Day 5: Dan Lepard's leaven

Today you'll need:

• 100g water at 20C
• 125g strong white/baker's flour

Remove three quarters of the contents of the jar, compost it or use it in something such as pancakes. I make a note of the weight of the empty jar when I'm making a starter so I know how much to remove in these latter stages.

Add the water and stir well, then add the flour and whisk thoroughly.

I'm finding this is a very robust starter. It's quite cold here at the moment and, as I mentioned earlier in the week, I accidentally added cranberries instead of raisins and very fresh yoghurt -- both factors that I would have thought might abort the starter. Interestingly, I've also used mains water not tank (I am such a wimp about the cold) but still the starter is strong.

If you have been wanting to make a starter/leaven but haven't sprung for it yet, do give this one a go.

This weekend I'll try Dan's first loaf and let you know how it goes.

Day 3&4: Dan Lepard's leaven

Day 3 is not dissimilar to Day 2, add

• 100g of water at 20C
• 4 rounded teaspoons of rye flour
• 4 rounded teaspoons of strong white/baker's flour

By Day 4 the fermentation became evident as suggested. The mixture needed to have 3/4 of the leaven removed, then 100g of water at 20C was added. Then the mixture was strained to remove the dried fruit, I scrubbed the jar when it was empty, replaced the balance and then added 120g of strong white/baker's flour as required.

This is the best smelling starter to date. It's floury, yeasty and beginning to bubble but not hoochy.

All the other leavens I've tried have been quite acidic by this stage, this one is building and growing brilliantly, despite the (mistaken) cranberries and the very new yoghurt.

Day 2: Dan Lepard's leaven

This is getting interesting, already I'm finding this is behaving differently from other starters.

My poor night-time sight tricked me, I hadn't added raisins or sultanas yesterday, I added cranberries! So the leaven is pinkish from those.

The very fresh yoghurt was a little lumpy but it seems to do be doing the kickstarting just fine. This is definitely a wetter starter than those I usually make, often times the equal flour and water produces a stiff paste which is hard to manipulate but not this one.

The surface is meant to look shiny and that is happening. Tomorrow I'll whisk the whole mixture a lot more thoroughly.

On day two the leaven requires an addition of:

• 50g water at 20C/68F
• 2 rounded teaspoons of rye flour
• 2 rounded teaspoons of strong white/baker's flour

In the beginning: Dan Lepard's leaven

A leaven is a substance, often yeast, that is added to to a dough to make it rise. Leavens can be made using only flour and water, I've done this before as demonstrated here and here.

Previously I've resisted what I've seen as the gimmicky leavens or starters that have additions of fruit juice, fruit etc; however as Lepard recommends the addition of raisins and yoghurt in his leaven that's what I'm going with here.

The idea behind using raisins is that they're likely to have yeast on their skins and yoghurt will contain lactic bacteria that will help kick start the fermentation process.

Had I planned ahead I would have had organic raisins on hand but as it is, I'll be going with the supermarket variety I buy. My yoghurt is very very fresh as I made it at lunchtime today so I hope I've managed to produce a good batch.

Come join me in this leaven process if you have some flour, dried fruit and yoghurt to hand. The leaven on day one requires a mix of:

• two rounded teaspoons of rye flour
• two rounded teaspoons of strong white/baker's flour
• two rounded teaspoons of currants or raisins
• two rounded teaspoons of live yoghurt
• 50g water at 20C/68F

Mix in a jar of at least half a litre capacity, cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

And then there was Dan

I first came across mention of Dan Lepard on Christine's blog. Amongst many admirable accomplishments, Chris's ability to turn out a fine looking loaf of bread really appeals to me. Then, through the lovely Celia I came across Joanna at Zeb Bakes and Dan Lepard's name came up continually.

So, on my birthday wish list I wrote The Handmade Loaf and lo and behold, the birthday fairies obliged. Having had the book in my hands for only a few days I haven't yet read it thoroughly but on a quick scan it looks like the sort of book I've been waiting for, Lepard assumes some knowledge and experience of bread baking but carefully deconstructs each recipe.

He puts forward methods of mixing, kneading and baking with which -- over time -- he has had great success. He talks about domestic ovens and how to get the best from them, he talks to people throughout Europe who bake regularly and he absorbs the best of their ideas.

I did a quick count of the recipes and came up with seventy odd. It occurred to me that, if I baked about one a week, in two years I would have baked them all ie; I would have a serious go at ratcheting up my bread making skills and stop flip flopping between books and recipes.

That's a big commitment and, like I said, that's what occurred to me. I also thought that if I were to announce such an idea on my blog I would kind of force myself into making that commttment.

Like I need something else on my plate even if it is crusty and full of good crumb.

On the weekend fellow blogger and bookophile Lyn posted about her cats and the variety of beds and sleeping places they have. The same could be said of Big Bill it would seem.

Who would guess that, in the park, it is this canine that give the ridgebacks and staffies a run for their money.

Indian summer

This is it.

Today it was 25C (77F) and it will be tomorrow. It's time to open the windows wide, enjoy the last breath of heat before winter really sets in.

Today was lunch in the sun, driving with the car windows cranked wide open and enjoying the heat while those little undercurrents of cool air lurked in shady corners and came out after the sun went down.

Six weeks short of the shortest day and today was summer revisited.