoured ices.  It made me me think of how hard some families have it and how lucky we are.

More raspberry recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Beetroot, raspberry and feta salad (gf)
Macaroon cake with raspberries (gf)
Nectarine and raspberry strudel
Plums and raspberry jam (gf, v)
Raspberry apricot and chia smoothie (gf, v)
Rhubarb and raspberry crumble (v)
Rhubarb and raspberry no knead focaccia (v)

Raspberry lemonade
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe

1 cup water
1 1/4 cup castor sugar
250g raspberries
1 cup lemon juice (about 4 large lemons)

1-2 litres soda water to serve

Gently heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  While this is heating, push the raspberries through a sieve and discard pulp (or save for muffins or smoothies).  Add the lemon juice and strain into funnel above a jug or bottle that you can store in the fridge for a few weeks.  When ready to drink, put about 1 part raspberry lemonade mixture with 2-3 parts soda water.

On the stereo
(Michael Winterbottom's) Wonderland soundtrack: Michael Nyman

In My Kitchen: April 2017

April has arrived, ushering in some autumnal weather (after a very hot start to autumn), the end of daylight savings and a suggestion that our salad days might soon be over.  I am still settling into my new job.  However I have found my online bookmarks and am cooking more.

Above is a salad from a supermarket magazine.  It was like a coleslaw with a gingery Asian vinaigrette.  I planned it for days.  When I made it, the dressing was too acidic for me.  A shame.  I loved all the vegies.  Fortunately I have been finding that plain old coleslaw has been working for a quick vegie side dish.

It has been a summer of Golden Gaytime ice creams.  So I could not resist trying the Golden Gaytime Cornetto (which I thought I saw somewhere as the Gaynetto but perhaps I just dreamt that up).  I really liked the butterscotch and vanilla swirl of ice cream, even though it not something to eat regularly.

St Pat's Day found me with limited energy.  I went for one of the easiest green option.  Pizza with pesto and cheese.  Well, I guess it would have been easier if the pizza base and pesto weren't home made.  It was nice but a bit stodgy without vegies on the side.

I have become more strict on gelatin over the years of being vegetarian, though some gelatin occasionally finds its way into the house.  But I do draw the line at jelly using gelatin.  So when we found this Aeroplane Glitter jelly did not have gelatin, I bought it for Sylvia.  She loves jelly.  Luckily my mum has made jelly a lot.  A lot!

So when we bought this packet, I showed her how to pour in the boiling water on the jelly crystals and then add ice blocks.  I added a few too many iceblocks and it was too sloppy.  We bought another packet and added less ice about 1/2 a cup rather than 3/4 cup and no extra cold water) and it works quite well.  I think Sylvia now thinks we will live on jelly.  Sadly, as it is sugar and chemicals, I am not sure it will be in our house that often.  But at least I can offer Sylvia the fun of jelly making without gelatin.

At the Sydney Road Street Festival.  I fell for this tiered cake stand made of vintage plates.  I love these sort of cake stands but don't really use them much.  They gather dust and are awkward to wash and store.  Yet I am often drawn to them.  I purchased this one because the woman who makes them said she is not making any more because it has become so hard to pick up vintage plates cheaply.  I am glad I have it but I am finding it hard to keep my promise to myself to put out the other tiered stand that I own.

Last month I was delighted to win this beautiful book, The Barber from Budapest and other stories: a memoir with recipes by Liz Posmyk.  In case you don't recognise the name, Liz Posmyk is no other than Bizzy Lizzy who hosts In My Kitchen.  I love reading her blog.  She writes in a thoughtful and entertaining style that makes me look forward to reading her book.  (And now that I finally finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and Burial Rites, I think the Barber from Budapest is next.)  I also received a packet of Hungarian paprika to assist with making some of the recipes from the book.

We have a new small chum in our kitchen.  Sylvia loves catalogues.  She was given one for Beanie Boos with some cute little giraffes she was given for her birthday.  She set her heart on Piggly.  But apparently they were rare.  Then amazingly she found one in the local supermarket and had to buy it.  Yes.  Had to!  Well, he is pretty cute.

It has been tomato season.  The above tomatoes are from the school.  Sylvia's close has been doing a Kitchen Garden program and there were selling the tomatoes.  They were really good.  For tomatoes.  I sort of enjoyed them.  In the way that someone who hated tomatoes as a kid and has sort of come around to them as an adult.  At least I can appreciate how pretty they look.

