Sourdough breadmaking
Discussion
Terrible! 
It didn't rise particularly well and then I found it was under baked/heavy and it sank. Bit of a disaster!
I suspect my starter was the problem, it lacked va-va-voom so I plan to restart it. I shall not be defeated!
I made up for it by baking a white bloomer (a now weekly routine) and that made up for it
It didn't rise particularly well and then I found it was under baked/heavy and it sank. Bit of a disaster!
I suspect my starter was the problem, it lacked va-va-voom so I plan to restart it. I shall not be defeated!
I made up for it by baking a white bloomer (a now weekly routine) and that made up for it
Having produced several rather heavy dense loaves over the alst few weeks, I've decided to go back a step, and having bought Paul Hollywoods book the other week am starting with his basic white bloomer. My immediate conclusion is that Iv'e been making my sourdough way too dry (a common rookie mistake according to Hollywood). From Boo's original recipe I ended up not adding as much water and putting more flour in to try and get the consistency I thought i needed, I've just used a bit less water than Hollywood suggests and still produced a dough way wetter than I've been making. It's currently rising so time will tell.
Yes I agree about the consistancy.
It's a fine balance between being too wet and too dry. The starter itself is adding liquid to the mix, and will vary from week to week according to how active it is when making the dough.
I set todays batch off at 6.00am and it took until about 2.30pm before it was ready for knockback, then took another 3hrs before it was ready for the oven.
The loaves have risen fine though, just took a bit longer than normal.
So the message is - keep at it, you'll get there.
It's a fine balance between being too wet and too dry. The starter itself is adding liquid to the mix, and will vary from week to week according to how active it is when making the dough.
I set todays batch off at 6.00am and it took until about 2.30pm before it was ready for knockback, then took another 3hrs before it was ready for the oven.
The loaves have risen fine though, just took a bit longer than normal.
So the message is - keep at it, you'll get there.
Made one at the weekend, and think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm going to be away for a few weeks on work and don't trust the Mrs to keep the sourdough alive while I'm away, so decided to use it all up. Ended up being about 50/50 flour and starter which rose better than previous attempts. Having read a bit Paul Hollywoods book, instead of doing it in a tin, I did the second prove in a well dusted bowl and then turned it out on to the baking sheet to get a nice round loaf.
There's some fantastic looking breads in Hollywoods book so I think when I'm back I'm going to work through a fair few other ones before I go back to sourdough, but I'm going to keep at the bread making, there's something far more satisfying about doing it properly than just chucking all the ingredients in the breadmaker.
There's some fantastic looking breads in Hollywoods book so I think when I'm back I'm going to work through a fair few other ones before I go back to sourdough, but I'm going to keep at the bread making, there's something far more satisfying about doing it properly than just chucking all the ingredients in the breadmaker.
Completely separately to this thread I have just started making bread. the OH got me a book and some tins for my birthday last month. Made two wholemeal loaves so far, second one a lot better than the first.
I'm going to make some white bread and rolls this weekend. Any tips for making soft light white bread?
I'm never too sure how long I should be kneading for. Many things say '10 minutes' but I always feel like it should be longer.
I'm going to make some white bread and rolls this weekend. Any tips for making soft light white bread?
I'm never too sure how long I should be kneading for. Many things say '10 minutes' but I always feel like it should be longer.
I only found this thread a couple of weeks ago and the first batch is just going into the oven in an hour - so far so good, the instructions were great OP, everything looked just like yours, so am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get a dense brick like I do with my normal bread making!
I even had a perfect mount Vesuvius overnight!
One question though, mine is working with unbleached white flour that a friend recommended, rather than the rye, so I don't understand which types of flour are appropriate to start a culture and which aren't - any tips?
I even had a perfect mount Vesuvius overnight!
One question though, mine is working with unbleached white flour that a friend recommended, rather than the rye, so I don't understand which types of flour are appropriate to start a culture and which aren't - any tips?
Any kind of flour will start a culture sooner or later.
The reason I use a 50/50 mix of rye/strong white for my starter is purely down to the flavour it imparts to the bread.
There is also a theory that (due to its unprocessed nature) - stoneground rye flour has a greater content of natural live yeasts/bacterias - thus getting the culture off to a quicker start.
The reason I use a 50/50 mix of rye/strong white for my starter is purely down to the flavour it imparts to the bread.
There is also a theory that (due to its unprocessed nature) - stoneground rye flour has a greater content of natural live yeasts/bacterias - thus getting the culture off to a quicker start.
Edited by Boo152 on Friday 3rd May 01:12
Thanks, I had no idea that yeast naturally occurred on flour at all - so shows what I know.
So I did a couple of things differently to your receipe - used olive oil rather than veg, used Wallaby flour (for those in Aus), put a tray of water in the oven and didn't oil the cling film for the overnight rising, so lost about 50g of dough this morning - doh!
Results: I did one large cob first, for 22 minutes at 220c and it was massively undercooked, the top started to get the wide holes in it that you get in commercial sourdough, but the rest was a big stodgy lump.
Fortunately I split the batch so then baked 2 small loaf tins for 35mins at 200 and they are much more consistently cooked, but the consistency is of small airholes rather than the big ones I was expecting.
The flavour though is fabulous, so hopefully I'm not too far off.
So - 2 questions:
As per another participant, what is the best tip for getting it light and not too stodgy - apart from baking for enough time ? Was the best suggestion keeping the dough pretty sticky?
