Finally Joined :-)
I've been reading posts and learning from the forums for months but have only just registered. I've learned so much from the site already and am looking forward to picking all of your brains in the future!
I started baking two years ago when Char, my Maltese girlfriend, told me that there was no bread better than the Maltese loaf, that it couldn't be replicated in this country and that she hadn't had good bread in years! With the attitude of 'nothing is impossible' and 'how hard can it be?' I made my first loaf, and have baked every few days since.
Char now thinks that my bread is better than Hobz-Malti but I know that I still have lots more to learn. Most loaves are a bit ugly, my shaping is hit and miss, I can't slash to save my life and I'm still working out how to steam in a fan oven but I'm enjoying the learning curve :-)
A photo of today's White Sourdough (75% Hydration) is attached. I'm happy with the holes and texture but it's an ugly loaf (at best) and the crust is a little chewy (I guess this is a combination of steam troubles and a very humid flat!). Any comments welcome!
James
James, I love your bread. It looks like a good ciabatta, which is irregular anyway. Welcome to this wonderful site and happy baking.
Chris
There's no such thing as an ugly loaf as long as it tastes good. Looks like you need a bit more skin tension in the loaf forming department though the crumb looks perfect.
Wild-Yeast
P.S. And welcome to TFL
Would pre-shaping help with developing the tension? I haven't tried it yet but seems to be common with wet doughs.
bread before but your looks great. I tried to get some info on the Internet. Some say this bread is a round SD one but when you look at the recipe it is made with a yeast biga that they called a SD, or old unsalted dough or just commercial yeast. Which version is yours? It has to taste great and your girlfriend has good taste:-)
Happy Baking
As far as I can gather, it's a yeasted bread made with a biga but one of our books calls it hmira/tinsila; it's a large, round loaf with an large holes and a very dark, thick crust. I only got to try it myself after a holiday a few weeks ago so haven't tried to replicate it yet (it was always described to me as a sourdough so that's what I made!). Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that I could taste chlorine from the water in some of the ones that I tried there :-S
They also have a circular, flat bread with a hole in the middle called a ftira that I thought was much nicer; it tasted like a sourdough to me but I'm not 100% sure.