Early Birds?

Spring weather at the beginning of March brings lots of ladybirds. Where have they suddenly come from?

Bread at Midnight

My sourdough starter harvested from the air in middle England 2 or more years ago is now quite reliable. I keep it in the fridge and normally refresh it every week. Some weeks I forget and it goes a fortnight without refreshment. I've even left it 3 weeks while I've been away on holiday and it revives perfectly.

My biggest learning over this period is to avoid a large proportion of whole flour if I want a good rising. The loaves above have about 80% strong white, with the remainder whole wheat flour, and rye.

I still get a bit thrown off by the rising times which are so different from commercial yeast baking - and sometimes end up baking after midnight.