Callistemon
Just when I was thinking of making some!
I need buttermilk, though, don't I?
Buttermilk for sourdough? Nooooo...
I think you're thinking of a different sort of bread, Callistomen.
I got some starter from a friend a few years ago but the instructions for keeping the damn thing going took so much flour that it got very expensive. In the end I killed it. But.. I had frozen some, so in the first lockdown I decided to have another go.
After trawling quite a few sites and watching lots of videos I have discovered
1) You don't need to keep a massive starter going all the time because, a) you can leave it, unfed, in the fridge for a few days and it will revive very quickly and b) you only need to keep a small one going and use it as the basis for a big one when you plan to make bread with it.
2) You don't need to use those recipes with masses of liquid in them that leave you a really sticky clingy dough to cling to every available surface, including your hands work with. My recipe uses just over half liquid to flour and is fine and easier to handle. It's not as 'holey' as the experts' though..
3) If you do the initial bits, up to rising, at night and leave it to rise overnight it's ready to go in the morning.
All the purist sites say that commercially produced sourdough isn't the real thing.. Mind you, we loved Lidl's sourdough until they stopped selling it at our local branch..