Meet Herman

Those of you who know me in real life already know how much I love Herman. He's been a part of our family for a couple of years now, and I couldn't be without him. In case you're wondering, Herman is a rather smelly, bubbly batter who lives in the corner of my kitchen, and gives me all kinds of goodies, like cakes and bread. Here he is in all his glory:

Ok, he's not a stunner, nor does he smell particularly nice, unless you like the smell of an old brewery. But he makes wonderful cakes. He is a sourdough starter. You may have come across a starter, or sponge, for sourdough breads before, well this is the sweet version, mainly for use in cakes, although I have made lovely bread with it too. The legend behind Herman is quite lovely. it is a friendship cake, a bit like the old friendly chain letters we used to do as kids. You are given a portion of Herman starter by someone, you care for it for 9 days, stirring, feeding, talking if you feel the need... then on the 9th day you split it into 4, keep a portion for yourself and pass the other 3 on to your friends and family, with instructions on how to look after him. On the 10th day, you bake your portion, into a lovely fruity sourdough cake. I didn't give away 3 portions, when my dad gave me my starter. I kept one for myself to bake with and one to keep going....and I'm so glad I did!

I wanted to share him quite early in my blogging journey, as it is something that I think will feature quite often, especially since I cook with the batter at least every couple of weeks. I don't follow the instructions on his care to the letter anymore, because I now know when he needs freshening up. You can make some delicious cakes with the batter. I even make bread and gorgeous American style pancakes too. All these recipes I will share in future blog posts. But here's a sneak preview:

Herman Cakes

Herman Muffins

Herman Bread

 

Intrigued??
The basic cake is a very easy one to make, the instructions I follow use American cup measurements, and although I am a pounds and ounces kind of girl usually, for some things I do make an exception. It works for me here because it's no faff, just scoop, add, stir. it's also much easier to make a smaller amount if necessary, just by halving the number of cups... although I guess you might question the need to make less cake, and not more when you have tasted it!

Anyone who lives near enough to me can have some of my starter, I always have a couple of portions at least on the go, and you only need one portion - roughly a cup measurement - to start you on your journey.
But for those not able to wait for the gift of a portion, you can easily make your own starter.
Herman the German Friendship Cake is a great resource for recipes, a spare copy of the care instructions to give out to your friends, or just for sharing your Herman journey with other people. People like to share, and you can see what other people make with their batter. Quite inspiring really.
I'll put a link up on the sidebar of my blog so you can visit it for the instructions... and check back here again for my Herman recipes!