First off, sorry for not visiting here much lately. The good news is that my writing creativity is coming back as well as my love for baking. I will give you a proper update soon enough. (Been making microwave-mug-cakes!)
For now, and this update, two of my very lucky friends (from the Monday night RP games at the pub) are about to become proud owners of something affectionately known as Gloop. They'll be getting the gloop (in a freezer bag) with a very neat and handcraft letter from me. The letter's about a gloop experiment that went wrong (hopefully I can attach it some how to this blog?) and so the government is asking for their help. Yes, I was being silly and fun and weird again! I can't help it!
What is Gloop? Amish Friendship Bread (which technically isn't bread but is too heavy for a cake and can have other stuff done to it to make biscuits or pancakes!) It is the original Sourdough starter although this one has none of the sour and lots of the sweet. (Apparently, historically it has nothing to do with the Amish folk either but it's still tasty!)
There are formal instructions for keeping a Gloop.
Day 1: Mush bag.
Day 2: Repeat. You will need to empty the bag of air. This helps avoid messy explosions!
Day 3: Repeat.
Day 4: Repeat. It will appear to separate but do not worry this is normal.
Day 5: Feed it 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of plain flour, and 1 cup of sugar. It will complain or die if you do not!
Day 6: Mush bag.
Day 7: Repeat. Again with the air release, which does smell rather delicious!
Day 8: Repeat.
Day 9: Repeat.
Day 10: Feed it the same amounts. On this day the gloop will need to be split into three separate bags (roughly 1 cup each).
If you wish to start your own: http://community.cookinglight.com/archive/index.php/t-19904.html (ALL credit to Community.Cookinglight and their members). I used the 2nd starter recipe posted by Susan which is working well, although I used more sugar than I should have done which may have caused the yeast to go a bit nuts early on but it is still definitely alive. I can tell by the way the bag keeps threatening to burst its seams after a long hard day of yeast-farting. It is basically just a way of keeping yeast alive and over time the taste develops and changes- very interesting to experiement with! It's also a very nice way of showing your love and friendship to your friends in an unusual way! Especially if they manage to make yummy grub from the weird mess.
I will give you a warning though! -DO- pass on the other two bags you get on Day 10. If you don't, and you do keep it alive, you will end up with cakes coming out of your ears and feeding will be mayhem! I did this once with some American friends and Mother-in-law (... love that woman!) and bless her heart she kept it alive because she didn't want to upset me but she also didn't have anybody to give the extra bags to. She ended up with some Gloop in the fridge and several (16?) cakes in the freezer!
I'm hoping we can keep this thing alive for a while and possibly get it across the UK ... but I doubt it! Either way, we'll definitely be having pancakes soon or biscuits or cakes ... anything!
If you are a receiver of a bag of Gloop, please post about it below in the comments or something! I would love to know how far my creation got and what you made with it. Pictures would also be awesome although not required!
I'll be trying to keep my batch going here, so if it does die or if you want another baggy, I'll probably have extra or can start a new one just personally for you!
Pictures of weird gloop for your delight!
For now, and this update, two of my very lucky friends (from the Monday night RP games at the pub) are about to become proud owners of something affectionately known as Gloop. They'll be getting the gloop (in a freezer bag) with a very neat and handcraft letter from me. The letter's about a gloop experiment that went wrong (hopefully I can attach it some how to this blog?) and so the government is asking for their help. Yes, I was being silly and fun and weird again! I can't help it!
What is Gloop? Amish Friendship Bread (which technically isn't bread but is too heavy for a cake and can have other stuff done to it to make biscuits or pancakes!) It is the original Sourdough starter although this one has none of the sour and lots of the sweet. (Apparently, historically it has nothing to do with the Amish folk either but it's still tasty!)
There are formal instructions for keeping a Gloop.
Day 1: Mush bag.
Day 2: Repeat. You will need to empty the bag of air. This helps avoid messy explosions!
Day 3: Repeat.
Day 4: Repeat. It will appear to separate but do not worry this is normal.
Day 5: Feed it 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of plain flour, and 1 cup of sugar. It will complain or die if you do not!
Day 6: Mush bag.
Day 7: Repeat. Again with the air release, which does smell rather delicious!
Day 8: Repeat.
Day 9: Repeat.
Day 10: Feed it the same amounts. On this day the gloop will need to be split into three separate bags (roughly 1 cup each).
If you wish to start your own: http://community.cookinglight.com/archive/index.php/t-19904.html (ALL credit to Community.Cookinglight and their members). I used the 2nd starter recipe posted by Susan which is working well, although I used more sugar than I should have done which may have caused the yeast to go a bit nuts early on but it is still definitely alive. I can tell by the way the bag keeps threatening to burst its seams after a long hard day of yeast-farting. It is basically just a way of keeping yeast alive and over time the taste develops and changes- very interesting to experiement with! It's also a very nice way of showing your love and friendship to your friends in an unusual way! Especially if they manage to make yummy grub from the weird mess.
I will give you a warning though! -DO- pass on the other two bags you get on Day 10. If you don't, and you do keep it alive, you will end up with cakes coming out of your ears and feeding will be mayhem! I did this once with some American friends and Mother-in-law (... love that woman!) and bless her heart she kept it alive because she didn't want to upset me but she also didn't have anybody to give the extra bags to. She ended up with some Gloop in the fridge and several (16?) cakes in the freezer!
I'm hoping we can keep this thing alive for a while and possibly get it across the UK ... but I doubt it! Either way, we'll definitely be having pancakes soon or biscuits or cakes ... anything!
If you are a receiver of a bag of Gloop, please post about it below in the comments or something! I would love to know how far my creation got and what you made with it. Pictures would also be awesome although not required!
I'll be trying to keep my batch going here, so if it does die or if you want another baggy, I'll probably have extra or can start a new one just personally for you!
Pictures of weird gloop for your delight!
Day 1! The creation of our beloved Gloop! (Ignore the lumps. I don't have a flour sieve.) You can see my lappy in the background - swish, eh?
Day 1! Proof of yeasty-farts. You can just about see the bubbles at the side of the baggy. This was very early days!
Day 2! Gloop went a bit crazy. I did wonder if it'd manage to explode. I'm thinking the cup of sugar (rather than a tbs!) was a bit like speed for the poor guy. When I opened that bag to release the air the flat got smelled out with tasty beer fragrance!
... and just for fun, here's my microwave-chocolate-cake-in-a-mug! I put marshmallows in there as well. Yum!
... and I made pineapple upsidedown cake using the same microwave technique the very next day - because I'm awesome like that! It tasted fantastic and I made it in a bowl this time and in under 10 minutes. Would have been great with custard!
Click on the below to download the actual letter I'll be giving to my friends!
| gloopinstructions.doc |
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