My sourdough journey

With a new cloche to try, let's see what difference it makes to a sourdough. I used the same process for everything else, just a different pot to cook in! 

I'd bought a packet of spelt flour a while ago, but hadn't yet got round to baking with it.

The days are getting shorter, and colder, so will this affect my baking?

Obviously, colder temperatures will mean that proofing would take longer, but what about the fact we're home all day (because of Covid) and we have central heating?

I've been increasingly convinced that the dish I was baking in just wasn't big enough.

This time, I did both the bulk rise and the second rise on the same day - from autolyse to bake in 11 hours.

I wanted to rely on visual clues and my instincts, rather than just leaving for the times the recipe told me.

This loaf tasted delicious and had a great height, but it was just a little too big for the pot, so kind of caved in on itself whilst it baked. 

It's a shame, because I think this would have been a beautiful loaf but was just hindered by

Everything just seemed to go right with this loaf - the shape, the colour, the way I was able to handle it, the crumb structure, and the taste!

My sister-in-law said it was the "best sourdough she had ever had".

As you probably know, the discard from your starter can be put towards lots of other recipes.

This time, I was determined to get a loaf that had the signature banneton lines and didn't stick to the banneton when it was time to bake.

I baked a previous loaf the day before this, and on the whole, it was great, but it stuck to the b

After the success of my room-temperature-overnight-proof  sandwich loaf, I was keen to try this same method with my regular loaf.

To be honest, I'm still too much of a novice to really know if a proof is complete and the dough ready to g

I thought I'd try something different, and I also needed some bread to toast, so I tried baking a sourdough loaf in a bread tin.

I have two slices of toast every morning (with two boiled eggs) and usually have a loaf of granary or white

My starter was looking stronger than ever, so I was excited by this bake!

I'd fed the starter wholemeal flour to give it some oomph, and that gave me a much stronger and thicker starter - certainly stronger than the previous runny starte

I've been keeping my 'mother' starter in the fridge and have fed it weekly so far.

After more than three months in lockdown, today we're finally having a socially-distanced meet with my mum and dad.

I was keen to take a loaf to get another opinion - and as a gift!

A good friend of mine donated some of their sourdough starter to me, which they had previously inherited from their brother.

I'd never really paid much attention to this sourdough craze going around.