December 1, 2015 - 4:16am
Hi all,
Hi
I'm Bekki, 31, from Devon UK and long time TFL lurker. I've been playing with sourdough for 4-5 years, took me a while to get to grips with, and then get into a routine with, but my baking has really taken off in the last 2 years, and for about the last 6-7 months I've been baking weekly. I've done lots of experimenting and currently I use this recipe tweaked slightly and this method. I also like to use excess starter to make all sorts of other things. I made popovers recently and so next time I actually make yorkshire puds (instead of letting Aunt Bessie do them) I think i'm gonna try it with sourdough.
Look forward to talking to you all soon.
Bekki
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Well - Scottish really, but living in Devonshire...
Welcome to the madhouse :)
-Gordon
Not only part time, but carry my starter back and forth between California and the south hams. This year I'm living dangerously - I'm going to try to revive a starter frozen from my last stay. And I'm not bringing a backup just in case something goes terribly wrong (I hope I'm not making a mistake).
Btw bekki and Gordon, do you have any recommendations for good local white flour? And any favorite bakeries (we're close to totnes if that's any help).
Thanks. Katy
Well, I'm not far up the road in Buckfastleigh, so if your starters don't make it, knock on my door and ask for some of mine...
Flour - there are no local mills - other than Otterton and they don't do bread flour anymore - stoneground Maris Wigeon from Tamarisk Farm the last time I asked. It's a bit weak to make bread with - good for pastry though.
I use mostly Shipton Mill which I buy direct in large sacks. I also use Marriages.
Local bakeries - Seeds 2 opposite the square in Totnes and the Almond Thief (sells via Riverford - bakery in Dartington) - other than myself, of-course - but I don't sell down as far as Totnes. (I don't have a shop, just sell via local community shops & markets)
Seeds2 sells Stoates flour - but their white is somewhat grey due to the sifting process. I didn't get on that well with it in my overnight sourdoughs so have stopped using it. Annies behind Ticklemore St. sells Wessex Mill flour. You can buy larger (2.5Kg) sacks of Shipton Mill from the Riverford Farm shop (not the one in-town, but the big one past Riverford Bridge towards the A38)
If you're on the other side of Totnes then Savours in Dartmouth is a nice little French boulangerie type of place. Nice croissants.
Hope that helps.
-Gordon
ive bought Wessex mills flour from Annie's and ive been pleased with it.
Will report back on my experiments with reviving frozen sourdough starter.
...that you can buy Shipton Mill flour in the area. If you get the chance, I'd strongly recommend that you try its white spelt, at least.
Hey, I'm in Exeter myself, only been here a couple years but it's definitely home. :) It's funny you speak of flours as in the last couple weeks i have been discussing buying a 16kg sack of flour and having it delivered given i'm using about a kilo a week or 2 a week and have a suitable space to store it. I might add some of the specialities to the order like Khorasan as I have the Ed Wood World sourdoughs from antiquity book and think I'd like to try some of the more unusual recipes.
Katnath - not sure if you've seen this, but I happened to be looking at it yesterday. http://sourdoughsurprises.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/sourdough-tips-dehydration-storage.html
Delivery costs for flour is always an issue - mostly because it's .. well .. heavy!
Bakery bits do some specialist flours and you can save delivery costs if you ever go near Honiton (as that's where they're based and you can collect from the depot) The other best option I've found for that sort of quantity is to use Shipton Mills "Flour Direct" service. If you can get the order to over £30 then delivery is free - its getting it to over £30 that might be an issue for the occasional home baker, but if you have the storage then it can be worth it. Doves farm has a similar free delivery option, but I've never worked out how to do it as they charge for over 25Kg which costs less than £30.
Sometime local community wholefoods shops might be willing to get some in for you - but they will be limited on what they can get from the likes of Suma, Essential, etc.
-Gordon
I bake two loaves every week to ten days, a batch of naan about once a month and the occasional cake. My roughly quarterly orders from Shipton Mill are averaging between £38 and £42 for around 18-22kgs of mixed flours. I think you really would have to bake occasional for it not to be worthwhile. Especially if you use white flour exclusively as you could stretch each order out to six months or so then.
Yes, you're right. White flour typically has a shelf-life of a year anyway (wholemeal 6 months due to the oils naturally present). What I have done in the past is buy spelt by the 1Kg bag rather than 25Kg sack - mostly as the price difference is marginal, but also to use it as a top-up to get to the £30 limit.... However I'm currently getting to the point where I'm ordering twice a week - although Shipton have told me DPDs limit is something like 150Kg per consignment I think I'd rather get that delivered on a pallet... (and the prices are even better, but the space to store 20 x 25Kg sacks or 32 x 16Kg sacks...)
... back to the stollen & mince pie factory
-Gordon
I have a moderately-sized chest of drawers in my garage which I use to store my small order. I can see that storing half a tonne or more would present a real problem.
I'd like to be able to keep the flour for longer because I usually find that the loaves are getting much better just before I run out and get a new batch in. It'd be good to be able to keep a batch for several months before starting to use it, to see how much better the loaves might get.
I live in a block of flats, so inside the flat is usually pretty warm, however i'm lucky in that we have (kind of) underground parking and allocated storage against the earth walls down there, so i've got a metal trash can in there. Doesn't freeze and stays consistantly cool temp wise, due to the insulation. So hoping that'll be ok for storage.
Interesting what you say about the mature flour being better - maybe you should give it a go, let me know how it turns out!
I've read/heard that letting flour age for some time can improve things - however as my turnover is some 50Kg of white a week right now, it's hard to have anything other than freshly milled here! Wholemeal lasts me a little longer - 3-4 weeks, as does Rye and spelt, but I can't say I've noticed any difference from the top to the bottom of the sack.
-Gordon
I'd love to be able to build up a backlog of flour so as to be able to use only 'mature' flour in my baking. And as soon as we've persuaded our two children to collect that portion of their lives which is still under our roof I might even have the room to do it. She's only been gone about eight or nine years and he's only been gone about four, so I suppose it's a bit much to expect them to have come back for it already.
Jon
I think I understand, but to be clear; you mean adult children, now gone from home, who's crap still infiltrates you abode?
dobie
First Bekki, Welcome to the Isle of TFL. The only thing that I can add to this conversation is just a general comment. And this conversation is why I think that TFL is such a great place. It is the above comments by other Loafians on the site that make this a wonderful community.
As with the vast majority of us, we only reveal about ourselves that which we write about here, but we really don't know anyone else beyond that. However, people here are giving of both their time and knowledge, of shared and unique experiences. Of course there are the rare and very minimal disagreements amongst the hundreds of active participants which can devolve into a bit of sniping, but overall it is a lovely Isle to call home, however temporary. Oh, if all of society could only be so nice!
here, here - I'm not a very active internet user however I have come to the point I'm here so often it seemed silly not to be involved with what is obviously a great community, I really like that people are always challenging each other and asking questions and striving for knowledge, which is something I relate to.
Gordon - this pretty much echos my findings, my local health food shop can get some things, but not much, and being unable to drive, delivery is the best bet for me. I'll probably go with Shiptons just because it's their bread flour I tend to buy, Doves is generally who i turn to for the more unusual flours and can't recall ever using their bread flour. Maybe I should hunt it out as will probably order after christmas now and theres plenty of flour to be used before then.
I'd be more than happy to order a sack or 2 for you if you can't meet the £30 limit from Shipton Mill, however the cost of either one of us making the 50 mile round trip would more or less negate the savings...
I'm probably about to move up to taking flour by the half tonne soon too - possibly from Marriages, (who do nice 16Kg sacks), but not fully made up my mind yet...
-Gordon
...But as you say fuel would negate any saving! I'm quite happy making it to £30 in other flours, I cook and bake alot so a few bags of plain and SR plus a few specialities, it'll soon add up! However maybe in the new year we could have a Devonian TFL meet-up and loaf swap or something?
There are a few things already going that I know of though -there is an Exeter "Clandestine Cake Club" thingy. I went to one some time back, but haven't had the time to go to another. I'm also part of a local group - there's 5 of us - just some friends who get together once a month.
The biggest issue with Devon is size - unless you have transport, or everyone is in the same town/village it's often a challenge!
Cheers,
-Gordon