Stew and "English" Muffins

Since my sourdough starter was doing really well, I decided it was time to do something with it.  I really liked the no-knead dough in a bucket idea so I ran with it.  The ratio is 6-3-3-13, which is 6 cups of water, 3 tablespoons salt, 3 cups starter and 13 cups of flour.  I mixed it all together very well and placed in a large food container I purchased (I knew I couldn't get a bucket in my fridge so I got a rectangular container which is flat and fits well).  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

To make the English Muffins, or rustic muffins since they are not cut out, I just sprinkled the top of the took a small amount of dough and shaped it into a thin circular shape.  I was making stew at the time so I wanted to wait until that was done before I started to cook them.  I let my cast iron 2-burner griddle heat up and cooked on each side until browned.

The stew was just a basic beef stew with lots of veggies.  I feel I have not eaten enough vegetables so I was really craving them.  Here is what supper looked like:

Big Bowl O' Beef Stew and english muffins, aerial view.

Close up, after butter melted.

The english muffins puffed up a lot waiting to cook them so I found they didn't cook all the way through even though I was only cooking them on three.  They will be great for toasting, but I do not like doughy bread products where the middle is kind of uncooked (Mark does).  I will probably make them again, but a lot thinner as I didn't realize just how puffy they would get.  I did eat the outer crust and it was yummy :).  I'm not sure what I'll make next as there are so many things.  I may make tortillas because there is something yummy I want to make soon.  Cinnamon rolls are also a big hit here.

My Sourdough Starter

I started another starter on Sunday because my previous attempts were pretty disastrous.  Here is my little beast tonight:

Whoo!  My baby is growing!  When I stirred it down, it was about half the amount so I dumped half and did my feeding.  I always get a lot of hooch when I make a starter.  Today I had a thick layer on the top after about 2 hours so I added a quarter cup of just whole wheat flour and it was fine.  Then tonight I had a mass of bubbles!  Basically what I'm doing is adding 1/4 cup each of water and whole wheat flour every 12 hours, stirring vigorously, scraping the sides down, covering with a cloth napkin and putting it in the cupboard (we have a serious fruit fly problem at the moment and my ferments aren't helping!).  I may start adding a little extra flour at each feeding because it is eating it up like crazy.

I should soon be able to start using it.  The videos from the sourdough e-course through gnowfglins.com were so helpful.  There was a bucket method shown, which is similar to the artisan bread in 5 minutes method.  She had a friend on it who was more of a "little of this and a little of that" like me, so it seemed like a method that would work well for me.  They made bread, cinnamon rolls, pita, english muffins and so on from it.  Very cool.  My fridge is teeny tiny so I may have to move shelves around to get a little bucket in there.