Hi from Waterloo

The Waterloo in Ontario that is, my mail sometimes makes interesting detours to the other ones.

I've been baking bread for about 5 years now, but have more recently been trying out other kinds of baking as well with good enough results that I'm still trying. I make beer at home too, and have been finding much cross-over between sourdough cultures and brewing cultures. I made (captured) a sourdough culture about 3 years ago under my backyard pear tree using heat treated flour, water and equipment so I could have a very local culture. It's nothing very special, and I've nearly killed it on several occasions but have gradually learned how to care for it properly. I've made my own pizza steel and used it to good effect, at least I seldom hear complaints about pizza for supper :)

My near-term goals are to learn to make some braided loaves and some proper baguettes which I've mostly avoided because they're intimidating.

I'd happily add a profile photo if someone can describe a simple way to convert a photo down to the required 256x256 pixels.