Herman, the sourdough cake

We were given this sourdough mixture to look after by a friend and felt quite flattered.  It’s like having a pet – you must remember to stir everyday, add sugar, flour and milk at appropriate times, so the mixture lives and grows in your kitchen for the next ten days.  We used fruit sugar, goat’s milk and white spelt flour, and the mixture thrived.

The distinctive yeasty smell is somehow comforting, and our daughter loved the stirring ritual and watching how the mixture frothed and grew.  As for the final cake you can bake after 10 days – its lovely!  Very soft sweet texture, complements the apples perfectly, the topping of butter and sugar gives a delicious crust.  True comfort food which cheers you up on yet another rainy summer’s day! 

Plan to experiment more with sourdough now, perhaps rye flour rolls from a Scandinavian recipe book…and it’s nice to pass the sourdough mixture portions on.  It’s like some goodvibe chain bake…

You can find out more about this tradition, and download the herman sourdough recipes and instructions from the link below.

http://www.hermanthegermanfriendshipcake.com/