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I have been baking bread regularly for about 4 years now, since I attended a course run by Richard Bertinet (RB) in Bath, UK. I generally make white sandwich bread, focaccia and baguettes to RB's recipes and methods but the bread I bake most frequently is a spelt sourdough (200g wholemeal spelt, 200g white spelt, 200g of sourdough starter made to RB's methodology with 7g salt and 300g water as well as 5g ascorbic acid). Here are a few pictures of my recent efforts.
Two of my spelt sourdough loaves from the same batch of dough, the one on the left was (over)proofed at room temperature (20C) for about 14 hours whilst the one on the right was cold retarded and spent 22 hours in my fridge and was baked straight from the fridge. Views of the crumb of each loaf are shown below - the loaves are in the same position as the top picture.
I also produced a loaf using 750g of white flour that I proofed in a new basket bought from a deli in Normandy for 5 euro!
Also, using RB's recipe for focaccia, I made a "pizza bread" for my children (14 & 17). I don't dimple the top as you would for focaccia but prove it surrounded by a tea towel and spread tomato puree on the top after proving, topped with slices of our own tomatoes and, after 8 minutes in the oven, a good sprinkle of cheddar cheese, bake for another 4 mins then add a good sprinkle of parmesan and bake for another 3 to 4 mins. The puree "caramelised" a bit more than I would have liked but I wanted it to keep the centre of the loaf moist without adding more oil. Whatever, my daughters' "pizza bread" loaf was half devoured by my cousin and his wife who visited just as it was cool enough to eat!
I placed the last two loaves side by side to show the crumb.
I used RB's method of working the dough (although I mix the ingredients in my Kenwood) but I added in a couple of S&Fs along the way. Hydration on the white loaves was around the 65% level, rather than the 70% in RB's recipes and no cold retarding was used.
I plan to have another go at ciabatta next (again) to see if I can get the open crumb that I like.
Ruralidle
I would love to get such nice crumb, mine is much tigher and more dense.
The pizza bread sounds wonderful, but for me its not a good idea, as bread seems to affect my sugar levels greatly. So I can bake it but not eat it!
Thanks for your comments, EvaB. I am still experimenting to find the method that yields my most favourite results. The "pizza bread" is a favourite of my younger two daughters and I had set out to obtain a fairly close crumb (compared to some breads) on both white loaves.
I know something about diabetes. as I was diagnosed with Type II 4.5 years ago but my eldest daughter (now almost 22) was diagnosed Type I (IDD) about 18 years ago! She enjoys all my bread - except the sourdough varieties - and thinks the Type 1 is easier to deal with than Type II diabetes because if she eats too much bread (or other form of carbohydrate) she just injects more short acting insulin! Personally, I use my spelt sourdough for my breakfast toast but the home-made marmalade and jams have more effect on my sugars than my bread does!
Ruralidle
looks very rich with all that melted cheese.
Now that I have learnt to knead the RB way, I am going to start trying out some of his recipes in his Dough book since I'm more interested in yeasted breads, sourdough starters are too complex for me.
Judy
Judy
Sourdoughs are not too complex, honestly, if you use RB's method from "Crust". I'm pleased you have tried the slap & fold technique and I will comment on your topic about that.
Best Wishes
Ruralidle
from my health food store, its made in the US called Pamona's Pectin, it can be adjusted to almost no sugar at all in jams and jellies, it uses a different type of setting agent, along with pectin. Much better than the certo which you have to use soo much sugar with. I quit eating any jam or jelly because it was like eating straight sugar with a faint taste of the fruit.
You can make jam and jelly by the old fashioned methods of boiling it down, and I have done that, you need to add very little sugar or none to the fruit for that method, the only thing is they don't keep as well of course. But they do have better flavour and much nicer consistancy, not like cutting jelly candy with a knife. And you can actually spread some of it!
As long as I don't eat more than a small bit of bread during the day, I am ok, I can even eat a bit of pasta or potatoes without doing too badly, but simply cannot eat pizza or not more than one slice, which really isn't enough if your main meal is the pizza.