North of Adelaide, in a small town, where delicious bread cannot be found, my friends did find, that with simple measure they could bake bread at their leisure. Bread delicious and of sourdough kind, made twice a week to be eaten at dinner or lunch time. For many years, my visits there, produced bread envy as well as awe. And finally I made the time to make that kind of bread mine…so six month ago I searched the net for sourdough starter recipes ….the first one I tried required so much huff and puff and did not work and then I found one from a small book at home called Baking with Sourdough by Sara Pitzer that suggested using dry yeast to get started. 1 packet of dry yeast; 2 cups unbleached flour; 1.5 cups of warm water; and 1 tbs of honey. It worked straight away of course because of the commercial yeast. Then I let it stand in a warm room for a day and then in the fridge and have replenished the starter with Organic unbleached flour ever since. And then I began to make bread. And what surprised me was how simple and how energising I found the activity to be. Within a few weeks I was calling my Adelaide friends to discuss tips and recipes, and Lise suggested she buy me Wild Sourdough by Yoke Mardewi…but I said no! not yet…just in case this is a phase and not the real thing…but three month later, as my birthday arrived, so did the book and now I am in my 6th month, and I can say for sure, that this new ritual gives me so much pleasure, that I will be baking till I turn into leather.

Olive sourdough bread