Bread

Prolonged my bulk ferment to nearly 8 hours instead of my usual 4 or so. Batard is nice and active, now going to spend my evening practicing scores

now going to spend my evening practicing scores

I'd start with something easy like 4'33".

Awesome thank you

This turned out good

Made a rye porridge that I added seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame) and left out overnight, then added it to a mix of 80% strong white and 20% spelt. Was hard to judge hydration so had to work in some more flower after the first fold. Think I could've taken the hydration down even more tbh.

Either way, was tasty.

Pretty happy for a first go, oven might have been a tad hot as it was done in 20 minutes (did use a pre-heated pizza stone) and forgot to spray water so did that after five minutes.

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Have been trying to get a sourdough starter on the go for a little while now, maybe a week. Seems to have little bubbles on the top but not much else going on really. Wondered whether the flour was problematic (was strong white bread from lidl), have now started using some nicer strong white bread flour, and pouring out more as well. Last night added in some apple cider vinegar along with the feed and seems a bit more active, but still no great shakes. storing in what is effectively an airing cupboard / hot water tank cupboard.
have been feeding 50g water, 50g flour each day, sometimes splitting by half and doing twice

any ideas?

• should i store it somewhere else?
  
• should i be sticking stricter to the 1:1:1 ratios each day? just seems wasteful to pour away so much, although we do make cookies/flatbread from it
  
  

starting to annoy me a bit now!!

Wholemeal flour will make it more active than just white, try that or a mix of the two

That looks absolutely delicious!

added in some apple cider vinegar

Why? Also, use less flour to top it up. 25g of each is fine per day. Are you in London? If so the hardness of the water might be an issue. Try using bottled water for a few days and see if that makes any difference.

should i store it somewhere else?

Kitchen would be better as there's more of the yeast bacteria in the air in those places (as I understand it), leaving the jar by an open window is also supposed to help - although I'm not sure how true this is if you're in the middle of a very urban environment. Is the lid ajar/the container covered with something breathable? Nowt will happen if the airborne bacteria can't get to the mixture. What's the temperature in the cupboard like? Unless your kitchen is absolutely freezing, I'd be keeping it in there.

I have tried to get a second starter going using rye flour + 25g white/wholemeal starter each day. It doesn't feel like it's got any life in at the moment even though I think rye should make it more active.

Is there anything I should be doing, other than refreshing each day and persisting?

use less flour to top it up. 25g of each is fine per day

Sorry to jump in, but do you mean 1:1:1 of starter:flour:water each day (ie 25g starter, 25g flour, 25g water) or something different?

I've been doing 1:1:1 for the past year and it's been relatively ok, but i think the reason it hasn't been great is because I'm not baking in a cast iron casserole...

I only ever have a small jar of starter as I don't need so much to build a levain, but typically when feeding I dial it down a bit; 10g starter, 50g flour (12g rye, 38g bread) and 50g water at around 80F.

Obviously there's a few more experts on here, but anyone who's new should definitely check out Maurizio's blog, The Perfect Loaf; has guides that are well laid out on all manner of things that are ideal for beginners

Method: In one jar add 25g of water, 25g of flour. Do this daily until you have activity - usually a week. You may need to discard some of this. Discard before topping up, obviously. When it looks ready for using (bubbling a lot a few hours after adding a top up), top it up with larger quantities so you have enough for your dough.
Use the amount of starter needed for your dough - if you're judged it well, there shouldn't be loads of starter left in the jar, add 25g water, 25g flour, and leave until you next need it. Bung it in the fridge if you won't use it again in the next week.
If you've fridged it, bring it out a day before use and bang 25g flour, 25g water in, then top that up to the quantity you need for your dough once the mix is bubbling from the post fridge top up.

Since getting my starter going about a month ago, I've only discarded starter once. It doesn't need fed all the time, nor in big quantities. I've changed the container once as I just leave it out with the lid ajar and it was a bit messy. It always has good activity when I top it up, and I don't bother fridging it because it gets used twice a week to make bread/pizza.

This seems super easy, will definitely give this a go. Haven't had any luck what so ever with starters so far.

I don't know if I'm just lucky, but I've never had any trouble whatsoever. Make sure the container is properly cleaned and rinsed - soap residue is bad, obviously.
Also be aware that you might get an early bloom on day 3, it won't be ready at this stage, so keep to the normal schedule.

Greensmiths on lower marsh (waterloo) have bread flour and dried yeast for those who are still looking and south west/east London based.

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oven might have been a tad hot

Your loaf looks great tbh. I've burnt a few loaves by leaving the top heating element on or leaving it on the fan setting as they just dry out too fast. A hot oven is good (most domestic ovens will only go to about 250 celcius so just whack it up) but you want an even heat and the quicker the crust dries out the more likely you are to get some burn. I preheat on the fan setting and then switch to the lower heating element only when I put the dough in (onto preheated stone), with a baking tray on the lower shelf and pour a bit of water in the tray to create steam (for a chewier crust).

For the first time, I think I have a loaf I am aesthetically pleased with

I would certainly be, like so many in this thread that loaf looks great.

Ladies and chaps. If anybody is out of bread flour and and would like to buy some, read on.

The Snapery, a small commercial bakery in Bermondsey, is well stocked with Shipton Mill Canadian and instant yeast. I'd highly recommend you try a loaf of their bread too if you visit, I really do believe they are one of the best bakeries in the UK. Their cinnamon buns are incredible.

They previously supplied the high end restaurant trade and Fortnum & Mason and as you can imagine, that door has firmly closed for now. Hence why they are baking for the public and selling flour to try to make ends meet.

A couple of catches:

• They're charging a little bit more than Shipton Mill. They need to make some money I guess.

• Collection from SE1 unless you agree other arrangements with them.

Send them an email if you are interested.

info@thesnaperybakery.com

Yeah, probably my best yet

Apologies if re-post.

For those having trouble finding flour, this is great flour and good value. Seems to be out of stock by the afternoon most days.

https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/products/organic-flour-box

We are trialling an Organic Flour Baking Box in our webshop. It is the only Doves Farm branded item available to shop currently. It will be available to purchase for a limited time each weekday. It is limited to 1 box per household per week. Orders not adhering to this will unfortunately be cancelled and refunded. Note this box cannot be bought together with our Gluten Free Food Box.

Oi stop killing my business. ;)

Thanks! One of my better loaves. Think it came in at 800grams and it’s almost gone...