The Sourdough Queen Has Passed On Her Magic

I have to post this to give a Great Big Thank You to my good friend blogger Gill who is responsible for my recent addiction to baking sourdough.  Gill makes very impressive bread and has been my mentor with the sourdough.  Because of her generosity of passing on a starter she has turned my bread making life into magic.  With Gill holding my hand over e-mails back and forth I now produce a loaf a day with ease using a no-kneading method.  Not only do I have warm crusty bread but I get the best toast…sourdough toast reigns supreme...oh yes…

I’m in my third week of bread making and I’m still going through a learning curve, like yesterday the bread seemed to take longer to bake than normal, mixture seemed wetter, I had it in the fridge proving overnight like normal but the dough appeared to be different to when I put it in my second fridge.  I’ve had loaves that have spread out more giving a shape of a focaccia rather than the oval shape above, but then I’m very relaxed with rising times, don’t  follow the clock and get distracted with the day.  What I’ve discovered with the sourdough bread is that it really doesn’t seem to matter what shape it comes out, the taste is superb and the crust is wonderfully crispy.  I’ve now split the starter into two in order to experiment with wholemeal and rye flours.

Gill gave me a very good tip with the oven to turn it on to the highest setting and then turn it to 200C (fan) when the bread goes in.  I let the oven heat up for a good 15-20 mins at the highest setting and have a large metal tray on the bottom heating up too.  Just before I put the bread in I add cold water to the now very hot tray to produce a good head of steam to help the bread crust well.  With this method I have managed to achieve perfect crust every time.  My baking trays are non-stick which are bad conductors of heat so when the bread is a dark tan and crisp on the top and pretty much near ready I turn it upside down to crisp up the bottom because it needs it.

I have made successful breads in the past but my love is for the crusty, slight chewy and excellent taste of a white sourdough…well I never thought I could produce it at home.  After an excellent bread shop selling sourdough baguettes nearby closed down I was so disappointed until now.  I’m having fun with my doughs, learning about how it can change from day to day with the slight change of timings or methods, it’s all a fun learning curve.  I was expecting the fun element of it and I even expected at some point to produce good bread and was surprised it happen by the second attempt, I got very excited like an 8 year old receiving a puppy.  But I never expected for this type of bread making to be as therapeutic as it has been…and I have Gill to thank for that.  Isn’t it wonderful when good food brings people together?