If you have been getting a sourdough starter going – well done. A shout-out to three people who have contacted me and I know have some flour bubbling away on their kitchen counters: Zoe somewhere near Leeds, Lucy in Shropshire and Lois somewhere in New Zealand. Congratulations to you three (and everyone else who’s giving it a go) for starting your sourdough journey. After five days, your starter should be bubbly and you are ready to make bread. If it isn’t looking very ‘active’ keep going – maybe another day or two. Remember, while you are ‘getting it going’ you need to add to it every day. Starters develop and improve over time; so, if yours isn’t as active as mine… don’t panic – just keep going – your bakes will get better (and higher) as time goes by.
Hopefully, soon you will have tried the basic bread recipe and will have had some success making small loaves. Now is the time to experiment… make one big loaf… try different slashes and shapes… add different ingredients.
As an example, I made two large loaves this morning: one plain white and the other ‘seeded’. Here are some photos and instructions to inspire you. I started by weighing out two lots of white flour (500g each); one I left plain and to the other I added some seeds – I used linseeds (flax), poppy seeds and sunflower seeds.
The next few stages are the same as for the basic bread: salt goes in, mix up the leaven, add the water and form the dough.
Put a lid on it and leave overnight. This is what mine looked like at 7am:
Knock back and place into well oiled and floured loaf tins.
Remember to dust the tops with flour and leave in a warm and humid place for about 90 minutes.
Once risen, slash to tops and bake at 200C for 35 mins.
And leave to cool on a rack
we weren’t able to wait and started on the seeded loaf for breakfast
