Sourdough Starters and cook ups

Sourdough Day 6... the initial starter is less active on the diet of gluten free flours - reasonably interesting...but perhaps more interesting is that when I replaced the starter that had to be terminated, I decided to start it with some organic Amaranth flour, and on the second day of it's life it is positively bouncing along...

Tomorrow I'm having a cook-up with Kath's sister, Mia, firstly because Kathy has relocated to the beautiful Sunshine Coast and it's not so easy to do with her at the moment, and secondly it's time to get come creativity flowing - it should be a good afternoon and evening and we'll let you know what comes of it.

I had my second Allergy clearing today and the "check" testing demonstrated what I was pretty sure was going on in that the salycilate balance has held beautifully. It is so exciting to realise that I'm soon going to be able to open up my food options... woo hoooo!

Sourdough Day 4

Well, it's day four and I've discovered mould in one of my new sourdough starters, so I've thrown it out and started again. On the up side of that small disappointment is that the mouldy one was the less active of the two (because of the mould, I wonder??), and the healthier and more active of the two is now feeding happily (as far as I can tell) on a mixture of besan, potato and tapioca flours - this is my standard all purpose flour mix and one that I've found to have the best qualities for baking. It keeps it's form well and isn't crumbly when cooked - a common failure that I've experienced with the commercial all purpose flour mixes I've used previously. Stay tuned for more sourdough starter updates.

In the mean time: On my 'To Do' list for the revamp of this site (Coming SOON) are

1. A list of articles I've written on good nutrition and cleaning up your diet by cleaning out your pantry
2. Information on Food Allergies and Intolerances
3. Resources (online and physical) for Nutrition and Dietary Advice and services
4. Recipes! (We'd love you to rate them, and add your own if you'd like)
5. Cooking and Nutrition Tips
6. Feedback pages - Tell us what you want to hear about and we'll find out for you!

Cheers!

PS. Food Allergy Clearing Session number 2 for me is on Thursday! Not sure what will get cleared, but the last balance for Salicylates seems to have held very well and I'm excited to see what else is possible. I'm lucky in that none of my allergies are anaphylactic, and I'm looking forward to being free of the allergic symptoms I do get. The intolerances I have will no doubt still exist, but at least I won't get wiped out by nearly everything I eat. LOVING that concept! : )

Gluten Free Sourdough experiment

In keeping with my 'back to basics' practice for nutrition, and the fact that I'd really like to find some bread I can eat every now and then that's gluten free AND without preservatives, I've started a sourdough experiment.

Why Sourdough, you ask? Firstly, it's Interesting: a real sourdough loaf lasts for seemingly ever in relation to 'standard' breads found in packaging at Coles and Woolworths, and most bakeries. Case in point was the Bills Organic Sourdough loaf I purchased when a friend of mine came to visit recently. Apart from the fact that it didn't have any sugar or other preservatives in it, my friend commented on how delicious it was. She only stayed for a couple of days, so the bread then sat in my fridge for about 2 weeks before I rediscovered it. Funny thing was, it was in fantastic 'nick' and didn't have of the mould I had expected to find. That was the interesting thing: no preservatives and no mould - go figure. So I did some research about sourdough and I'm pretty sure I've blogged that experience at some point so won't repeat myself here. In short sourdough has some great natural qualities that are borne of it's extra preparation time (the way bread used to be made) including ease of digestion and spoil resistance.

I'm not brave enough to try the "more easily digestible" gluten containing varieties, but I like the taste and the sourdough principles, so I'm having a go at making my own.

At present, on day three, two starters of organic flour and water are being cultured in my kitchen and it seems the natural fermentation process has started. All the info I have suggests that it will take up to two weeks to create the starter and THEN I'll have a chance to bake my very own sourdough..stay tuned to see whether it works out or not...