My mum has been making tomato sauce and passata.  It has been great to have her home made sauce.  I have also been eating sauerkraut.  Tomato sauce is like mother's milk (though not on chips) but I still find sauerkraut a challenge. 

Here is one of my sauerkraut meals.  Pretzel bagel from the Farmers Market, with cheese, sauerkraut, grated carrot, tomato, spinach and mayo.  A good lunch.

Another lunch I've had a few times is sandwiches with these fritters.  They are great between two slices of bread with cheese, spinach and Branston pickle.  Which is a win with a mistake.  I decided to use sourdough starter in Sylvia's favourite tofu nuggets instead of the milk and flour.  Then I remembered that I had only used about 1/4 cup of starter topped up with milk instead of 1 cup starter. 

I mixed the leftover seasoned starter and breadcrumbs, with some brown rice, grated carrot, finely chopped nuts and probably a bit of other stuff I don't remember.  They were weird but work well in sandwiches.  I still have a few in the freezer.

Sylvia went to a party a few weekends back.  I painted a door frame that was getting shabby, got some treatment for the citrus leaf miner on our lemon and lime trees, and I added broccoli, leek and parsley to my planter.  I am no green thumb so I will be relieved if they don't die.  Just look at how messy my leeks look.  There were so neat in the punnet but once I repotted, they look like some crazy punk haircut.  The strawberries in the two two pots have produced well and apparently are likely to produce again next year.

Seeing in a mouse in the kitchen has been pretty awful.  Even worse was waking up one morning and seeing it had taken this chunk out out of this loaf of bread.  It was time to lock up all of our food and get a new cat.

Seriously, we didn't get a new cat because of a mouse.  But we did get a new cat.  He is called Shadow.  A quiet and gentle cat.  Until night when he wants company and to claw the bed to remind us of this.  We are working on it.  Locked him in the bathroom.  He opened the door.  Now he curls up with Sylvia on the bed at night to look so cute we can't lock him up.  It is a work in progress.  As are my attempts to take photos of a black cat.  At least we haven't seen the mouse since Shadow arrived.

I am sending this post to Lizzy of Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things for the In My Kitchen event, that was started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial,  If you would like to join in, send your post to Lizzy by 10 March.  Or just head over to her blog to peek into more kitchens.  And stay tuned for next month when Sherry takes over from Lizzy as host.

Vegan sweet potato, feta and sauerkraut muffins

I mentioned in my last post (about more savoury muffins) that I was struggling to find time to make these muffins.  Finally it seemed a crime to let my roasted sweet potato and tofu feta go rancid rather than star in these muffins.  So I made them between dinner and Sylvia's bed time.   And ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day.  If only there has been some leftover for supper!

It wasn't easy fitting them in.  I was busy with Sylvia, outside playing with her hula hoops, chatting to neighbours, and inspecting her scars from a fall at school.  Luckily they weren't too difficult to mix up and pop in the oven.  I just needed to take a couple of breaks from reading The Midnight Gang by David Walliams with Sylvia.  And then they were out in the oven wafting their tempting aromas through the kitchen.

The muffins were everything I had hoped.  Well almost.  They are not the bonniest muffins.  I discovered the hard way that the shape when they are spooned into muffins tins is the shape they keep.  (Would a little more liquid help smooth them out or make them soggy?)  But they were slightly crisp outside and soft inside.  I loved the pairing of sweet potato and sauerkraut.  The tofu feta added nice flavour and texture (more chewy than creamy).  I am really delighted to discover how good the sauerkraut is in the muffins.  It adds a certain umami.

They were easy to eat.  A great portable snack and lovely with stew and rice for dinner.  The only challenge left was photographing them.  I arrived home, after riding into a headwind, and took some hasty photos before E arrived home with Sylvia from after school care.  I had to be content to put the camera away as we rushed about to serve dinner.  And decide how to divvy up the last few muffins. 

