Sourdough mother, glasses and beets

When I first started making my own sourdough consistently a couple of years ago I used a starter bought from Hodmedod’s. I’ve been feeding and nurturing that same starter ever since. Recently I wondered how old it was, or as they say in baking parlance, “how old the mother is”.

I emailed Hodmedod’s to find out and this started a chain of emails. Hodmedod’s got the starter from Wakelyn’s bakery who got it 4.5 years ago from Small Food Bakery in Nottingham who got it from Andrew Whitley at Scotland the Bread in 2014 and he got it from Russia in the 1980s. So there we are! Who knows how long that starter has been going for. I’ve been getting great loaves from it.

I got my first pair of long-distance glasses last week. I don’t need them but I was starting to notice my vision isn’t as crisp and sharp as it used to be and I didn’t like that. I like everything to be sharp and I thought it would be nice to have them when I’m out walking, running, and driving. I’ve since discovered they’re good also just for watching TV but the problem I have is I need my reading glasses for knitting so yesterday I found myself doing this. The top set of glasses are for the TV and the bottom for my knitting. Oh the joys of aging!

Jenny Jones has written another fantastic cookbook. This one is Scottish Vegan Baking and it’s got a delicious recipe for a chocolate beetroot cake. I made it yesterday and it’s a big hit.

Beetroot is a super vegetable and one that should be on everyone’s plate daily. It can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke by as much as 10% by increasing the size of your blood vessels and improving the efficiency with which oxygen can reach your muscles. It’s for this reason that athletes are encouraged to drink beetroot juice before a competition to improve performance.