Let’s do this together
I have another mouth to feed – but this time it’s in the fridge and it’s called “Dough-vid”.
I’ve become a sourdough parent to Dough-vid since my friend Paul gave me some of his Breddie Mercury.
I know I’m late to the sourdough party since everyone spent lockdown baking, but I wanted to make proper bread that lasts a bit longer than the cheap white stuff I made.
I started baking my own no-knead classic white loaves a year ago for The Dark Lord’s lunchbox. Bread’s pretty important in our house and TDL’s been living on ham and cucumber sandwiches since Year 4 when dinner ladies tried to make her eat bean stew.
But TDL complained that my bread went stale too quickly and the crusts became inedible, and she’d bring the remains home in her lunchbox as a sign of her displeasure.
I foolishly once tried to vary her sandwich fillings and was told in no uncertain terms not to try sneaking fancy ham in her lunch again. She told me: “I like the thinly sliced stuff you can see through .” homemade
So I decided to make a properly kneaded sourdough loaf that would keep better for longer.
I started by feeding “Dough-vid” but didn’t time it properly so it rose overnight and had fallen again by the time I needed it in the morning. I pressed on regardless and by 6pm I was ready to bake my first loaf. Trouble is, I didn’t read the bit in the recipe where it said divide the dough and bake half of it – I just dumped the whole load in the oven.
As you can see, it got so big, it started invading the kitchen, so we called it Vladimir Gluten. A week later and we’ve still not finished the loaf. TDL says it’s so hard, she’s nicknamed it Toast Malone.
She’s begged me not to make another one, but I’ve got the sourdough bug now.
Email siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.
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