In keeping with the sourdough nutter that I am, I mailed packets of dried Priscilla starter to my friend Dan in San Francisco before we flew over. After all, we were staying with them for a month, and the thought of eating bought bread during that time, even in the legendary home of sourdough, never occurred to me.
I sent over three packets – one for us, one for our friend Chris, and one spare.
Obi-dog Kenobi, Dan’s magnadoodle (ok, he’s a labradoodle) got to one of the sachets as it came through the mail slot, and ate it. For 24 hours, he farted rotten egg gas that made the resident skunks run for cover, but he was otherwise completely unharmed.
Here he is, freshly groomed. He’s the best dog in the world, and the only one I’ve ever met with human eyes…
But I digress.
On Emilie’s advice, we bought King Arthur bread flour from Safeway and woke the starter up. Johnny Cash was born…
Within a couple of days, Dan had baked her first batch of sourdough…
The day after that, she made an olive loaf…
Then a fruit and nut loaf…
By the time we left, she was producing two to three loaves every other day, completely on her own. She’s a star…
Dan uses a slightly modified version of our high hydration overnight tutorial, with all white bakers flour and 700g of water instead of 750g. This makes the dough a bit easier to manage and produces a slightly less holey crumb – ideal for school lunches and snacks.
She commented to me last week that even when she’s weary, it only takes a few minutes to knock up the dough, and then it’s simply left in a covered bowl until after school drop off the following morning. That’s the nice thing about sourdough – once we find a groove that works, it’s pretty easy to fit it into our daily routines. And unlike some other starters, Priscilla is spectacularly resilient – her doughs can prove for the better part of a day and still bounce back for a shaped second rise.
Our old friend Chris brought his gorgeous family to have lunch with us – he took home a little container of Johnny Cash and birthed June Carter Cash at his house. Here are his latest loaves – he’s been going gangbusters as well…
Sharing the sourdough mania with our friends was one of the highlights of our trip to San Francisco. It’s a joy to see them having so much fun with it, and to know that we’re all baking with the same starter!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Oh Celia, how clever were you thinking to send Priscilla off on her own before you went. I have heard that KA bread flour is the bees knees, certainly looks like great results. How wonderful for you spending time with friends and sharing your skills to boot. :)
I have wanted to make sourdough for years, but it scares me a little, I have probably told you that before. Every time I see your loaves I feel inspired. I am going to study your tutorial again and again. One day I will do it.
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!!! Love Johnny Cash! Your friends have certainly taken to the sourdough baking with flying colours! No wonder, since they learnt from the Sourdough Guru herself! I must admit (with shame) that I had to let Princess Sandy (my daughter of Priscilla starter) go, as life just got too hectic for her demands….but I will definitely get back to the world of sourdough baking after we renovate our house (including kitchen). Thank you Celia for sharing your passion for sourdough with the world! :-)
Did I mention that I would crawl a mile over broken glass with nothing but my birthday suit on for a well made loaf of bread?
There is absolutely nothing like fresh bread.
I’m passing another starter to a friend this week after she had some King Arthur’s sourdough chocolate cake at the weekend. It’s always popular and I find it almost foolproof.
The dog story is priceless 😂
That’s hilarious about the dog eating the starter!!!
What a great plan and what great loaves ☺️☺️☺️
Wonderful story! What a silly dog buddy. I, too, use King Arthur flour. I make regular yeast bread, and when I use that flour, it always comes out exactly the way I want.
I’ve been using Red Mill but I’m going to try King Arthur again. Those loaves are beauty! ~ Maz.
Years ago our dogs ate fresh yeast – yeah, they farted for a couple of days, making our eyes water, potent stuff… but they were absolutely unharmed. I blogged about that experience, actually ;-)
so nice that you were able to spend one full month with great friends, and turn Dan into a bread baker extraordinaire… gave me a smile, as my starter is called Dan!
ha ha that was such an entertaining post. I love the names of your sour dough babies. Your friends in SFO are so lucky to have you teach them. Would you like a family holiday on the Sunshine Coast in exchange for a lesson? We have a very similar dog (described by friends as the best dog in the world) and she farts without the use of sourdough starter!!
