as you know I have an on / off relationship with my sourdough… i’ve been through hundreds of recipes, thousands of trials… i’ve had the temperature up high… i’ve had water in the oven to create steam… i’ve kneaded and then not kneaded and until this morning i’ve had sourdough that was ok… but not quite right…
… and whilst i’d like to credit one person to my success today I think, to be fair it’s been a combination of my original recipe, with Luc’s help and more than a little bit of know-how from Ruth… and it seems i’m getting there…
… not quite perfect but now I know what not to do and will adapt next time… my main issue is that my oven only goes to 190c and although it’s fan assisted and has never given me any bother baking or roasting anything ever before, it doesn’t quite cut the mustard for sourdough…
I used Ruth’s brilliant recipe and step-by-step guide which you can see for yourself here but I used a loaf tin and then my original technique of putting it into a cold oven to bake…
… and the result… not quite perfect but I got that glorious combination of soft and chewy inside with a crispy crunchy crust… love it!
eat and of course, enjoy!
I have never been quite brave enough to attempt anything so adventurous (adventurous = anything requiring starters and/or yeast!)
Good on ya Dom!
Dom – it looks fab! Good on you for experimenting and doing things your own way too. I really am flattered that you think I helped – and thanks for name dropping Luc. Its a new blog for me to siubscribe to.
RIP Lucretia. Hope you get a new thriving 'pet' soon so we can swap more experiments!!
Well that is quite a farewell she left you with Dom! Love all the 'holy' goodness!
Poor, poor, Lucretia. May she rest in peace.
That looks fabulous. I'm jealous of your success with the bread. Sourdough is by far my favorite so I will have to give it a try!!
RIP Lucretia, what a fancy gorgeous name for a starter. Hahaha.
I've got to make and nurture my own Lucretia one day.
Love the loaf-tin effect on the bread.
Looks like she “rose” to the occasion!
So, how about the contest to name your next starter?
Hey Dom, That crunchy outer crust has done Lucretia proud! As for getting the heatup and maintaining it, I am trying out terra cotta tiles placed on the uppermost and lowermost racks in my oven. The oven gets preheated for at least twenty minutes and then the bread is baked in clay pans … that Tuscan bread was the first to made with this technique and the crust was awesome and chewy inner loaf was perfect … just something for you to try… once your new starter is ready for action.
Looks good. I've found that whereas my yeasted baking got better reasonably quickly, I'll have sourdough success followed by utter failure followed by reasonable success and so on – very frustrating! I think we both need to persevere for perfection!
I think you should arrange a little daughter for Lucretia … you know you want to!
My sourdough, Gertrude is a macerated schlop in a Tupperware sitting on top of my tumble dryer. I am too frightened to open the container. I suspect I will be binning the whole thing.
No, I didn't know Lucretia had passed to the other side 😉 What on earth did you do to her? Lucretia notwithstanding, your sourdough sounds just as it should.
What happened to Lucretia?? I just flew back to Singapore for summer and LEFT MY POOR STARTER IN LONDON. almost chose to miss my plane to get it back and then decided it was stupid. i'm crushed though.