So my virginal sourdough starter finally got big and healthy enough for me to actually use it last Friday. In a frenzy to use my new pet, I baked two loaves on Saturday. The first was a "traditional" idea of a basic sourdough loaf, with a lot of wholegrains. If I recall, the flour was about 50/30/20 between white, wholemeal and wholemeal spelt flour. It was on the low end of what I've learned to be acceptable hydration, mainly because I made the rookie error of spending too much time handling the bread and, worried about stickiness, kept adding more flour. In any case it turned out to be an ok, if somewhat flying saucer shaped, loaf of bread. I used it to make some fancy sandwiches and the other half was suitably impressed. You can see more here: http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/45558/hello-london%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E%C2%A0%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EHowever my next loaf was a bit of a disaster. Determined as I am to rid myself of supermarket bread forever, I knew I had to master the sandwich loaf. Whilst I'm never going to produce the same shape or texture as something mixed at mach 3 in a factory, with more chemicals than a mad scientist laboratory, I wanted something reasonably rectangular that I could put filling in and take to work. Needless to say, I screwed it up. Too much kneading early on, too much flour, not enough proofing- I'm not sure what I did wrong, but what I ended up with was "the brick". I'm guessing most of you have had this- a fine crumb, plutonium dense block better suited as an assault weapon than a food product. I did eat it, because it tasted good, however my other half made it clear she was not appreciating it's finer qualities.
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Poor Lucy had a conniption fit thinking I was having a heart attack:-) All you need to do is fill your tin with water and then divide it by 2 to find out exactly how much dough to put in it. Just weigh the water, less the tin and divide that amount by 2 for the dough amount. If your tin doesn't hold eater just put a plastic shopping bag int he tin first so it holds the water. Dividing by two means you expect the dough to double. If you are making a whole grain loaf that you only want to proof 80% then divide the weight by 1.8 Then lets see if a Brit Fresh Loafian like Gordon can give you a good recipe for a SD Bloomer that works perfect every time. After that, no buying crap Boomers at the store ever again.
No worries - it will all be fine before you know it! Happy baking
Haha, we have all been there for sure! Just be careful though, this SD caper will take over your life! I thought "yeah yeah, that's what they all say" but it's true ......... I am a man possessed!
I even ended taking my starter on a 4 week tour of Spain in our campervan! I have spare starters in the back of the fridge, one in the freezer (well two actually, one raw and one fed).
I read forum after forum, joined Hobbshouse in UK and of courseTFL
It takes you over I tell you! You're doomed! Life will never be the same again!
Feed it a couple times to get it nice and healthy, then stick it in the fridge. You can leave it there for a few months actually without worrying too much about it. When the sourdough urge strikes you again you can take it out and feed it up again in a day or two and it'll be just like it always was.
No need to fear ;-)
Looks like you've got the hang of using sourdough right off the bat. That is a really nice looking sandwich bread even if it was too big for the pan.