Hi, I am Jean aka ‘Eryigu’. 

 

Now you may think this word is rather odd.....never come across it, let alone pronounce it!  I don't blame you; this word is conjured up by my adolescent nieces at the time we set up an Instagram account. ‘Eryi’ means 2nd Auntie in Chinese to my sister’s children and ‘Ergu’ also means 2nd Auntie but to my brother’s children.  Why can’t they go simple like just ‘Auntie’ will do!  

 

If like me, you have never baked, there is hope yet.  I found the joys of baking during the pandemic in early 2020.  I started experimenting with yeasted breads and cakes at the start in April 2020 and by late September, I decided to embark on my journey with sourdough bread baking.  I love to eat sourdough bread so I did not take the decision to launch into this lightly.  I knew there will be time involved especially when I read that you would need to feed the sourdough starter daily.  So Zen my starter was born in late September and she was ready to bake by early October 2020. Yay!

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When I first started, there were lots of time spent in reading up first about making a starter, etc etc.  All the terminology 'hydration', 'baker's percentages' 'Stretch and fold' all seem confusing at the early stage.  It took me a while and after several hours of reading up everywhere.... online and books etc. before I was ready to bake.  However my first bake was not that great-looking but it was delicious.  From then on, I was hooked.......indefinitely!

 

Since then, things started getting exciting and a whole new world of baking and cooking open up for me!  There're literally thousands of delicious and scrumptious recipes that I want to try out with sourdough and its starter surplus (or discard – a term I don't like to use) and time is the only constraint for me!  When I do, I'll share them here with you.  What you need are buckets of enthusiasm and perseverance. So carry on baking and enjoy the fruits of your labour of love! 

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HAPPY BAKING!