Second Sourdough Success

I don't think the first was a fluke. Woohoo!

I got another sponge started on Saturday night and last night pulled this out of the oven.

I am loving how easily this is working for me. Fingers crossed.

Here is a quick run-down of what I am doing adapted from River Cottage Sourdough. (These instructions are probably just as much for myself in case I forget.)

The night before, start the sponge with

• 100g starter (the original recipe says 100ml)
• 250g bread flour
• 300ml warm water

Mix this together to form a paste and leave covered with a cloth overnight.

In the morning, pour sponge, 300g bread flour, 10g salt and a slurp of olive oil into the bread maker. I set this on the dough cycle for about 15 minutes to do the kneading. Have second cup of tea for the day. (Very important step.)

Place the dough in oiled bowl and leave for quite a few hours until doubled in size. The time will vary according to the dough and the temperature. 

Take the dough out and place on a floured bench to very gently knock down and shape. Place loaf in tin/banneton to rise for the second time. This will take a couple of hours.

Preheat oven to 250 C.

Spray loaf and inside oven with a little water. Place dough in the hot over for 10 - 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 200 C and continue cooking for 25 - 35 minutes depending on type of loaf. Spray inside oven again with water.

I have been really impressed with how this has worked (twice!) and following this method, I really think that sourdough will fit into our lifestyle as it can be left during the day to do its thing.

(Thanks cityhippyfarmgirl for all of your help and encouragement to get this up and running.)

Take care

Sourdough Success

I am constantly impressed with the lovely sourdough loaves that come out of the kitchen of cityhippyfarmgirl. I enjoyed having a go at this style of bread when we were living in Berlin, but since our return to Perth, I hadn't managed to start again. It was part not feeling like I really knew what I was doing but also that fact that adding a bit of yeast is so quick and easy.

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.

The sponge after 12 hours.

I did cheat a little as I put the sponge, flour and oil in the bread maker to do the mixing. I never seemed to be able to get this just right when I was making it last time. After about 12 minutes I took it out and gave it a token knead by hand.

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

Bannetons are On My Mind

Another wonderful week has come and gone, full of school holidays and guests from home. Time to join Rhonda.

There is so much to learn on this sourdough journey. Different recipes have different hydration levels, different kneading methods and different proving times. It is a matter of me working out which suits me and my tastes. The loaves from my kitchen so far have been in the shape of tinned loaves.

I took the plunge and bought some handmade bannetons on a recent trip to Manu Factum. I was pretty impressed that I only left with one large round and two small rectangular baskets.

There was now a task ahead of me: to find a recipe that wasn't as wet as the ones I have been using. Images of watery dough oozing out through the gaps in these beautiful cane works of art made me shudder.

I settled on this recipe for the quantities but played around with the timing a little.

I am thrilled with the result as it looked great and tasted pretty good too. It is always a holding-my-breath moment when I cut these open waiting to see if the air bubbles are in all the right places. This loaf had a lovely even amount of bubbles, just right for butter to melt into.

I would love some banneton advice from anyone else who uses proofing baskets.

Take care