Bread

The room is cool enough that it's not overproving - or, at least, doesn't appear to be overproving.

The last loaf proved for a looong time - I mixed my timings up, and was never at home at the right time to chuck it in the oven. I just put it in the fridge to slow it down - Still tastes ok though. Just the bake that needs work.

The proof of the prove is in the bake. Of the pudding. Or something.

Is that your condescension dripping from the glass ceiling?

Someone should crack a window to let out the hot air...

Although I'm more than grateful for the advice, obvs.

& winky smiley for the post above too, just in case there's any doubt that it's meant as anything other than a joke.

You mean you don't eat an entire loaf a day?

Loaf 1 - Inedibly dense. Rye flour was a mistake.
Loaf 2 - Base did not bake properly, proved for a looong time, could do better.
Loaf 3 - Work in progress.

& winky smiley for the post above too, just in case there's any doubt that it's meant as anything other than a joke.

Someone might still misunderstand it as a Beagle winky, though. Beagle winky

Try unglazed terracotta/porcelain tiles on the bottom rung of the oven with the grill tray full of boiling water, a minute or so before the bread goes in, on the bottom of the oven.

Loaf 3 - Work in progress.

I left the loaf on too high a heat for too long and burned the top.

The irony that I was distracted watching GBBO Masterclass is not lost on me.

Still - the unburned crust was damn near perfect, and the bread tasted amazing.

The structure looked spot on, but the texture was a touch rubbery - I'm guessing this is because the starter is quite wet.

I'm going to refresh the starter with more flour to water, and possibly use a little less.

I feel like I'm getting close to baking a decent loaf now.

Today's effort. Once again dough was very wet, but lots of gas in this one too. Good crust as well.

1 Attachment

no soggy bottom, nice crumb, good bake......

Tried the dutch oven method today, leaving pretty much everything else the same (apart from a slightly higher proportion of white to wholemeal).

Absolutely transformed the loaf. Dutch oven prevented the outside from crusting up too quickly, meaning masses more oven spring. Loaf is at least 30% bigger than last week's effort. Stuck it on a baking tray to brown it off for 5 minutes at the end.

Only thing wrong was that I slightly deformed one side in transferring it to the casserole. But then I hadn't used the fridge to prove at all, so it was a bit more fragile than it sounds like you guys are getting.

Would bake again!

Serious Eats is currently running a Breadmaking 101 servies that uses the Dutch Oven method. Some good background info too.

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Where are you?

Elephant.

I'm in Vauxhall - you're welcome to come and grab some from me.

Can meet centrally, my starter is vegan and used rhubarb.

I have a question. When you are using the fridge to prove sourdough, do you do so on the first stage, or the second stage, or both?

I'm already making a sponge/poolish to pre-ferment outside the fridge, but have been thinking I'd like to improve the structure of my final product, and slowing the whole thing down a bit could achieve that.

I have been doing the first prove on the countertop, the second one I leave for maybe two hours on the countertop then in the refrigerator overnight.

Awesome, cheers.

Are people using organic flour for the sourdough starter? I was told it was the most reliable / best choice.

Is this true?

I'd be circumspect without an objective test.

I used a wholewheat flour that had been ground four weeks before I used it. The wheat was from fields that weren't organic but don't think that it made a difference, I stuck a few bit of rhubarb in to give things a bit of food to get things going.

So would I but it's food. Hard to quantify tbh...

Ok. Why rhubarb? Acidic content?