Thanks!

Hi this was the first one. I used a loaf tin purely because I had over hydrated and I wanted it to be more than a flatbread.

:D

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...CC2D4B0D23.jpg

My question had been answered ... I missed it.

I find - particularly when using sticky rye flours - that rubbing linen liners with corn flour before giving it the usual dusting of rye or wheat flour will effectively stop the proving (sp?) dough from bonding with the cloth.

I have a couple of oval cane baskets (same trick works with them), but lining a colander/strainer works fine for when I want a round loaf.

My absolute favourite flour for bread making (rarely use fresh yeast anymore, sourdough all the way) is from Cann Mills, Stoate & Sons. This in particular:
http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/marketplace...1477~cann-mill
Sensational.

It looks great...

How did it taste?

Thanks.

I'm really pleased to have produced my very first loaf without yeast but it was too dense and too sour. Not really edible. Today's one looks better. I retarded it overnight in the fridge and hoping to have it today with pasta. I guess it was a good sign that I needed to retard it.

Good luck! Hope your culture works out.

I think to attempt this is super brave and to be applauded. I have thought about making standard bread... seeing this might be the impetus I need to get started.

OP, that is one gorgeous loaf of bread. I wonder, since you say it's "too" dense and sour, if you don't enjoy eating it out of hand maybe it would be good for stuffing?

You've thrown down the gauntlet (oven mitt?) Now I want to bake bread this weekend.

2nd loaf. Still too high hydration so had to use a tin again. Rotten shape but that is life! I could pretend I intended it that way. :D

The bread was really good although a touch more sour than I expected. I did however allow it to prove for around 30 hours or so.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...ED2CBE8166.jpg

Thanks OP, this is fun...like a chemistry experiment diary. The daily loaf. That interior looks nice and moist.

Don't worry about the appearance. In today's world of "tablescapes" and morsels placed just so with "eat me" drizzled in sauce on the plate it's easy to get caught up in appearances. As long as it's tasty :).

Oh, how I want a nice hot loaf of sourdough. Nothing good in my neighborhood.

I bet that tasted good with a nice layer of butter!

I know that I am a boring fart, but all I wanted to do was to make a loaf of bread without using a rising agent. It basically became a war of wills. The sourdough starters I'd tried so many times and it always ended in tears. So I just wanted to make one loaf from a sourdough starter I'd made. I think it's prime-evil. Like rubbing two twigs together to make a fire. Which I have in fact never done.

Now I have (the bread not the twigs), I have concluded what I think I always knew. I don't like most sourdough. It's sour.

So I have gone back to a method that I devised for myself when sourdough had failed every time - but produces for me a bread of really good character and taste and a depth and personality and is also so much more easier. Basically I make a poolish / biga starter. I just seed some flour and water with a few grains of yeast and allow it to mature and bubble for two or three days or so and use that. It is allowing that time that adds the flavour and depth. It is a compromise, but a compromise which gives a result that I prefer.

It gives personality and depth of flavour - and produces ciabatta, focaccia, baguettes, pizza and I even use it for bagels - and is an easier less demanding child than sourdough and gives in my view and to my taste a better bit of bread.

Does anyone else regularly (often) bake or even think about bread any more?

I was a bit suprised that more than one person was interested in sourdough and I am sorry if I have let anyone down by this drawing of a line.

:eek: :)

You shouldn't have given up so quickly. I am not surprised that your bread was too sour when you leave it to prove fo 30 hours. - I have been baking sourdough bread for 8 years now because I was fed up with the so-called bread from the local supermarkets; there are no independent bakeries where I live. I have even stopped bringing back bread from trips to Germany. - I leave my bread to prove up to 24 hours, sometimes only for 16 hours. The shorter proving times will result in a milder less sour bread. You could also add some wheat flour instead of baking a plain rye bread. To have some variety I also like to bake wheat bread with a wheat sourdough.

TomUK