I love your dedication to bread Celia, your posts and photos always encourage me to crank up my starters again x
It is amazing to see more Priscilla clones busy at work. Dan took to bread making so quickly. I am looking forward to playing with my dehydrated Sorella when I return,
Yes, very clever and of course not wanting to be WITHOUT haha
It looks like you’ve stretched out your Priscilla sourdough heritage onto the States Celia. I’m sure your friends will continue to spread the sourdough gene to others and it will take off! Although I must admit I wish my Sourdough loaves ended up like that,,,so puffy, full and crusty!
Lovely loaves – I think it’s great that you spread the sourdough love wherever you go. Long may Priscilla procreate!
what beautiful loaves – made with love – and I just want to pat that soft fluffy little dog
looks like you are passing on the sourdough bug!
Beautiful loaves! The dog looks so sweet. Good thing you mailed three packets! 😄 The pictures from your holiday are beautiful.
Will go straight to the fridge now to find my starter where it is sitting unloved and neglected. I’ve been using your high hydration tutorial but had to reduce the water otherwise my dough slides off the table.
Glad I wasn’t anywhere near that dog.
They are beautiful looking loaves!!
It really is quite fun to think of you sending sourdough starter to San Francisco! Such fun for you and your friends. And I’m using King Arthur Bread Flour for my Gidget! LOL! I’ve also played with the proportions just slightly and found that I can make the loaves in bread pans for my granddaughters school lunches. I make sourdough rosemary bread at least a couple of times a week, and they request it regularly. You have been so generous to share Priscilla, and now I know that Gidget has cousins in Northern California. :-)
Too bad I can’t blame my dog’s occasional gas on eating the mail! We also go with a little less water for less holes for sandwiches and school lunches. Weekends we may go more holey.
Oh that’s great Celia. You are a bread fairy. Lol. Can’t believe that dog ate the starter!
Have starer, will travel, eh, Celia? How great that you could visit with your friends while making bread! Sounds just about perfect to me.
Hi Celia, Priscilla descendant FIFI what can I say did her ancestor proud in fact I am over the moon I have made bread before but not like this, even when I was getting to the last stage just before the oven my dough had a bubble in it on the seam just like yours on the video and I thought this is a good omen. what can I say the two loaves turned fabulous,my bread has never looked like this,I sent photos to my family I was just so ecstatic after all this time I actually made bread to what I thought it should be. So thank you so much Celia for your posts ,help and videos and most of all your time, One week later there are now three loaves in the oven Hugs Sally
Hey Celia! I’m a pretty seasoned baker, but I’ve never attempted sour dough before! But just recently, I made my own starter (I named her Bonnie) and followed your instructions for the overnight sourdough (I halved the recipe for one loaf), and it turned out great – so thank-you for being so helpful! I took a photo, if you’d like to see – you can see it on my FB Page in my recent posts (search for Sweethart Baking Experiment). It was really nice with some butter and honey!
I used an unbleached white hard wheat flour that I get at a local mill, and it worked very nicely.
Question: My starter is pretty powerfully sour (it’s been hot and humid here in Ontario lately, maybe that has something to do with it), do you think I could add a tablespoon of molasses to the dough to balance out the tartness a little bit, or do you have another suggestion?
By the way, that fruit and nut bread looks amazing! That might be next on my list…
Do you keep your starter in the fridge? It’s possibly getting too acid on the bench? Try taking out just a tiny bit of starter – say a couple of tablespoons’ worth – and feeding it up again before making the dough. If my starter gets too acidic (Priscilla rarely does, but every starter is different), then I toss most of her out and start feeding her up again. I guess you could try adding sweetener to the dough, but I don’t usually do that. The other thing is – you might not need to prove her as long if it’s really hot where you are? In summer, a six hour prove on the bench during the day is often enough for Priscilla. Good luck!
Fantastic! Love making sour dough keep it up!
xoxo gastolabs
Wow. Looks amazing!