If you ever tried baking bread, chances are you have also considered or tried making sourdough bread. If you have failed, don’t give up. Making the sourdough bread is something any one can master. I promise you, it is well worth mastering.

But if you are new to bread baking, you should know that making sourdough bread is an ancient way to make bread. It was done for centuries, long before we found how to grow strains of commercial yeast. You also need to keep in mind that the sourdough take much longer to rise that the dough made with commercial yest. In a way it forces you (even for a short period of time when you making the bread) to align yourself and be in harmony with nature.

In the past I have tried a few times making my sourdough starter, and have failed a few times. I also tried to “boost” my starter with pinch of commercial yest. Sourdough snobs will look down on you if you do it, but if you think your starter takes way too long to “take off”, you can use a pinch of commercial yest to boosted. I believe it all depends on the climate, it can take anywhere from 48 hours to several days for your sourdough starter to form. Where we live, it usually takes about 48 hours for my starter to form and be ready to use.

What will you need to make the sourdough starter?
Not much really. You need container, one cup of warm water and one cup of flour (I use all purpose unbleached flour). That’s it! Where is the yeast, even the wild one, you ask? Well it is all around us! It is also found in abundance the flour. When you mix warm water and flour and set in a warm place all the magic comes to life!

For a container I recommend using a wide-mouthed glass jar. The one I am using is about one gallon jar with about 6.5 inches wide mouth. I love it because the mouth is wide enough for 1 cup measuring cup to go through, which makes is very easy to feed your starter.

As far as flour is concerned, I found all purpose unbleached flour to work the best. Some people use whole wheat flour to make the starter. While I bake whole wheat breads, I don’t find it necessary to use it to make my sourdough starter. In fact I prefer using all purpose unbleached flour for my starter.

It is important not to use the tap water as it contains chlorine and can kill the yest. If you have to use the tap water, let it sit overnight for the chlorine to escape. Bottled water works fine. I am using water that has been filtered with ZeroWater purifying system.

To make your starter mix one coup of warm water with one cup of flour. Mix well to form a batter (pictured bellow) and set your container (loosely covered) on the counter and let the nature work.

In 24 hours your starter will be ready to be fed. Subscribe to our blog (the form is located in the top part of the sidebar), to see what happens next. I am documenting the process as I am making my starter from the scratch. Pleas join me. I promise, you will not regret it! No other breads taste as good as the one made using sourdough starter. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or share your bread making experience in the comments bellow.

About three weeks ago my husband and I have purchased ZeroWater purifying system. I have suggested to my sister a while back, and it was not until my husband tasted her water that we decided to purchase the system.

We got our ZeroWater at our local Target, just to realize later there are much better deals (including Target) when you shop online…

In the past we have used very similar product from Brita. On of the things we did not like about Brita is that whenever you needed to change filter, you had to discard the first pitcher or two of water because it would come out black. The worst of all, the purified water that Brite would produced would still have the heavy chlorine taste of the tap water unless you let the water sit for at least 24 hours.

So is it any different with ZeroWater, you will ask? The difference is huge! To begin with the filter of ZeroWater is much bigger. But bigger is not always better, right? Wong. In the case of ZeroWater, bigger is better. ZeroWater filter has four different layers the water needs to go through- each playing an important role.

The end result is fantastic! Water tastes crispy fresh and has that unique softness of the bolted Fiji water- while costing you a fraction of what you would have to pay for bottled Fiji water.

ZeroWater does something else, that no other purifying system offers. Along with their purifying system they include a TDS digital tester. It measures the amount of dissolved solids in the water, TDS simply stands for “Total Dissolved Solids”. The highest the number the “dirtier” is the water. Our tap water measured at 070-075, which is still pretty decent. The bottled water measured at 030-035. Finally the ZeroWater filtered water measured at, you guessed it – 000!!! (By the way the in the Fuji botteled water the number of TDS is about 200- but at least they disclose so in right on the bottle).

So what is the big deal about this TDS thing? Well it is made by a third company. ZeroWater however is so confidence about the final result that they send you this digital tester so you too can see the results. It also serves another purpose, once the filtered water begins to measure 006 it is time for the new filter. The filter however should help us to filter about 40 gallons of water.

So how cost effective ZeroWater is?

If you were to by bottled water in your local supermarket or a grocery store you will probably spend $52 to buy 40 gallons of water. My husband and I usually bought 24 Pack of 1/2 Liter Bottles at a time at about $4.99 each. For nearly the same price you can purchase 4 filters for ZeroWater pitcher. Because our tap water is not as bad as it can be we are looking to changing the filter after 40 gallons of filtrated water. So what you spend on 40 gallons of bottled water, will buy us 160 gallons of water! Your savings may not be the same unless your tap water contains the same amount of total dissolved solids. The instruction on how to change the filter say that on average one filter will produce about 30 gallons of water before you need to change it.

Since we the TDS (total dissolved solids) electronic tester was included we have given a try. Bellow are the pictures of our tests:

Our tap water showed 75 TDS

The bottled we used to by from our supermarket showed 31 TDS

Finally, and as promised, the water that was filtered by ZeroWater showed 000 TDS

If you are using ZeroWater I would love to hear what you have to say about it. Please leave a comment bellow.

I took several cake decorating and candy making classes at Chocolate Belles in the past. This year I decided to refresh my skills in fondant decorating. In the past this class lasted only two weeks. The new format now is three weeks and I am so happy I am able to attend it this year. In the picture bellow you can see what we learned in the last class. It is sort of “make believe” cake top. We decorated it with fondant spiral ribbon and some flowers. The “marble” effect was done with royal icing. Next week we are doing an entire cake, I will make sure to post some pictures.