A South London Variation on Vermont Sourdough
A few times in recent weeks I have baked the Vermont sourdough from Jeffrey Hammelman's book 'Bread' or the variation called Norwich More-Sourdough on the Wild Yeast Website (here). Familiarity has made me feel confident enough to make my own small modification to the recipe so this weekend I made a version that replaced all of the rye flour in the Wild Yeast recipe with spelt flour.
I was really pleased with the results. The crumb was open, the taste nutty and the crust pleasing. What I enjoyed most of all was the sense of satisfaction I got from modifying a recipe successfully for the first time.
It was a small change I'll admit but I definitely think it is one that I will be keeping. I want to do more experimentation with spelt flour too.
This next weekend we have house guests so Have to start thinking about what bread we will want. More soon
Fun, isn't it? It's a great feeling to know you can change a recipe successfully! Your loaf looks terrific!
Marni
to South London Sourdough! I just love spelt!
It's a great bread, isn't it? I return to it again and again.
Have you tried substituting wholegrain wheat for the rye in the original recipe? That changes the flavour quite significantly...gives a touch of sweetness and also affects the texture of the crumb.
Thanks for the lead on spelt - will have to give that a go too. To maintain openness of crumb, I'd have thought you'd need to increase the water a little to counter the absorption properties of the spelt, but your crumb looks terrif.
Thanks for all the encouraging remarks guys. I am just in the process of making another loaf now and because I was a little short of white bread flour have used a mix of bread flour, spelt and rye. Will report back on the results
Enjoy the weekend