tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1116109191013453580.post-42243239222187385612008-05-07T16:54:00.000-07:002008-05-07T18:00:04.207-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/__O9yvqShUQM/SCJFndXkwKI/AAAAAAAAAHM/_9onXTE3cJ4/s1600-h/IMG_1579.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/__O9yvqShUQM/SCJFndXkwKI/AAAAAAAAAHM/_9onXTE3cJ4/s200/IMG_1579.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197793464139694242" border="0" /></a><br /> Last October, when I first brought home Fergus Henderson's <span style="font-style: italic;">Beyond Nose to Tail</span>, I set out to make a bread starter (or, as he calls it, a "mother" to your bread). I stirred flour, water, yogurt and chopped apple together in a bowl, poured it into a quart Mason jar with little holes punched in the lid. Everything went pretty well. Too well, in fact. The "mother" bubbled, spurted, and grew happily for three days, but that night I was awakened at three in the morning by a loud "thwupp." The sticky, yeasty, very alive mixture had exploded through the puny cap and coated a substantial portion of the kitchen counter. There were even several gobs of it stuck to the ceiling.<br /><br /> After that debacle, I pretty much gave up on the whole idea. But this morning, armed with a new, TWO! quart Mason jar with one of those groovy metal clasps, I started again.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ingredients</span>:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/__O9yvqShUQM/SCJGcNXkwLI/AAAAAAAAAHU/t9V2k1MGWJg/s1600-h/IMG_1580.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/__O9yvqShUQM/SCJGcNXkwLI/AAAAAAAAAHU/t9V2k1MGWJg/s200/IMG_1580.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197794370377793714" border="0" /></a><br /> One stick of rhubarb.<br /> Two tbsp. "live" yogurt. (Plain, please, NOT Yoplait "Key Lime Pie" flavor!)<br /> 50 grams* rye flour, 50 grams whole-wheat flour, and 100grams white flour<br /> 210 ml. water.<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Method</span>, Day One:<br /><br /> Slice the rhubarb thinly. Mix everything together in a big jar and keep it in a warm corner where it can grow in peace. Go watch the Simpsons or something, just don't bother it.<br /><br />*I apologize for the metrics here. Henderson's first book, published in the U.S. by Ecco (Harper Collins) conveniently uses the charmingly quirky "Imperial" measures we're all used to. The second book, put out by British Publisher Bloomsbury, uses metrics. Most liquid measures were no problem, but calculating how may grams of flour were in a cup gave me a bad headache. So I got a scale.<br />**I rarely lay ingredients out so delicately. I forgot to take my own pictures this time (drat, I'm always forgetting) so I took a picture of the picture in the cookbook.<br /></span>Schaeferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09511272771222134989noreply@blogger.com