Happy Birthday, Otis!

Last year about this time, I did a search for a bread recipe that would be similar to the dark bread from the Otis Cafe, and lo and behold I found the actual recipe, complete with directions for making the sourdough starter.  Because sourdough starter lives, breathes, and needs to be fed, it seemed only right to name the starter, so Otis it is.  Our Otis is now a year old and little bits have been given to other folks who want to make the wonderful dark bread from the Otis Cafe, or some other sour dough recipe.

Otis is stored in a plastic yogurt container, and gets fed on a weekly basis, equal parts of flour and water.  I have occasionally had a pre-coffee mental breakdown where I think Otis is yogurt.  Not pretty. 

I read that sourdough starter should never be touched by metal, so need to use a wooden spoon to stir it.  Not sure what would happen with metal.  Does anyone know?

Sourdough starter right after being fed.

The Taste of Oregon Blog  has the brown bread recipe and the directions for creating sourdough starter.  I don't have a picture of the brown bread, but love making it, because unlike most breads, it doesn't have to rise, and always always turns out exactly right.

The bread in this picture is  traditional sourdough and takes a minimum of two days to make.  The first day you make a sour dough sponge, letting it grow overnight, and then it takes two more risings before it is baked, but the end result is worth the wait.  Each step is fast and easy, but it does have to hang out for awhile to develop the flavors.  I tried several different recipes for sourdough bread before I settled on this one as my "go to" recipe.  If interested in the recipe, let me know via comment.

 It is amazing that some sourdough starters have been around for years and years.  I am happy that this one has managed to survive one year.  It's pretty weird when the directions for a house sitter include, "Please feed 1/4 cup water and flour to Otis, the sourdough starter that lives in the yogurt container."  Happy birthday, Otis.