cheers…I just can’t do nowt to shape the loaf before baking….it turns out pancake shaped…..LOL… and I bought to bannetons from aliexpress… complete with linen covers and LAME’s to slice the top of the dough…

hmmmmm…… just watched that video and its made me want to do sourdough again now 😀

historically my problems always been my starter, dont think ive ever managed to get a good bubbly starter to work with. ill go back over and have a read see if hes got a good method…

Davy, you got a link to the bannetons? How long did they take to arrive?.

Did firepit pizzas again. You can see how thin the base is by the fire light shining through.

Dirty, dirty food served pleb style. Nom, nom non.

Brilliant tw!
I made a pizza attachment for my Weber last year, still to try making wood fired pizza in it, this weekend!

That looks amazing Nobeer! Did you turn it over during baking or something? It doesn’t seem to have a bottom.

That pizza looks great too.

Davy, the best method I’ve found is to grab the side of the dough and stretch it into the middle and poke it in, then work all the way around doing this, like you’re making a sort of parcel – imagine you have bagel that you’re wrapping with a napkin!

It doesn’t seem to have a bottom.

lol, it defo does, mibbe just the angle of that pic!.

Nobeer: the bannetons will possibly take about 3 weeks or so to arrive. (am still waiting), I also bought 2 off Ebay…..they took about 10 days to arrive….(use topcashback)
Thenorthwind: yep, I do all that stretching and folding for my breadmaking, I will cut down on the amount of water for my next attempt…

hello sourdough heads.  Revived my old starter and had a go at

https://www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk/blogs/recipes/140081991-sourdough-bread-recipe

Theproblem i had was that the dough , which i had left to rise in a loaf tin overnight for 12 hours, stuck to the aforementioned tin when turning it out onto the hot baking sheet.  So I lost some air and it had a bubbly indented crust. was tasty but not as airy as i’d like.

What did i do wrong? I kneaded it for over 15 minutes and the dough did perhaps feel a little wet. Was it my kneading  technique? i floured the loaf tin heavily etc.  thanks in advance for the tips!

I didn’t knead that at all, according to the bake with jack video, you only fold over (never ore than about a dozen times) as the length of time does the work, not the kneading.

it turns out pancake shaped

@davy-g If the loaf pancakes, give it a re-shape and leave it to rest for longer – just out on the board/bench you have it on. Also, possibly drop the hydration down a little, most recipes come out really wet.

@howsyourdad – if it wasn’t as airy as you’d like 2 things come to mind, 1 is adding too much flour in the kneading phase (I prefer the stretch and fold method too as mentioned above). 2 is it may not have proved well, I do the first phase in the oven with a container of previously boiled water adding the heat. I also have quite a cold house so usually first prove is an hour to 90 minutes longer than most people suggest. As for sticking, I know your pain, happens to me all the time!

@nobeerinthefridge you dont knead the hobbs recipe?

@toby1 ooooh whats the stretch and fold?  i feel like it did have plenty of air  but the bloody thing stuck. perhaps i should line the tin with greaseproof paper?

For those looking for bannetons Check Scotland the Bread out.

@howsyourdad1 Wet dough is always going to stick… if you don’t prove it in the container you bake it in, turn it out onto a floured surface (some will stick, but pull as much out as possible in one go with your hand) and reshape it, then leave it to rest for a while (I reckon 30-60 mins). Transferring it to the tray might still be tricky, but speed is key.

@davy-g I meant for a final shape before baking, since you said it turns into a pancake (I’ve had loads do that too). Shape it as above and then leave it for 30-60 mins before baking.

Based on what I have learnt from you guys, I’m going to try a much wetter dough.

I’ll say one thing, it is a pain in the arse to deal with. However I have managed to force it into my baking tin to prove and it is currently sat in the warmest spot in the house.
Not in the way at all.
Stand by for real time updates.

Alba, superb, I’ll grab a couple of those instead!

Mine was fairly wet tw, I found a spray bottle with water in it helped, spray hands and surface before folding.

Only used flour for the final shaping.

Same here re the wetness – bannetonA are good and baking inside a casserole pot makes a difference too.

Oh yeah, wetting your hands under the tap before you handle the dough makes it so much easier.

It rose beautifully, I slit the top and dusted it. Happy days.

Came back a couple of hours later and it had continued to rise and flopped over the top of the tin. I’ve desperately scooped it back in but it got all deflated and now looks a right mess. It’s also going to have to take its chance in the oven with the roast potatoes.
I’m concerned.

Timidwheeler

Take the dough out of the tin, reshape into a loaf and let it prove (rise) again. It’s what you do when you over-prove a loaf.

Keep an eye on it this time.

Cheers but too late. It’s in the oven. We’re having sausages for dinner and need bread to go with it.

You will have a perfectly formed house brick when it comes out of the oven

Lol. I think you may be right but it might make nice breakfast toast. Sounds dense on top, a bit hollower round the sides and bottom.

It’ll still taste very nice. If you had enough you could build a small extension.

Keep on at it and you’ll get the hang of this bread baking.

My first go well well.

You’ve got me worried now.

I used less water than the recipe suggested.

Any the recipe call for a long rise and prove.

I gave it 24 hours rise in the (warm) airing cupboard followed by 4 hour prove by the back door (cool) and then in the fridge for 3o minutes before transferring to a preheated baking sheet.

Worked well.

Next time the oven will be slightly cooler for slightly longer.

