New Skills: Sour Dough

I’ve been having a great time learning to make a sour dough starter and have baked my first two loaves - and they were delicious!

I’ve looked into my region where I want to move to in New Zealand to see what grains are grown. Right now wheat is grown, but in small amounts. There is also a small amount of oats, barley and a lot of maize grown. More is grown just across the way, in the Manawatu and in the South Island. But it was good to know that you can grow wheat there. Next step is to find out how hard it is to grow and mill.

I discovered that there were mills dotted around the Hawkes Bay in the 1800s, run on coal-fired steam.

Looks like a lot of NZ is suitable for growing rice as well. I really can’t wait to get back and get stuck in to the garden and try some of these crops out. I’m sure I’ll have some disasters, but it will be worth making the mistakes to find out what works.

I’ll be back soon with the instructions for making your starter and this great recipe for bread that I’ve tried out with no problems so far! Yum.