The best bread I’ve ever tasted came from a bakery called Bread Alone,  which we found in Rhinebeck, New York (we were actually there for the Air display in Old Rhinebeck, but I couldn’t resist a foodie trip to this place I’d read so much about). For weeks after I imagined being able to make a sourdough loaf as tasty as the one I bought there that Sunday morning. I have tried in the past, but being the impatient type my starters never seemed to work out, or languish in the fridge when I’m too busy to bake. But this week I decided that the warm, damp conditions might just be what I needed to get another starter going. I whisked up some rye flour and water, put it in a plastic tub and left it over night. By morning it was already bubbling nicely.

I’m going to look after this one and hopefully bake my own delicious sourdough loaf next week. Yes, even though I own a bread maker and use local flour, there’s really nothing to beat  a freshly baked, hand crafted sourdough loaf is there?

* If you’re tempted to rye your own, my starter was 100g rye flour with 200ml warm water, whisked for 5 minutes and left overnight on the kitchen table