Don’t be worried, it was actually lovely. Biggest issue was we didn’t let it cool fully in the middle. However for a 50% wholemeal loaf if was perfectly airy.

That looks like victory snatched from the jaws of defeat TW!

I gave it 24 hours rise in the (warm) airing cupboard followed by 4 hour prove by the back door (cool) and then in the fridge for 3o minutes before transferring to a preheated baking sheet.

I’m a bit confused about this… Usually you do a rise for a shorter time in a warm place, followed by a longer time in cool/cold place. 24 hours is a long time in a warm place, I would have expected the dough to have completed exploded by that point. I’m not sure what 30 minutes in the fridge is doing either. If I’ve proved mine in the fridge/cool garage (usually overnight, or about 16 or 24 hours), I’ll leave it for an hour or two to come up to room temperature before it goes in the oven (though not sure that’s really necessary). Cooling it down before it goes in the oven just seems odd. I’m not trying to criticise by the way – just interested in different methods. If it works, then that’s all there is to it!

That dough I thought I’d ****ed by forgetting to stretch and fold turned out surprisingly well:

View this post on Instagram

Lockdown loaves nos. 12 and 13. Really thought I'd screwed this up by completely forgetting to do any stretching and folding, but it seems this white flour is pretty forgiving. I think I like looking at and taking photos of bread almost as much as I enjoy making it. But not as much as I enjoy eating it. #sourdough #bread #realbread #lockdownloaf #paindemic #crumbshot

A post shared by Dave Winterborne (@the_north.wind) on Apr 22, 2020 at 3:33am PDT

The tin loaf was a present for the friend who gave me a 16kg bag of flour last week. He’s started a bagel company, and he’s challenged me to have a go at making a sourdough bagel. I’ve separated a chunk from my next batch of dough to try, and it’s currently proving in the fridge til tomorrow morning. I think shaping will be tricky with 75% hydration dough, but hopefully using some flour to shape it will sort that out without ruining it.

Aye, I’m a beginner but pretty sure the long prove is supposed to be done dans le frigo.

They look really good Northwind. The only flour Tesco had today was spelt. Anyone tried spelt sourdough? I’ve got some white bread flour left so I might try a 50/50 loaf first but I think I’m going to have to feed the starter semolina flour again. It seemed happy enough last time.

feed the starter semolina flour again

Good shout, I’ve loads of that.

It’s an American bread book I’ve got and the long warm rise seemed to work.

It might not next time.

The 30 minutes in the fridge is supposedly to stabilise the dough (I think that means to stop it pancaking).

Spelt is a great bread flour in the breadmaker.

Ought to be good for sourdough.

when i tried spelt i was told itd struggle to rise much, and that proved to be the case. it tends to ‘splodge’ out rather than rise well, so i think its better to use it just as a percentage of the whole amount of flour, maybe less than 50%.
you may get away with it a bit more if you shape and bake in a pan/dish/breadmaker rather than freeform.

tastes nice tho if you can get a good loaf.

Thanks timidwheeler.

I tried some spelt a couple of weeks ago when I was starting to run out of wheat flour. It doesn’t have as much gluten as normal wheat so it’s more difficult to get that structure that holds the gas produced by the fermentation in and allows it to rise. I wouldn’t use it any more than 50% of the mix certainly.

Here’s the ones I tried (2nd and 3rd pics):

View this post on Instagram

Coronavirus loaves 4, 5 and 6 Now officially a paindemic. I'm here all week. And next week. And the week after… 100% wholemeal, can't remember what hydration // 50/50 wholemeal/spelt, 75% hydration // 50/25/25 wholemeal/spelt/rye, 70% hydration Not sure I like the trajectory I'm on. Need to find some white flour or get better at baking with the big boys' flour. #sourdough #bread #realbread #slowbread #baking #stayhomebakebread #breadnotdead #paindemic

A post shared by Dave Winterborne (@the_north.wind) on Mar 30, 2020 at 11:20am PDT

I’ve got some more, and I’m nearly out of wholemeal and rye, and need to keep some for starter feed, so I might try some more white and spelt loaves.

Here’s my latest effort

Can you use Instagram to postinages?

Can you use Instagram to postinages?

Yes, just paste the link in, the forum software does everything else.

I said before that I’d share the series of Facebook posts I did showing how I do my sourdough, so here they are. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a guide, much less a recipe, but all the details are there, should you want to recreate it, though I picked the wrong loaf to document as it didn’t turn out great. With normal wheat flour it would have looked a lot better.

Since John Climber asked, I'm gonna post the process of me making my next sourdough loaf as I'm doing it. There's plenty…

Posted by Dave Winterborne on Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Sourdough Part 2Thursday (day 2), 7amThis is what my starter looks like now. It's grown and formed bubbles. You want…

Posted by Dave Winterborne on Thursday, March 26, 2020

(Left this uploading last night but think it struggled with the video)Thursday (day 2), 7pmAs you can see, my levain…

Posted by Dave Winterborne on Thursday, March 26, 2020

Viral* baking, part 4(*not the popular kind)Friday (day 3), 7amThe dough has risen overnight – forgot to photograph…

Posted by Dave Winterborne on Friday, March 27, 2020

Sourdough: the not-so-grand finaleSaturday (day 4), 8amThe final step in the process is to get up, put the oven on,…

Posted by Dave Winterborne on Saturday, March 28, 2020

Hope these links work.