The work loaf
Every week I bake a loaf to take to work for lunch each day. The last couple of weeks I've used a recipe from TFL's own Trevor Wilson, for a great loaf with a 65% hydration see here...
http://www.breadwerx.com/how-to-get-open-crumb-from-stiff-dough-video/
I want a loaf that tastes great, (obviously) and that can be great for sandwiches as well as make the ultimate toast and soup soaker upper - a good all rounder. I like that the sourdough loaf will keep easily so I could still use it for a sandwich on Friday if that took my fancy... It rarely does I treat myself to the UK delicacy of beans on toast most Fridays --
65% is not a particularly stiff dough using my local mills flour, UK flour in general is not as thirsty as US or Canadian flours it seems. I have seriously struggled with tartine style recipes and Trevor's write up makes a lot of sense. Master the lower hydration first and build up from there. I'd advise a UK beginner to drop the hydration a little further in fact and if it's not midsummer, people in the north could happily forget using the fridge at all in the first steps, I just use cold water and leave it out on the side.
I baked this one in my Romertopf for 20 mins lid on then 30 mins lid off because I like a good crust. Thanks Trev!
Comments
Great crust and crumb. Very nice indeed. We have the same schedule. One loaf a week, on a Sunday, for the week ahead.
I usually try to do two, one sourdough and one yeasted loaf or rolls of some sort for at home. My kids will only eat 'real' bread if I cut the crusts off though - Hopefully they'll learn!
Crust and crumb both look just perfect, and I totally agree with you that it's important to have a good all-round "workhorse" sort of bread available.
I had one of my first and best successes with that formula of Trevor's, and it's great to see others having the same result. It also lends itself well to experimenting with different ratios of wholemeal or of adding in some other grains (I like it with whole hard red wheat, whole rye, whole spelt, and could see it easily handling additions of non-gluten grains such as amaranth or corn or oats for different flavour / texture results).
Thanks for sharing your success, and keep baking happy!
Mixing up the ratio of whole wheat is my plan this weekend! Can't wait. Thanks for the support
can be the same thing --- your kids would probably really enjoy this one even with the crust: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21575/sourdough-100-whole-wheat-oatmeal-sandwich-bread-whole-grain-breads-can-be-soft-too
Just something that you might want to try!
Definitely giving this one a go ☺️ thanks again.
I'm glad the method has worked well for you. It's a beautiful loaf! And thank you for the kind words!
Cheers!
Trevor
No, Trevor, thank you!
That looks like a terrific loaf. Delicious. Incidentally, if you have a Waitrose near you, they stock reasonably priced strong Canadian bread flours, wholemeal and white. I'm a relative beginner to sourdough and, fools rush in, made tartine loaves with them with no problems.
I have stumbled upon the above flour which is available in bulk delivered as I got sick of heavy shopping bags full of flour. It is a very strong Canadian flour and has definitely helped a lot. If I pass a waitrose I will get some of theirs to try, thanks!