I've taken on board a few of Clive Mellum's tips, which I am gradually teasing out from his lovely prose in his book: My Life in Baking. He recommends that the starter or 'mother be fed at least 12 hours prior to being set into the main dough to get her full benefit'. This is the first time I have followed this, normally allowing 8 hours as Jane recommends. Maybe it is our cooler kitchens in the UK, but after twelve hours the starter was the best I have seen it. I also followed Clive's tip about temperatures, using my therma pen to help me calculate just the right temperature for the water and milk to get to his optimum temperature, given that my flour and mother were at 20 C.
I followed Clive's advice on folding and processing...and rather than a large loaf, the dough was divided to fit into two 500g bannetons. The flour I used was Bacheldre Organic Strong Wholemeal, which I bought a few weeks ago when it was on special offer in Waitrose.
This recipe is spot on and I am amazed at the light and airy loaves produced. We are waiting for loaves to cool down. I know that sourdough is probably best left a day or so before cutting...but with the lovely large salad we had at lunch time, the scones at tea time, and all the time spent in the garden...oh and the time making bread, I think a supper or bread, cheese, chutneys, grapes and port will do very nicely!
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