I am sending these muffins to the No Waste Food Challenge at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

More sweet potato recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Smoky lime peanut baked sweet potatoes (gf)
Sweet potato and cheeze scones (v)
Sweet potato and red lentil soup (gf, v)
Sweet potato soda bread
Sweet potato, zucchini and olive quesadillas (v) 
Vegan pate with sweet potato (gf, v)

Vegan sweet potato, feta and sauerkraut muffins
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe
Makes 12 muffins

Dry ingredients:
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
2/3 cup white plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup roasted cubed sweet potato*
3/4 cup tofu feta*
1/4 cup sauerkraut
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
3/4 cup cold water
1/3 cup olive oil 

Mix dry ingredients in a medium large mixing bowl. Toss through the sweet potato, feta, sauerkraut and parsley.  Gently stir in the water and oil.  Spoon into a greased 12 hole muffin pan and bake at 200 C for 25-30 minutes or until when you insert a skewer it comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Notes:
I chopped 1 largish sweet potato into small cubes and roasted with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil until soft.  My tofu feta was a crumbly mixture in a marinade so I squeezed out as much liquid as possible. It was quite like this tofu feta recipe.

On the Stereo
Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel

Vegan muffins with tofu feta, olive and sun-dried tomato

I was delighted with a batch of savoury muffins I made last week.  I had hoped to make some more tonight but time got the better of me.  Yet I mustn't grumble.  It has been a productive weekend.  I have rediscovered my delicious bookmarking account, I have painted the back door frame and planted some seedlings in my pots.  I have even made a stew for tomorrow's dinner.  I just didn't have time to make another batch of muffins with tofu feta.

As I have mentioned before, I have been trying out recipes from Kristy Turner's But I Could Never Go Vegan, cookbook.  I made some tofu feta.  It was ok but I wasn't keen on the texture of the uncooked tofu.  (I preferred the almond feta I posted about yesterday.)

I had a yen for savoury muffins.  So I decided to search for muffin recipes using tofu feta.  If you ask Google, it seems they are pretty thin on the ground.  Finally I decided to adapt a vegan muffin recipe using sun-dried tomatoes and olives.

My mum was visiting while I was making these muffins.  She was gone by the time they came out of the oven.  It had been raining so hard when she left that she had needed to roll up her trousers and take off her shoes to wade to the car.  As soon as she reached the car the rain stopped.  I think one of these muffins might have been just the thing for such a moment.  Instead, E and I enjoyed some for lunch and more for dinner with soup.  I was lucky to snaffle a muffin for the following day to take to work.

I really loved these muffins, as did E.  It was all we could do not to just inhale the whole batch the moment it came out of the oven.  They were very soft and almost quiche-like.  I assume this is due to the tofu in the feta.  You could try this with almond feta but I suspect the texture would change.  Though it would probably work.  They had plenty of flavour and a nice texture.  I also really liked how the stuffed olives on the top made the muffins look like one eyed aliens.

I was so pleased with these muffins and happy to share them.  I wish there were more savoury muffins in the world.  Sweet muffins are great but they are treats.  Savoury muffins can be part of a meal.  They are great for lunch snacks, picnics and even breakfast.  I also love to serve them with soup or as dinner on the run.  I just wish I had the energy to make them more.

I am sending these muffins to Kimmy and Mary Ellen for Healthy Vegan Fridays.

More savoury vegan baking on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Beetroot, apple and walnut scones (v)
Chickpea crackers (gf, v)
Kale scones (v)
Pumpkin miso muffins (v)
Pumpkin, pecan and poppyseed scones (v) 
Sweet potato, feta and sauerkraut muffins (v) 
Tofu and pesto crackers (v)

Vegan feta, olive and sun dried tomato muffins
Adapted from Sandra Vungi Vegan
Makes 12 muffins

Dry mix:
1 cup white plain flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet mix:
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup tofu feta
1/3 cup olive oil

Add-ins:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
3 heaped tbsp chopped green olives
2 heaped tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp pesto

For topping:
12 green pitted olives

Grease a 12 hole muffin pan and preheat oven to 200 C.

Make the add-ins.  Cook onion in oil until starting to crisp up around the edges.  This can be done while chopping tomatoes and olives.  Once the onion is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the tomatoes, olives tofu and pesto.  Set aside to cool while making the muffin batter.

To make the muffin batter, mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another.  Pour wet into dry and mix gently until combined.  Stir in add-ins.

Spoon evenly into the 12 muffin holes.  Push an olive into the middle of each muffin so it is still visible at the top.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.  Rest 5 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool.  Eat warm or room temperature.  Keeps for a day or two in an airtight container.

