Thursday 31 October 2024

Seeded Sourdough Loaf from Homebaker's club and the art of breadbaking

 I've been practicing 'The Art of Breadmaking' for some time, in fact years, and there is always something for the home baker to learn.  For a few months now I have been a member of The Homebaker's club following all the detailed on line classes from my bread hero Jack Sturgess. Recently I attempted the Seeded Sourdough Loaf.


Without watching the class, without reading the recipe properly, without working the timings correctly and not putting the dough to rise overnight in the fridge, I hadn't grasped some of the finer points.  Let alone not having a Dutch oven to use, with the ratios mixed up giving a much higher amount of wholemeal flour, we still ended up enjoying a very good loaf. 

Take two: I watched the lesson from start to finish, and because of my having made the loaf albeit not understanding the finer points, the second attempt took account of all of these and most probably these have sunk into my mind and can also be transferred to other sourdough bread making sessions.


I learnt that by rising the dough overnight in the fridge, it makes it possible to bake good bread in the morning, and the Dutch Oven technique although rather good, I am satisfied with the good round shape from baking on a pre heated Silverwood baking tray.  I was not waiting up late to bake the bread, or having to leave the bread to cool overnight.  There was no tearing or any weak points, and the dough opened up nicely along the score lines.

The only thing I did differently was that I did not add the seeds to the outside, as with the poppy seed rye loaves I have made, I wanted to spare all the bits on the worktop and floor from the bits that fall off as the bread is cut.  There are of course plenty of delicious seeds in the dough.

Bread making tools came to my drawing class, again lots of lessons learnt during my first drawing class. As with bread making lots of practice and attempts will be required to get any better.

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