Back near the beginning of the year, you may recall, I began my experiments with sourdough. It was before lockdown and it was just a whim… a vague desire to see whether it was really possible to create, from scratch, a viable culture of micro-organisms with which to make bread. And then came coronavirus and everyone had to stay at home and madly started hoarding random things… including yeast. There was no yeast in the shops and so, suddenly, sourdough became “the thing”. By this time my culture was well established and I was using it for most of my yeasted baking. I’m sure that most cultures that were started during lockdown have long since passed away, but mine is going strong.
Anyway, a couple of months ago Kate (Tall Tales from Chiconia) mentioned that it is traditional to name sourdough cultures. I wasn’t feeling inspired, so I asked Mr Snail to come up with a suggestion. He though about it for a while, and finally proposed Homer… “because ‘D’oh!'”
And so, Homer is our sourdough starter. This meant that when we passed a portion on to a friend, it was naturally named Bart. Apparently Bart too is still going strong.
Anyway, in recent months I have become a little more adventurous with Homer and was delighted to discover what beautiful sweet, enriched dough it is possible to make. I found a recipe for cinnamon rolls that I adapted slightly to make apple Chelsea buns, and it was a triumph… better than my previous attempts made using commercial yeast.
The filling is grated apple with the juice squeezed out through a cloth, then mixed with melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. The glaze was made from the apple juice mixed with a bit of sugar (rather than the traditional milk and sugar mix), Although the dough is sweet, it actually doesn’t contain too much sugar, so the result is not sickly, especially if the apples are a bit sharp.
Homer is also now our go-to source of yeast for all bread-making and the packet of commercial yeast is languishing in the fridge, being used only occasionally because I feel I should use it up.
The Snail of Happiness 
tialys
/ November 11, 2020Homer is a great name. We called ours Martyn after our neighbour who is a bit sour. We didn’t tell him though.
Those chelsea buns look delicious.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020Oh, that’s funny… one of our neighbours used to be a bit sour, but she mellowed over the years… perhaps the sourdough will too!
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Wild Daffodil
/ November 11, 2020That makes me laugh!!!! By the same premise, if I had one, it would be called Keith!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020Oh dear… there seem to be a lot of sour neighbours
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Wild Daffodil
/ November 11, 2020I never knew that was possible – that is real magic.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020It is, isn’t it? Oh, and Happy Birthday!
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DawnGillDesigns
/ November 11, 2020how wonderful. I tried and tried with ours, but couldn’t make anything that wasn’t extremely heavy. It all tasted good, but soooo dense. Back to the breadmaker for me.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020I have been surprised how light it is… I guess different cultures give different results.
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katechiconi
/ November 11, 2020Oooh, I love the idea of apple Chelsea Buns! I believe you can also make very tasty doughnuts with sourdough – I’m sure Homer would approve of that! Currently my Corinna is finding it a bit warm in her usual spot in the laundry, so I need to find somewhere else to keep her, which is cooler but not air conditioned.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020I hadn’t thought of doughnut… perhaps that will be my next experiment.
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katechiconi
/ November 11, 2020I think it should probably be doh’nuts, don’t you..?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020oh yes…
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Kim
/ November 11, 2020I’ve been using my starter for some years now, and can strongly recommend a visit to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial . She is a sourdough grand master and her starter (Priscilla, queen of the fridge) has been shared worldwide, including some to Emilie Raffa who has written a fabulous recipe book for sourdough. Mine is the stickiest book in my kitchen.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020You can always judge a recipe book by its stickiness! I will check out Celia and Emilie forthwith.
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Kim
/ November 12, 2020Emilie blogs as The Clever Carrot
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 12, 2020Well, what a coincidence… that’s where the cinnamon rolls recipe came from!
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deborah @ the magic jug
/ November 11, 2020They look great! I’ll def give that a try. My starter is now almost 8 years old. I call her Sheila, after my mum whose death I was recovering from when I began her. She’s kept us well fed all that time (as my mum took pride in doing all her life).
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020That’s lovely… I’m really enjoying hearing the origins of all the names.
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Laurie Graves
/ November 11, 2020Yay, Homer! Beautiful! This post sure makes me wish we weren’t on a low-carb diet. 😉
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020Gosh – I don’t think I could have coped without bread in recent months.
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Laurie Graves
/ November 11, 2020It hasn’t been easy, but Clif is now in the
pre-diabetic category rather than an ever increasing rise into type 2 diabetes. So it’s worth it. But believe me, if it weren’t for his type 2 diabetes, I’d be making bread, and we’d be chowing it down. 😉
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020Oh, and I know of his fondness for grilled bread… still needs must and you must be very happy with his improved health.
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Laurie Graves
/ November 11, 2020We really are. And once he gets the numbers down to where they should be, he can occasionally have grilled bread. So all is not lost. 😉
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ourrubbishblog
/ November 11, 2020Looks super, and the naming story made me laugh. I remember years ago doing the sourdough thing. Kind of forgot at some point and when I opened the fridge it was basically covered in dough.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020Mr Snail is generally good at naming things… although sometimes he’s a bit too clever and I have to think really hard to see his convoluted connections… this one was easy though.
Fortunately we have managed to keep Homer under control so far – I think that tells you quite a lot about our bread consumption.
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anne54
/ November 11, 2020I am envious, but not envious enough to actually do it myself!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 11, 2020If we had a great local bakery I wouldn’t do it myself, but in the absence of one near enough to walk to, this is the very best option.
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Over Soil
/ November 12, 2020Doh! i only got as far as Homer and started laughing, so leaving the post on a high note. Thanks Beloved.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 13, 2020Always leave them laughing…
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Over Soil
/ November 13, 2020Good plan, so just out of interest what are your three favourite things? Mine are eating my family and not using commas. 🤪
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cedar51
/ November 14, 2020well this has made my day – love all the names that everyone has used.
I’m not fond of sourdough breads, I’ve tried a few from bakeries etc but there is obviously something you have “practice with” so to speak…as for making anything doughy that includes with the (gifted) bread-maker (that has now gone to storage, read in laundry big cupboard) because I didn’t truly get any great loaves with that either! And I’m not even fond of loaves of bread, because before I know it – I’ve made many toasted cheese sannies, and it’s all gone. Instead, when I’m out, I’ll buy a sandwich…
However, I do have a excellent recipe for a banana loaf which is usually made once a week…moreish it is.
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