Meet Sadie

Let me introduce you to Sadie:

Isn't she pretty?! She's my new-to-me sourdough starter and I'm having so much fun playing with her on the weekends!! I have had the usual 'Amish Friendship Cake' starter given to me over the years. Those starters are nice and sweet but after a while, well, there's only so many variations of lemon, chocolate, banana type breads you want to eat. I froze starters and brought them back, made pancakes,etc. Eventually though I got bored. Keep in mind this was well before there was the ability to just Google recipes and no such thing as Pinterest...

Lately though, there's been a lot more talk about fermentation. Sourdough is a type of fermentation process and there has been a lot of buzz about it being more digestible and such. I have no idea how valid that theory is. I've heard arguments from various angles and positions. What appealed to me though was the fun of playingwith a delicious science experiment.

Enter Sadie. A birthday gift that my parents may regret at some point.... I have a bit of interest in history so the idea of getting a starter with a long regional tradition was pretty appealing! The King Arthur Flour Company states their live sourdough starter kits (The one I got is linked here) have been kept active for well over 200 years!!

Yes, I know I could start my own. I've done it once. But this was a fun way to get jump started and I 

was curious to see if this tasted any different. And the fact that the crock it comes with is so fun-and red makes it completely irresistible to me!

So, for the last month I have been treating myself to regular weekend play dates with Sadie.  The KA Cookbook states that having a starter is kind of like having a new family pet, they must be cared for regularly.  I keep Sadie in the refrigerator during the week. She gets a nice long nap that way. Then, usually Thursday night, I take her out to warm up from hibernation, feed her and get ready to bake.  When I looked up recipes on KingArthurFlour.com there were 52 different sourdough recipes. That should be good enough for a year's worth of adventures! (BTW, I have no affiliation with King Arthur at this point.  Should they become interested I'd gladly chat with them about it...)

So far I've had varying levels of success with waffles, crusty Italian loves, anadama bread, English muffins and crackers.  Several recipes have been soooo good they will be repeated often. One or two, well, I have just enough incentive to keep trying! After all, this wouldn't be much fun without some element of challenge, right?

Crispy waffles

 Light and airy Italian style bread

Makes amazing French toast!