*NOTES: My tofu feta was a crumbly mixture in a marinade so I squeezed out as much liquid as possible. It was quite like this tofu feta recipe.  I used oil-free semi dried tomatoes.  I used green olives marinated in lemon and garlic oil for in the muffins.  However they had stones in them so I used pitted olives stuffed with pimentos on the top.  If you want vegan muffins, make sure you use a vegan pesto.  I used this pesto recipe.

On the Stereo:
Donkeys 92-97: a collection of singles, rarities and unreleased recordings: Tindersticks

Vegan almond feta with some feta recipes

Feta is not a favourite cheese of mine but it does give some recipes a boost.  I have experimented with a few vegan feta recipes and it is hard to replace.  Some I have tried making have been too dry or the wrong texture.  Last year I made vegan feta with raw almonds.  I almost didn't post it because it didn't work in the salad I made it for.  But it was very good as a spread and in sausage rolls. 

I was reminded of this almond feta when I tried a tofu feta recently and wished it was as good as this one.  It is quite a soft spread.  I think I preferred it to the baked almond feta, which was good, especially for crumbling, but could be a bit dry.  This one was lovely on crackers and sandwiches but was a bit soft for mixing into a salad.

One of the advantages of this recipe was that it is really simple.  Just blend the ingredients.  No faffing about with baking or resting or straining.  It is the sort of recipe to make when you need feta now!

I had grand visions of using the feta in this Quinoa, cashew and honeyed carrot salad.  I had lots of lovely photos of the vegies from the farmers market.  It didn't quite work so I have listed a few more recipes below that I would like to try the feta in, which I think might be more successful.

The almond feta looks pretty on top of the salad.  But when mixed through, the salad was just too clumpy.  I have had a few almond feta dishes in cafes where the feta is served in a lot of oil.  Maybe this would make a difference?  More of the feta was enjoyed on crackers.  But there was a lot of it.

I then used the last two thirds of it in some sausage rolls for my dad's birthday lunch.  I could have used a cup of it in the recipe but as I just used what I had.  It replaced the cottage cheese which is quite creamy.  I then used 9 tbsp aquafaba and reduced the soy sauce to 2 tbsp because the feta was salty.  They worked really well, if I remember rightly (though in my recipe notes I write more about the difficulty of listening to Missy Higgins talking about depression while chopping onions than about how the sausage rolls tasted.)

Meanwhile, I have had a bit more time for cooking this week but need more time to write up some of the dishes I made.  And it is Harmony Week and I had just remembered we are meant to make something for afternoon tea tomorrow at school.  I have made mashed potato at an unholy hour to use in making potato scones tomorrow morning!

I am sending this to Kimmy and Mary Ellen for Healthy Vegan Fridays. 

Recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe to try vegan feta:
Baked carrot and feta risotto (gf)
Carrot, feta and cashew dip (gf)
Feta cheese and pepper crackers
Pea, quinoa and feta fritters (gf)
Red onion, feta and olive tart
Sausage rolls 

Vegan feta
From Eating Vibrantly

1 1/3 cup raw almonds (about 200g)
1/3 cup lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves
1 1/4 tsp salt flakes
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp water

Blend and scrape down a couple of time until smooth.

On the Stereo:
Music from "The Singing Detective": Various Artists

Roasted broccoli and apple salad

I have had some busy weeks.  This week will be my first for a few weeks not to be juggling a new job and an old job.  Time in the kitchen has been limited and I have felt the need for some better meals.  More vegies.  Less carbs.  I have been working my way through Kristy Turner's But I Could Never Go Vegan cookbook.  The recipes are great and I will write more about the book one day.  Today I wanted to share my version of a salad from the book.

Salad so often get a bad rap.  I wish there were more salads like this one in the world.  We had it on the weekend and it was such a delight.  So much crunch and colour.  So sharp and sweet and savoury.  All wrapped up in a creamy dressing.  The tang of the dressing worked well with the noochy cheesiness of the broccoli.  I also loved that this salad used up some bits and pieces that were in my kitchen.  Best of all, it was so satisfying that I didn't need anything with it or after it.  If only it was enough to give me all the energy I need right now!

I am sending this salad to Lisa and Jac's No Croutons Required, to Meat Free Mondays and to Kimmy and Mary-Ellen for Healthy Vegan Fridays.

