It felt like time to give it another go.
By following instructions from here I got the starter underway about a week ago. Day by day I have added a little more flour with equal amounts of water and watched my baby grow before my eyes.
Last night I started by preparing the sponge. This isn't how I remembered doing it last time but thought that Hugh wouldn't do me wrong.
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| The sponge after 12 hours. |
About 5 hours later it had certainly more than double so took it out, gave it a very gentle pat down and pulled it tight into itself. Using the gorgeous banneton that I bought in Germany, I set the loaf to rest for the second time. This took about 2 hours and I was almost too scared to gently tip it out.
But I did.
I was so excited that I hadn't dropped the loaf and made it collapse that I forgot to slash the top. About five minutes into the back I quickly gave it one slash across the top. Mental note to self: Don't just do one slash as it looks a bit rude.
The finished loaf came out of the oven about 40 minutes later and the bigger mouse commented on how it looked like a work of art. I was pretty impressed myself but that is high praise coming from my biggest baby.
I did restrain myself and wait for it to cool. I was so happy I did. It would have to be one of the best loaves I have ever made.
Perfect accompaniment for the pot of pumpkin soup sitting on the stove.
Woohoo!
Take care
Oh! Do you put your dough straight in the banneton? I usually line mine with a tea towel, I thought you had to, oh wow! What temp did you bake at please?
ReplyDeleteGee you've done well.
Hi, Rose. Yep, I've always put it straight in. Just make sure to give it a good coating of flour and the dough isn't wet. I also saw on a youtube video that some people use semolina flour in the banneton.
DeleteI put it in at 250 degrees for 15 mins and then turned it down to 200, just as Hugh told me to.
Thanks, I'll give it a go.
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