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Lucretia's last stand…

17 June 2011 by Dominic Franks

as you know, Lucretia sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago… and the worst thing about it was that a week before her un-timely demise I think I had finally got to grips with her… anyway, i wasn’t going to post this but I thought perhaps I was being fooling not to… so here you go…

as you know I have an on / off relationship with my sourdough… i’ve been through hundreds of recipes, thousands of trials… i’ve had the temperature up high… i’ve had water in the oven to create steam… i’ve kneaded and then not kneaded and until this morning i’ve had sourdough that was ok… but not quite right…

… and whilst i’d like to credit one person to my success today I think, to be fair it’s been a combination of my original recipe, with Luc’s help and more than a little bit of know-how from Ruth… and it seems i’m getting there…

… not quite perfect but now I know what not to do and will adapt next time… my main issue is that my oven only goes to 190c and although it’s fan assisted and has never given me any bother baking or roasting anything ever before, it doesn’t quite cut the mustard for sourdough…

I used Ruth’s brilliant recipe and step-by-step guide which you can see for yourself here but I used a loaf tin and then my original technique of putting it into a cold oven to bake…

… and the result… not quite perfect but I got that glorious combination of soft and chewy inside with a crispy crunchy crust… love it!

eat and of course, enjoy!

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Filed Under: Everything else Tagged With: sourdough

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Comments

  1. At Anna's kitchen table says

    17 June 2011 at 6:07 pm

    I have never been quite brave enough to attempt anything so adventurous (adventurous = anything requiring starters and/or yeast!)
    Good on ya Dom!

  2. Ruth says

    17 June 2011 at 6:52 pm

    Dom – it looks fab! Good on you for experimenting and doing things your own way too. I really am flattered that you think I helped – and thanks for name dropping Luc. Its a new blog for me to siubscribe to.

    RIP Lucretia. Hope you get a new thriving 'pet' soon so we can swap more experiments!!

  3. Chele says

    17 June 2011 at 8:33 pm

    Well that is quite a farewell she left you with Dom! Love all the 'holy' goodness!

  4. Angela says

    17 June 2011 at 11:42 pm

    Poor, poor, Lucretia. May she rest in peace.

  5. Bernadetta says

    18 June 2011 at 1:56 am

    That looks fabulous. I'm jealous of your success with the bread. Sourdough is by far my favorite so I will have to give it a try!!

  6. PFx says

    18 June 2011 at 2:35 am

    RIP Lucretia, what a fancy gorgeous name for a starter. Hahaha.
    I've got to make and nurture my own Lucretia one day.
    Love the loaf-tin effect on the bread.

  7. Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes says

    18 June 2011 at 4:14 am

    Looks like she “rose” to the occasion!

    So, how about the contest to name your next starter?

  8. Susan says

    18 June 2011 at 12:40 pm

    Hey Dom, That crunchy outer crust has done Lucretia proud! As for getting the heatup and maintaining it, I am trying out terra cotta tiles placed on the uppermost and lowermost racks in my oven. The oven gets preheated for at least twenty minutes and then the bread is baked in clay pans … that Tuscan bread was the first to made with this technique and the crust was awesome and chewy inner loaf was perfect … just something for you to try… once your new starter is ready for action.

  9. C says

    18 June 2011 at 7:12 pm

    Looks good. I've found that whereas my yeasted baking got better reasonably quickly, I'll have sourdough success followed by utter failure followed by reasonable success and so on – very frustrating! I think we both need to persevere for perfection!

  10. Brownieville Girl says

    19 June 2011 at 7:49 am

    I think you should arrange a little daughter for Lucretia … you know you want to!

  11. sniffandsnort says

    19 June 2011 at 6:49 pm

    My sourdough, Gertrude is a macerated schlop in a Tupperware sitting on top of my tumble dryer. I am too frightened to open the container. I suspect I will be binning the whole thing.

  12. Choclette says

    20 June 2011 at 1:21 pm

    No, I didn't know Lucretia had passed to the other side 😉 What on earth did you do to her? Lucretia notwithstanding, your sourdough sounds just as it should.

  13. Shu Han says

    28 June 2011 at 3:22 pm

    What happened to Lucretia?? I just flew back to Singapore for summer and LEFT MY POOR STARTER IN LONDON. almost chose to miss my plane to get it back and then decided it was stupid. i'm crushed though.

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My name is Dominic, I am a cook, food writer and creative event producer. I write the food blog Dom In The Kitchen and also write a monthly recipe column for Lincolnshire Life Magazine and Good Taste Magazine. I also run creative event production company The Persuaders, producing global events for brands since 1997. I am based both in the small village of Belleau in Lincolnshire and the smaller village of London! Read More…

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Here’s the #recipe:

🍓 200g butter
🍓 200g golden caster sugar
🍓 3 large free-range eggs
🍓 200g ground almonds
🍓 100g strawberries – quartered
🍓 4 apricots – sliced into wedges
🍓 the finely grated zest and juice of half a lemon
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🍓 1 teaspoon @little_pod Vanilla Bean Paste

I greased a 20cm fluted ceramic pie dish and pre-heated the oven to 160C

beat the sugar and butter together in a large bowl until light and creamy… a stand mixer will do this in 4 minutes, a hand held electric whisk will do it in 6 minutes and a wooden spoon will do it in 8 minutes.

add the eggs and 1 tablespoon of ground almonds and beat in, then add the rest of the ground almonds and gently beat in, followed by the Greek Yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, vanilla and half the strawberries and beat in – the strawberries will become mush – which is exactly what you want.

lay half the remaining fruit into the bottom of your dish and cover with the frangipane batter, then scatter the remaining fruit on top

bake for 45 mins or until darkly golden brown, then remove from the oven and let it cool to set

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What are you having for brunch today?

for the kugel:
🍳 5 medium potatoes
🍳 2 large onions
🍳 2 large carrots – roughly grated
🍳 2 eggs – beaten
🍳 2 tablespoons flour
🍳 salt and pepper
🍳 a large handful of fresh rosemary
🍳 2 tablespoons of olive oil

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🥚 2 eggs per person
🥚 water
🥚 salt
🥚 a ramekin or similar

pre-heat the oven to 180C and butter your baking tin… i’m using an oblong swiss roll tin but any metal pan will do, a quiche or tarte tin is good.  Earthenware will work too but there’s something about the metal tin that makes it more ‘roasty’

Cut the potatoes and carrots into large chunks and par-boil till just beginning to yeald, drain and place in the fridge for one hour.  I usually do mine the night before.

Once the potatoes and carrots are cold, grate them and add them with the rest if the ingredients to a large bowl and mix together well.

Tip into your cake tin or roasting tray and roast in the oven on 190C till golden and grisp around the edges, roughly 40 mins

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