More substantial salads at Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Caesar salad (v)  
Leon superfood salad (gf)
Mock tuna (chickpea) salad (gf, v)
Quinoa, cashew and honeyed carrot salad (gf)
Smoky potato, bean and corn salad (gf, v)
Taco salad with creamy dressing (gf)

Roasted Broccoli and Apple Salad
Adapted from But I Could Never Go Vegan by Kristy Turner, reproduced on The Full Helping
Serves 2

Roasted Broccoli:

1 large stalk of broccoli
1 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tablespoon maple syrup

Dressing:

3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
A couple dashes of garlic powder

Salad:

1 handful chopped cos lettuce (or baby spinach)
1 handful finely chopped purple cabbage
1/2 red apple, cored and thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup roughly chopped roasted almonds
1-2 handfuls of sunflower sausage crumbles or tempeh bacon or tofu bacon

To roast broccoli: Cut broccoli into small florets and thinly slice the stems.  Toss with tamari, maple syrup and nutritional yeast flakes.  Roast until softened and starting to crisp around the edges.  I microwaved my florets for 1 minute and then roasted at 220 C for 30 minutes.  The original recipe suggested 20 minutes at 200 C.  Set aside to cool.

Make dressing by placing all ingredients in a small bowl and whisking or mixing with a fork until smooth and creamy.

Make the salad by layering in the lettuce, cabbage, apple, celery, broccoli, cramberries and almonds.  Drizzle with about half the dressing and toss.  Serve topped with sausage crumbles and extra dressing on the side.

On the Stereo:
The Bestiality of Bonzo Dog Band

Sourdough Basics 102.1: Maintaining a starter - an update

I created my starter back in mid 2014.   It was my first foray into sourdough and I was very nervous.  I wrote a post about maintaining the starter back then.  A few years on I am happy to report that it is still alive and producing lovely bread.  Now I am more relaxed and am writing an update on starter maintenance from this perspective.

For those who are not familiar with maintaining a sourdough starter, one of the biggest challenges is using it regularly as it needs regular feeding to stay healthy and hence continues to grow.  If you don't use it regularly you either have an unhealthy starter or need to throw some of it out.  

Feeding the starter
It was a scary prospect once I had made my starter and had to keep it alive.  (Others also get a starter from a friend or buy it online.)  However I have kept up the feeding it usually every week with some longer periods when I am busy.  It usually lives in the fridge but will sit out at least 30 minutes after feeding.  I keep it in a plastic jug that holds about 1.25 litres and I usually have about 500-750mls of starter.

Unlike in my earlier post on starter maintenance, I now feed the starter based on need rather than a set amount but the weight of water always equals the weight of the flour.  I have an idea of the amount I usually have the jug which helps me work out how much I need.  If I use 300g of starter for bread, I feed 150g each of flour and water.  If there is not much starter left, I feed it generously.  And if I didn't use much starter, I don't feed it much.  I still used water that has been boiled and cooled. I use electronic scales to weigh it but I know people who use equal amounts in cup measures and don't even own scales.

I usually buy Wallaby flour - a white plain flour that is made for bread-making.  I keep a bottle of cooled boiled water that I keep topped up occasionally when the kettle has cooled.  For baking bread I find tap water is fine but I use the cooled boiled water for feeding the starter to make sure it doesn't get impurities into it.

I still follow the basic rules from my first post.  If the starter is warm, it needs more feeding, if the starter is cold it needs less feeding and if the starter smells unpleasantly sour it needs more feeding.  I have got to know how it should smell and how it shouldn't, how it looks when healthy and when not so good. 

Here are my three stages of feeding the sourdough starter (pictured above):

• Just fed - when I feed the starter it is quite thick.  I don't worry if it is a little lumpy.  This can give the little wild yeasts more work to munch through the flour.
• Ready to use - the starter is best to use when it is thick and stretchy with lots of large bubbles.  After a week in the fridge it is usually like this.  You can also leave it on the bench overnight, depending on the weather, to get this texture.
• Hungry - when the starter gets thin and has clusters of tiny bubbles or is just a bit grey and watery on top.  This is usually after it has been in the fridge for over a week and a half.  The starter is hungry and desperate for a feed.

