starter donor
i recently mentioned the need to get a new donor starter as mine was unreliable and was destined for the compost tumbler. Several member of the local bread enthusiasts group kindly offered me some of theirs. i chose someone close by and put it to work straight away. i decided to mix the dough well and do the bulk ferment undisturbed for its entirety. Things didnt go quite to plan and a family emergency meant the dough was needing to be retarded, i chose the back verandah as the nights have been getting cool and i didnt want fridge temps. In the morning the dough was shaped and proved in a banneton and then baked in a heavy pot slow cooker insert initially with the lid on,i did have to remove the plastic knob and just covered the hole with some foil. i do have some metal knobs in the shed somewhere that i will use to make lid removal easier.
The pot worked really well and pleased with the way the loaf came out. also pleased with the adopted starter.
The dough was from the Bourke street Bakery, The ultimate baking companion and its their standard S/D
Comments
can’t believe I missed this post! Bet you’ll have lovely bakes with your new starter.
I stopped using the cast iron pots to bake due to an old wrist injury. These days I bake breads on the cookie sheet or in a roasting pot (much lighter). 😁
Hi Kistida i understand your difficulty using cast iron pots , i reckon that is compounded when using preheated pots too. The clay bakers are certainly a lot lighter and good to use. i got a good result with the slow cooker insert but that was nearly as heavy as the cast iron.
It's always nice when fellow bakers can help each other out with things like S/D starters. Ihadnt used mine in quite a while and it just didn't want to play ball, so out with the old in with the new via a short cut!
Your weather must be improving there in Canada as ours is slowly cooling, still getting some beautiful warm days and lots of the plants are confused. Good bread baking weather
kind regards Derek
Derek another good looking loaf. Love the poppy seeded crust, that’s always a good choice. Congratulations on breaking in your new starter, here’s to many successful future bakes.
Benny
Thanks Benny, that's two responses both from Canadians. Very happy with the first outing for the kindly donated culture I seem to be doing more yeasted breads these days. Got some exciting things happening here bread wise with a local group of Facebook bread enthusiasts. i will do a write up on it once we get it sorted.
Kind regards Derek