Secondly I haven't got the classic sourdough structure I was expecting, are there any tips anyone has to try?
OP - maybe you could show a picture of one of your loaves cut open, as a guide?
So I did a couple of things differently to your receipe - used olive oil rather than veg, used Wallaby flour (for those in Aus), put a tray of water in the oven and didn't oil the cling film for the overnight rising, so lost about 50g of dough this morning - doh!
Results: I did one large cob first, for 22 minutes at 220c and it was massively undercooked, the top started to get the wide holes in it that you get in commercial sourdough, but the rest was a big stodgy lump.
Fortunately I split the batch so then baked 2 small loaf tins for 35mins at 200 and they are much more consistently cooked, but the consistency is of small airholes rather than the big ones I was expecting.
The flavour though is fabulous, so hopefully I'm not too far off.
So - 2 questions:
As per another participant, what is the best tip for getting it light and not too stodgy - apart from baking for enough time ? Was the best suggestion keeping the dough pretty sticky?
Secondly I haven't got the classic sourdough structure I was expecting, are there any tips anyone has to try?
OP - maybe you could show a picture of one of your loaves cut open, as a guide?
There you go, a cut loaf 
Some pointers to bear in mind.
1) If the dough is still sticky when you put it back the bowl you may not be kneading for long enough. As a general rule, you should knead 'til the dough is no longer sticking to your hands or to the worktop.
2) The larger the loaf, the longer the baking time, and the longer the baking time the lower the temperature. Each oven is different, so you will need to experiment with your temperatures and times to get the right results.
3) Commercial Sourdough? Pah! No such thing! My understanding is that 'Ciabbata' i.e the bread with the big airholes in it, was invented in the 80s to sell to the UK chattering classes at vastly inflated prices! Marks & Spencer & Waitrose love selling you expensive processed air rather than proper bread!
Some pointers to bear in mind.
1) If the dough is still sticky when you put it back the bowl you may not be kneading for long enough. As a general rule, you should knead 'til the dough is no longer sticking to your hands or to the worktop.
2) The larger the loaf, the longer the baking time, and the longer the baking time the lower the temperature. Each oven is different, so you will need to experiment with your temperatures and times to get the right results.
3) Commercial Sourdough? Pah! No such thing! My understanding is that 'Ciabbata' i.e the bread with the big airholes in it, was invented in the 80s to sell to the UK chattering classes at vastly inflated prices! Marks & Spencer & Waitrose love selling you expensive processed air rather than proper bread!
Quality speedy sliced loaf posting!
Mines exactly that consistency, so I am almost doing it right - the 2nd of my 2 loaves was pretty much there and tastes great, I just put too little dough in the tin, but I'll correct that on tonight's batch if the starter gets a move on.
I'm still curious about how they get those big holes in the sourdough toast I buy at work though!! I think I'll go with another cob, as that's what they use, as maybe the lack of constraint of the bread tin helps???
Anyway, I reckon the dough consistency is exactly as you describe, so I'm going to focus on getting the bake time right I think.
Cheers!
Mines exactly that consistency, so I am almost doing it right - the 2nd of my 2 loaves was pretty much there and tastes great, I just put too little dough in the tin, but I'll correct that on tonight's batch if the starter gets a move on.
I'm still curious about how they get those big holes in the sourdough toast I buy at work though!! I think I'll go with another cob, as that's what they use, as maybe the lack of constraint of the bread tin helps???
Anyway, I reckon the dough consistency is exactly as you describe, so I'm going to focus on getting the bake time right I think.
Cheers!
Some serious consistency going on there!
I've just done my second batch, which was a total experiment but ended up PERFECT!! I'm stunned.
So, I finished the dough at 10pm last night, by 8:30am it looked ready to knock back, but as I had to go out I came back at 10:30am to find it pouring everywhere, with the ends all drying out. So I knocked it all back and got 3 loaves ready.
I then forgot we were out for the day, so instead of 90 mins to rise they had 5 hours! As a result they were huge and I thought probably full of massive holes, so I knocked one back again (which I am surprised to see is rising again) and baked the other two.
This time they went in at 250 for 5 minutes and then down to 200 for 30 mins. I've never had such a good loaf - light fluffy, slightly bigger holes than last time, but ideal size - am totally chuffed - just a shame the process took 20 hours to complete, but such good results make it worthwhile.
So....What's the best storage method? I'll freeze some, but would be good to have one loaf to keep for tomorrow
I've just done my second batch, which was a total experiment but ended up PERFECT!! I'm stunned.
So, I finished the dough at 10pm last night, by 8:30am it looked ready to knock back, but as I had to go out I came back at 10:30am to find it pouring everywhere, with the ends all drying out. So I knocked it all back and got 3 loaves ready.
I then forgot we were out for the day, so instead of 90 mins to rise they had 5 hours! As a result they were huge and I thought probably full of massive holes, so I knocked one back again (which I am surprised to see is rising again) and baked the other two.
This time they went in at 250 for 5 minutes and then down to 200 for 30 mins. I've never had such a good loaf - light fluffy, slightly bigger holes than last time, but ideal size - am totally chuffed - just a shame the process took 20 hours to complete, but such good results make it worthwhile.
So....What's the best storage method? I'll freeze some, but would be good to have one loaf to keep for tomorrow
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