About 23C, sat next to a handy open sided PC



My attempts so far have all been 50%.



I'm not stressing about it. I don't tend to manage light airy loaves even with commercial yeast, think my technique needs work somewhere.

I'm planning on doing a one day breadmaking course next spring, think I need to go back and learn the basics from someone who actually knows what they are doing.

Same here, if I had the time I'd book a course here:

http://www.breadmatters.com/advocacy.htm

Definitely up the hydration on your bread. I'll typically do sourdough between 65-70%. You won't necessarily get more rise before you bake, but you'll definitely get oven spring.

If you really, really want super airy bread, try some variation on the no-knead recipe. That's super-wet dough, super-sticky, so you generally get your hands wet each time you stick your hands in the bowl to minimize sticking. Plus you handle the dough as little as possible to keep all the bubbles intact. Also, if you don't want to monkey with the whole Dutch oven aspect of the recipe, definitely get a baking stone, a steam pan of some sort, and use silicone parchment paper (or reusable silicone baking mats) to make it easy to get the dough into the oven.

You might try being scientific about it. Mix up some dough at three different hydrations (say, 50, 60, and 70%) and do a double-blind tasting with some friends.

Classes are fun and all, but you only really need a good book. (Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice is the classic, but his newer Artisan Breads Every Day may be less intense and more helpful.) It's also helpful to have access to a guru to pick for advice. I got a lot of mileage out of a friend-of-a-friend who was a serious baker.

Making definitely progress, very much happier with the rise on this one.




I'm also experimenting with the no knead bread, though I think I should have used a bigger bowl, will probably escape by the morning...

That looks really good.

That's about as good as you're going to get out of sourdough, in terms of air. How's it taste?

I tried this today and it was an unmitigated disaster. It rose beautifully, both before and after I knocked it back.

But it stuck to the whole of the bottom of the pan, I had to dig it out in pieces. I also didn't cook it for long enough, it was doughy even though the skewer came out clean.

To top it all off I didn't put enough salt in and also the crust is solid and chewy.

Looked very pretty before it got baked though...

Only a tiny sour taste, which I'm fine with. Even without a strong sour taste it still tastes better than bread made without the starter.

Yeah, I wondered how it came out but there was a discussion on there about sticking and it didn't seem to be an issue. I definitely need more practice to find out where I'm going wrong, even with unleavened breads; when I make chapattis sometimes they're light and blow up in the middle and other times they just don't and end up a bit chewy.

You wouldn't think it'd be so hard to get right!

On the no knead:

I've done this a lot, and I've never had a sticking problem. It's possible that your pot isn't well seasoned. You might also go with a more traditional baking stone and steam pan. If you do that, try the silicone parchment paper trick. It's fantastic.

On getting extra sourness:

To some extent, you're at the mercy of your local bacteria and yeast. You get what they give you. There are a few variables you can tweak, like time, temperature, and hydration for the preferment, but ultimately you get what you get.

If you take leftover bread and make French toast (pain perdue), you'll find that sometimes intensifies the bread's flavor. Sourdough becomes more sour. Rye bread becomes more strongly rye flavored.

It really did stick well: