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Hi Freshloafers!!

A big thank you to every one who has give me advice on how to improve my sourdough loaves. This is now loaf number four (using more or less the same formula), a vast improvement from loaf 1...

This weekend's bake was a basic sourdough loaf. Its got a bit of everything in there, I used my 100% rye starter and white flour to build my levain, and then a 1:4 whole wheat to white flour ratio for the rest of the dough.

As of late I've been moving towards a double score on my batards rather than what has become my standard single score.  I am pleased with the results I've seen so far.  The trick, and it is a learned trick, is to keep both blooms as consistent with each other as possible rather than having one big bubble of a bloom and one not so much.  I'm getting there.  And another trick to now put into my bag.  More practice will have to happen to lock it in.

Hamelman Pain au Levain with mixed starters

Had some trouble with my camera so I couldn't access the pics til today. Sry :(

So here's what happened on Day 4:

All the raisins collected on the top. I'm starting to see signs of the raisins breaking down. Their edges are ragged and there's sediment collecting at the bottom of the jar.

After shaking, the raisins dispersed throughout the jar. It took over an hour for the to re-collect at the top.

The lid made a popping sound when I opened it and there were more bubbles floating on the water's surface.

It's been close to 3 months since my last post and I hope all TFLoafers are doing fine. While the sales of my baking business have improved a fair bit....and as the saying goes....you win some...you lose some. 

Hey, 

Sorry for not posting yesterday. My back went out, as it often does, so I spent the day in bed. The raisins swelled with water a few hours into Day 1 and remained at the bottom of the jar. There was no change on Day 2.

Day 3

The swollen raisins (see above) are starting to separate from each other. Opened the jar and there's no change in the smell. Just smells like raisins. There were a few floaters and bubbles though. (below)

I am celebrating St Patric's Day with a beer bread - not Guinness, but close enough

Its a slow prove bread with a lot of oven spring - hoping the taste is great too - will slice it open tonight

Full recipe on my blog here - http://messybaker.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/pale-ale-sourdough.html 

Adding whole grunkorn grains (the unripe version of spelt) to a simple whole spelt sandwich loaf makes for a very interestingly flavoured bread. 

Although this bread is delicious I do need to work on the crumb a little, its not quite up to TFLers standards, but never the less an enjoyabe and healthy loaf.

see www.mybreadandbrot.com for details.  

Simple sourdough with a little spelt.  Happens when you run a little short on the whole wheat flour. Nice loaf though.

My usual starter lives on the counter top and is fed every morning a 1:2:2:4 ratio of starter, bread flour, whole wheat flour and water. The temperature in the kitchen is a stubborn 66-70F in the daytime and dips quite a bit at night so the starter lives on one feed a day for most of the week with 2 feeds per day in the run up to bake day. I've been managing my starter like this for about a year (with additional feeding in hot weather), it leavens bread just fine so I've had no reason to complain.