When starters need help
When the starter has been neglected too long, I usually just stir in any water on top and feed it.  The smell of the starter is a great way to check the health of the starter.  If it is ripe and yeasty then it is doing well.  If starts to smell over-ripe and/or reminds you of nail polish remover, it needs some TLC.

When I first made my starter I was so worried about killing it off.  Yet it has been quite resilient.  I have read that if your starter is poorly, it helps to reduce the starter to just a few tablespoons and feed it up.  This seems to work fine.  If it is not so great, my bread doesn't rise as well (see below photos of overnight sourdough bread dough) and the bread can taste a bit more sour but it still does us fine.  So now I worry less when it gets out of shape.  I know it doesn't take too much to help it back to good health.

Overnight sourdough bread dough using a neglected starter

Where to keep the starter
I keep my starter in the same plastic tub that I have had ever since I made it.  The tub fits in my fridge door nicely and has a lid that is not too tight (important as the gases will build up in the tub).  As you can see in the above photo, it gets pretty crusty around the top.  Sometimes the crustiness builds up in the lid, making it hard to close it, so I need to dig out or break off crustiness.  I sometimes wonder what this build up is like in the sourdoughs I hear of which are hundreds of years old.

Easy recipes help me use my starter more regularly
Having kept my starter alive for so long, especially during some busy periods, has only been possible by finding recipes that are quick to make and that we love to eat.  So many sourdough recipes online are complex with lots of steps. I have found recipes for bread, flatbreads and pizza dough that are straightforward and delicious.  I talk about them below.

Overnight sourdough bread dough using a healthy starter

Firstly I yet again am grateful to Celia for all her sourdough inspiration but particularly for her overnight sourdough bread recipe.  This is my regular bread recipe now.  It only requires a little planning and a little time the night before and then a bit of shaping and baking in the morning, given you have time to hang about while it rises and bakes for about 90-120 minutes.  It is a great recipe that has kept me baking sourdough bread regular, even when busy.

I have shared the two pictures of this bread dough to illustrate that the condition of the starter really does make a difference to the bread.  Both pictures are of the dough after sitting overnight.  I am lazy sometimes and just take the starter cold from the fridge.  It works much better when brought out of the fridge to sit at room temperature and get nicely bubbly.

Overnight sourdough bread

I have passed some starter to a few friends and my mum.  Of these, only my mum still uses hers.  She bakes bread every day or two.  I wish I could say I bake so regularly but I don't have energy to do it.  We still buy bread elsewhere as well.  However I don't spend lots of money on fancy sourdoughs.  I wish I could say I bake bread every week but that doesn't happen.  I usually use sourdough every week or so.  I use it enough that I don't need to just put some of the starter in the bin so I can feed it up.

Two of my favourite quick recipes that make an easy dinner and mean almost instant sourdough products are flatbreads and pizza.  I wrote about the flatbreads in my earlier starter maintenance post.  They are pretty quick and taste delicious warm off the frypan.  I have dabbled in sourdough tortillas but usually make these thicker flatbreads.  I have had a couple of goes at baking a pizza on one of these flabreads.  It worked well one one occasion but not on the other.

My very favourite pizza base is my fast track sourdough pizza.  While playing around with sourdough recipes, I found some that combine sourdough and commercial yeast.  This is great for getting the flavour of sourdough and the speed of packaged yeast.  I have adapted a pizza recipe to use my sourdough and it is on regular rotation in my house.  I don't need to plans ahead for hours to make pizza for dinner.

Pesto and cheese pizza for St Patrick's Day yesterday

As well having hit upon some great easy sourdough recipes, I continue to experiment when I have the time and energy.  Most of my breads are variations on the overnight sourdough bread.  Occasionally I throw the sourdough starter into another recipe such as scones, batter for dipping tofu nuggets, and cakes.  The more I do this, the more confident I become.

So in summary, I buy a lot more flour these days because I bake bread far more with sourdough than I would without the prompt of the starter.  The key to maintaining the starter is to feed it regularly and if you don't feed it as regularly as you would like, not to worry so much, but find some good easy recipes you can make with your starter.

Sourdough recipes
I leave you with some a list of recipes in which I have found sourdough works well.  I would love to hear if you have a favourite way of using up sourdough starter.

• chocolate cake
• flatbreads 
• hot cross buns
• overnight sourdough bread
• pancakes
• pizza bases
• tortillas
• vanilla sponge cake