Colm O'Gorman 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Profile picture
Human Rights. Refugee Resettlement and Community Welcome. Cook. @IrishExaminer Food Columnist. Personal account. Views expressed are my own. He/him 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Jan 8, 2021, 41 tweets

Day 1 of our lockdown sourdough adventure. Very little to it today. All you need is 100g wholewheat flour & 50ml bottled, untreated or boiled and cooled water. #coronacooking

Mix the flour & water to a paste and put it into your kilner jar. Leave the lid slightly open. Put it somewhere warm, I wrap mine in a blanket to get it really cozy, and leave it for 24 hours. That’s it for today. See you tomorrow! #coronacooking #sourdough

You use Wholemeal to get the starter going, only on the first day. If you have rye flour use that. Lots of people say to use rye on the first day, but I used Wholemeal. From tomorrow on, we will be using strong white flour.

Day two. First, you need to discard half of the starter that you made last night. #sourdough #lockdown #coronacooking

Now combine 100g of strong white flour with 100ml of water and mix to a paste. Stir it into the remaining starter in your jar...don’t worry about the lumps! Make it nice and cozy again and put it somewhere warm for another 24 hours. See you tomorrow! #coronacooking

As I mentioned, @Aldi_Ireland have strong white flour in stock. Another tweeter told me that Tesco have some too. I’ve also just ordered a big bag from @KellsWholemeal who I’ve heard are great. They deliver nationwide. kellswholemeal.ie/product/marria…

Day three...I’m sharing a technique that is simple and very doable. #sourdough #coronacooking

I love recipes and techniques that work for most people, and I don’t think recipes need to be super complicated. That’s what #coronacooking has been all about for me.

Today, you need to again discard half the contents of your jar. Now mix 100g of strong white flour with 100ml of filtered, bottled or untreated water. Stir into your jar to combine with the starter. #sourdough #coronacooking

Now wrap your jar up to keep it lovely and cozy again, and put it somewhere nice and warm. That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. #coronacooking #sourdough

Day 4. Sorry for the delay! A bit of drama with a little dog who followed me home from a run delayed things. All sorted now. #sourdough #coronacooking

Lots of questions about what sort of casserole dish you need when it comes to baking your first loaf...here is what I use. #sourdough #bread #coronacooking

Now, on to the main business of day four. Simple enough again. Repeat the last stage. #sourdough #coronacooking

Final part of day 4. Tomorrow we change things a bit. You will feed your starter twice, once in the morning and then again twelve hours or so later tomorrow evening. See you tomorrow evening #sourdough #coronacooking

Day Five, part 1. Discard half the starter, combine 100g flour with 100ml of filtered, bottled or untreated water. feed that to the starter. Wrap it up nice & cozy & put it away somewhere warm. You’ll repeat again later today. See you this evening. #sourdough #coronacooking

Day Five, part 2.
A bit of an indication of when we will likely bake our first loaf. Some reassurance if your starter isn’t yet as active as you think it out to be...don’t worry, stick with it,all will be well. #coronacooking #sourdough

Another discard and feed before tucking your starter away again all nice and cozy. You’ll discard and feed again in the morning. So twice again tomorrow. And then finally, it’s time to name your starter. My new one is called ‘Rhona’. Why not eh? 😉 #sourdough #coronacooking

Day Six, Part 1.

Good morning. First of two feeds for Rhona this morning. She is looking good. If yours isn’t as liquid as this yet, do not worry. Keep feeding - 100g of strong white flour mixed into a paste with 100ml of water. See you this evening.

#sourdough #coronacooking

Sourdough shenanigans Day 6, Part 2.
Which starts with me struggling to remember what day it is. #sourdough #coronacooking

Again, if your starter doesn’t seem as active at this stage as you think it should be, don’t worry. If it takes an extra few days that’s no problem. It will get there. #sourdough #coronacooking

Day 7!!!! Part 1.

Last day of developing our starters. One more round of discard and feed this morning. Then another tonight.

If yours isn’t quite there yet, do no worry. Keep up the twice a day feeding regime and you will be there in a day or two. #sourdough #coronacooking

Day 7. Part 2.
Please watch these through to the end. I show you how to test your starter to see if it is ready, and talk about what we will do tomorrow. One final discard & feed tonight. From tomorrow we will be moving to a maintenance & bake regimen. #coronacooking #sourdough

And finally, I talk about what you will need tomorrow evening to make your first loaf. We will mix that up tomorrow evening, and let it proof overnight before baking it on Saturday morning.
#sourdough #coronacooking

Rhona has gone wild after last nights feed. I will still discard and feed one final time now. This is now a fully active starter. You could give this discard to a friend or neighbour now and they will have their own starter.

We will also talk about how to use discard in baking other lovely things over the coming week or so.

I’ll begin to make up my first loaf at around 7pm. I’ll share that video then. All you need is your starter, 500g strong white flour, 11g sea salt & 285ml of water. Only equipment you will need is a weighing scales, mixing bowl & cling film to cover if to allow an overnight proof

Time to mix out dough! A few lips to follow. #sourdough #Coronacooking

While that’s resting, let’s look at how you should store your starter between bakes. #sourdough #coronacooking

And after letting the dough rest for 30 mins there just a little more to do before you leave it for its overnight proof.

Final clip for tonight, and the dough is all covered up for it’s overnight proof. See you in the morning and we will bake our first loaf! #sourdough #coronacooking

It’s baking day! First stage is to shape the loaf #sourdough #coronacooking

Part 2 of preparing our loaf for baking #sourdough #coronacooking

Final part of preparing and shaping your loaf #sourdough #coronacooking

After your loaf has rested for 30 mins, it’s time to score it and get it in the oven. #sourdough #coronacooking

And into the oven it goes #sourdough #coronacooking

Twenty minutes later, time to take off the lid, before baking for a final twenty minutes #Sourdough #coronacooking

And finally...our first loaf from our new starter is ready to be revealed. All this takes is flour, water, salt and a little love & care. Now you’re set up with a starter that will keep giving you gorgeous bread for many, many years. Congratulations #sourdough #Coronacooking

And that is it! We are done. I’ve loved doing this series with you all. It has been a joy, which we all need a little of right now. Thank you! The full series is easy to find on my Instagram, and will remain up there. #Sourdough #Coronacooking instagram.com/colmogorman/?h…

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