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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Bread Update and Ink

Two posts in two days, what is going on? No reno work thats for sure.
Here is an update on the bread as promised. Up until now I have had to add yeast to my sourdough bread to get any rise out of it what so ever, so although I was getting the sourdough flavour, it just wasn't true sourdough. I have been using the kitchen aid to do the initial kneading of the dough, enough to bring it all together, then doing the hard yards myself but still with little success, plus the fact, when kneading the dough the bowl of the kitchen aid gets well and truly stuck in the base, has anyone else had this problem?
I use my bread maker constantly but only to make dough and always have lovely textured wholemeal bread, so thought I would just substitute the sourdough ingredients and do the same thing. The feel of the dough was a vast improvement on any of my earlier attempts and it rose up beautifully while sitting in the kitchen during most of yesterday, my timing was all out to leave it overnight in the fridge, so did it as I normally would with a yeast dough but over a much longer period.
The moment of truth came for me to flip it out onto a hot tray, use the trusty lame to give it a quick slashing and then hope for that "oven spring"



Well it sprung all right, but only at one end? So I ended up with this weird looking loaf and yes the end is missing because I just couldn't resist tasting it piping hot straight from the oven. So if anyone reading this has any idea why this may of happened, please leave me a comment, it's a mystery to me. I thought maybe my oven is a lot hotter one side than the other, very possible as it is an absolute heap of junk and I can't wait to get another but we won't go down that path right now.
It could have been cooked longer and the crumb isn't perfect, but it is slightly chewy with a beautiful crust and tastes just great.

I made my starter and bread using this cookbook

The Italian Cookery Course: Over 300 Authentic Regional Recipes and 40 Masterclasses on Technique

It is one of the best cook books I have come across for a while. The bread making section is brilliant and not too complicated. The starter is simple and straight forward and as long as you use organic flour and filtered water, amazingly quick. I have the happiest, bubbliest starter sitting in my fridge ready for my next attempt.

I used the recipe for the Rustic White Bread with Madre, substituting the white flour for wholemeal and increasing the water content by 50ml.
I put the ingredients into the bread maker in the order I would if making a yeast wholemeal dough and used the dough setting.  This is the closest I have come to that perfect sourdough loaf, and by using the bread maker, the one that took the least amount of effort. It has been over two years now since I went out and bought a loaf of bread, so hoping I can get this method to work with consistent results.

On to the Inks and stamps, they arrived yesterday afternoon, too late to do anything with, so this morning I went out the back to play around with them. They are so versatile and I know I am only scratching the surface of what they are capable of but here are a few pages I have started and some "handmade" tags.









2 comments:

Gill said...

Fantastic bread Tracy! We make sourdough all the time using Clothilde's recipe from her blog Chocolate and Zucchini - link is http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2009/07/natural_starter_bread.php

and other posts which follow for crumpets and all kinds of other goodies. I can recommend her method as a truly failsafe one.

I too am having similar issues with b***** google ever since I signed up for an account on a different computer. Now it uses that new email address as the default and I can't get my old one back. aaaargh!!

I'll try to drop you a line on your new addy...

Anyway, glad you enjoyed the trip - and I'm pleased you've been busy too ;-) I'm delighted with my craftrobo - now called a Silhouette. works a dream with paper and though I've got the fabric stuff (interfacing I think) to prep fabric for it, I haven't done it yet. Haven't read such good accounts about the fabric one so far - the one which is based on the Sissix Big Shot. I think there's an electronic one similar - but way more expensive - than the Craft robo which cuts fabric too, but it's into major outlay money and would be a Very Serious Puchase.

Lovely to hear from you as always - and two blogs in two days, too!

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Hi Tracy, I am so happy you are in Tag Tuesday. I really hope you enjoy it. Big hugs to you for a very happy new year and lots of blessings throughout 2012, Carolyn x