Cafe Fernando

World Nutella Day

Cenk — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:31:25 +0000

I interrupt my regularly scheduled sourdough broadcast with this very special announcement: Today is World Nutella Day. Happy spooning everyone! Above is Nutel Lisa, my version of Fernando Botero‘s version of Mona Lisa. Tags: nutella, world nutella day

Sourdough Starter – Day 9

Cenk — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:40:25 +0000

The sourdough starter is ready at last! Remember how it rose yesterday? Looks like it rose almost twice as much after the last feeding. The napkin on top kept it from overflowing… Almost. A teaspoon of it has found its way, but the rest is fine. By the way, just a quick tip on what [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 8

Cenk — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:12:24 +0000

Look at that! Very exciting. There’s quite a significant rise today. The sourdough starter rose by approximately an inch and a half. If I get a similar result tomorrow, I’ll bake my first sourdough bread. HOW TO MAKE A SOURDOUGH STARTER Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 7

Cenk — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:58:09 +0000

Yet another uneventful day. The sourdough starter looks pretty much the same as yesterday. The starter has to ferment predictably (rising and falling after each feeding) before preparing the leaven. Needless to say, this much of rise is not enough. I discard 80% of it, add flour & water, wipe the rim clean and put [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 6

Cenk — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:21:25 +0000

You might remember from yesterday’s post… The sourdough starter rose by approximately quarter of an inch after the feeding. Looking at it today, I see that it didn’t rise much after that. The crust is a bit darker and drier. I peel the crust and it’s bubbly underneath. The stinky cheese smell is almost gone. [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 5

Cenk — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:55:55 +0000

Same as yesterday. The sourdough starter dried out on top, but it doesn’t look like a crust. The rise isn’t significant. Still smells acidic, but not as strong as days 3 and 4. The starter is much thicker today, so I decide to keep the water ratio low. I discard 80% of it, add flour [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 4

Cenk — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:20:22 +0000

24 hours have passed since the first feeding. Looking at the mark it left, I can see that the sourdough starter rose and fell during the night. In addition to that, I see that there’s a bit of water trapped in the middle. See the thin line? Still smells like stinky cheese. More bubbles when [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 3

Cenk — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:55:28 +0000

Quite exciting compared to yesterday! The volume of the sourdough starter increased by almost an inch. It is very bubbly and a dark crust has formed over the top. Smells like stinky cheese. Actually, the smell is so strong that I can’t go anywhere near it. This means the culture is very ripe. It is [...]

Sourdough Starter – Day 2

Cenk — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:40:03 +0000

This must be the least exciting day of the sourdough adventure. It has been 24 hours since I started making my own sourdough starter. There’s a light crust on top. It didn’t rise a bit and smells nothing like stinky cheese. I can see signs of life around the edges. The book mentions bubble formation [...]

How to Make a Sourdough Starter

Cenk — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:29:33 +0000

Learning how to make a sourdough starter and maintaining it as long as I can is at the top of my to-do list this year. It takes a lot of time and patience – both of which I’d like to reserve for the book I’m working on – to master the art of sourdough bread, [...]