Sourdough bread is the natural way of producing this staple in these days

We’ve gone from relative normality to the country at a standstill.

Panic buying has resulted in shortages of basic food stuffs including yeast.

Sour dough bread is the natural way of producing this staple.

A sourdough is as it sounds, flour and water mixed together and allowed to sit in a warm place until it bubbles and thus making a tangy yeast.

It’s very trendy now but is how bread would have been made in ancient times.

I’ve made sourdough starters over the years and killed them all.

Sourdoughs need a little bit of loving care and I may have been travelling and neglected them.

If there had been sourdough social services I’d have been banned from keeping them.

Now that I’m pretty much housebound, I’m trying again and this time all my love and care will be focussed on the bubbling, smelly friend I’ve created.

My recipe this week is a labour of love and comes from my friend Trudy Brolly who owns Ocho Tapas Restaurant in Portrush.

She and her husband Sean are passionate bread bakers and this is the recipe they’ve perfected.

It takes a week or two to get going but once you have the sourdough you can have it forever.

A baker I know in England has a starter from the 1980s so it’s a friend for life.

I’ll keep you posted on progress and hope you have a go too.

My aim is to be making sourdough pizzas within the month.

These are vastly superior, and cheaper, to the sometimes nasty mass produced alternatives that deliver to your door.

Stay safe and if you want to contact me with cooking queries or share your recipes there’s an email link on paulamcintyre.co.uk