So proud of myself – 2 better looking sourdough loaves August 15, 2010

This is purely to show how with a second attempt at scoring the top of the bread you can make it look so much better! Also, the loaf from the oblong tin had no lid and came out beautifully so that would seem to be an optional part of the recipe I gave in my previous post (correct me if I’m wrong, people who know more about bread making!)…

‘Jacques’ (in multiseed sourdough loaf form) August 11, 2010

'Jacques' in bread form

This won’t be the prettiest loaf you’ve ever seen, but it is my first successful loaf using a natural starter and I wanted to record the achievement.

Not only does it mean that I haven’t killed ‘Jacques’ (my starter, apparently it’s good luck to name it and mine is of french origin so it seemed appropriate) but it also means that Clotilde of the fantastic Chocolate and Zuchini blog has provided such a fool-proof set of instructions that anyone can give it a try. I’d recommend it, the feeling is great.

I used a multiseed wholemeal flour and doubted that the texture was right all the way through but the resulting bread is quite light (especially in comparison to any sourdough I’ve had a hand in in the past!), with a chewy crust and a mild sour taste behind the initial seedy hit.

Next stop, some sort of nutty sourdough bread… maybe walnut… I wonder if you can make garlic bread with sourdough…

Sourdough experiments – 3 girls, 6 loaves, 1 KitchenAid June 12, 2010

Me, Jen and our friend Tamsin decided to try to teach ourselves to make bread, we thought it would be a nice change to bake something savoury and you can’t beat soup or stew with big chunks of fresh bread… or as it’s summer, maybe with ham, cheese and a good chutney.

i want one

Firstly, all hail Jen’s shiny, new KitchenAid which made the whole thing much less messy! Normally this wouldn’t be a plus point, I like excuses to get covered in food, but when you’re feeling a little tired it’s much appreciated.

We made one batch of  sourdough made from rye flour and one using strong white flour and yeast, which gave us 1 sourdough mini cottage loaf straight on the baking tray, a large white loaf in a silicon tray, and 4 sourdough mini loaves in silicon trays with various fillings:
Green olives and pimientos
Cheese and onion
Sundried tomatos, green and black olives, capers and cheese