Blog – Page 2 – Sourdough Bread Recipe

Dough temperature, the bakers obsession

Post author By Boris
Post date 21 December, 2015
2 Comments on Dough temperature, the bakers obsession

If you’ve looked at any quality bread recipes or books you may have noticed that dough temperature is nearly always included.

An often asked question is whether it really matters. Do we really need to bother with temperature? Is it just for professional bakers or those pedantic and fanatic personality types? I’m sure those personality types would revel in those details, but that doesn’t necessarily mean bread dough temperature is not important. So how important is it for the home baker? To answer that question we should examine the role temperature plays in influencing fermentation and bread quality. Lets start with some fundamentals and elaborate from there.

Tags bakers method, dough, dough temperature

Bread Education

Steam in a Domestic Oven, Why & How?

Post author By Boris
Post date 14 October, 2015
No Comments on Steam in a Domestic Oven, Why & How?

Results of good steam applied correctly - Good bloom & shine

Home baking or ‘amateur’ baking – in the true sense of the word – has it’s own idiosyncrasies in a domestic kitchen and some require a little more thought or improvisation.

How to generate steam in a domestic oven is one of those things I get asked often. There are lots of ideas advanced on how to best generate steam in a domestic oven for baking bread. Some seem to be easily achieved with good results, others are terrible and really don’t do the job as they are based on inaccurate understanding of the role and effect of steam on bread dough. However, before I pen a few ideas how to make steam at home it would be good to understand just exactly what steam in the oven does and how it improves bread quality.

Tags baking, making steam, steam in oven, steam on bread baking

Recipes

Classic Mixed Grain Sourdough

Post author By Karen
Post date 27 July, 2015
No Comments on Classic Mixed Grain Sourdough

This is a beautiful sourdough with a grain mix added for more health and flavour. The variety of grains that can be added are unlimited. The only thing to be aware of is that most grains will need to be soaked beforehand.
Grains that will need to be soaked include:

Kibble wheat (kibble means that the wheat has been cracked)
Kibble Rye
Kibble Soya
Rolled Oats
Polenta

Recipes

Rye Bread

Post author By Karen
Post date 19 June, 2015
5 Comments on Rye Bread

This recipe uses 100% rye flour, it tastes beautiful and is often tolerated by people sensitive to gluten. It will make two loaves of rye sourdough with no kneading required. The bread is baked in a tin or silicon bread loaf container.

Bread Education Ingredients

Malt Flour for sourdough – Diastatic or Non- Diastatic…

Post author By Boris
Post date 25 February, 2015
9 Comments on Malt Flour for sourdough – Diastatic or Non- Diastatic…

There is much confusion over malt – not ‘single malt’ – but malt added to bread dough. The two main classifications of malt are, ‘diastatic’ and ‘non-diastatic’.

Many a home baker is suspicious of “diastatic” malt flour until they learn exactly what it is…. I’m just guessing, but I think it’s because the word ‘diastatic’ sounds a bit like an ‘additive’. Fear not…. it’s simply grain – wheat or barley – that has been sprouted. Yes, that’s right!

Tags baking with malt, diastatic activity, diastatic malt, falling number, malster, malt, maltose, sourdough malt flour

Ingredients Recipes

Project Semolina: A less Sour Sourdough

Post author By Kon
Post date 23 February, 2015
5 Comments on Project Semolina: A less Sour Sourdough

Mixing semolina project dough with ring on. Always remember to remove your jewelry.

One of the first questions posted on our site was asking for a way to keep the good properties of naturally leavened sourdough while minimizing the actual sour taste. I have to admit that I’ve often come across people new to the sourdough experience complaining that the bread is too sour. I suspect that the white poison (sugar) permeated throughout our food industry has altered peoples sense of taste, creating a baseline far from that of our not too distant past, when all bread was ‘sourdough’. I decided that this would be a perfect home baking experiment: Project Semolina.

Bread Education

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, its Sourdough on the go…

Post author By Kon
Post date 22 January, 2015
8 Comments on Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, its Sourdough on the go…

Dough just added to the oven.

This is my first post, and unlike Boris, my perspective is from a humble home baker. I’ve been baking now for a few years and in spite of being a professional software engineer, I’ve managed to crack through the ‘bread ceiling’ and come up with some good and consistent results.

This Christmas we (both Boris and my families) decided to visit the Tasmanian highlands for a couple of week’s holiday and I thought it would be a great idea to bring Steve along. Steve is my sourdough starter.

Tags baking stone, bread baking, holiday baking, sourdough

Recipes

Croissants Leavened with Sourdough

Post author By Boris
Post date 9 December, 2014
6 Comments on Croissants Leavened with Sourdough

Last week someone asked me how to convert yeasted bread or other formulas so the leavening is done by sourdough rather than bakers yeast.

Good question, but I realised I couldn’t explain it in 5 minutes. It takes a bit of background knowledge first to make sense of it.

Bread Education

Stone in a domestic oven, why?

Post author By Boris
Post date 20 November, 2014
3 Comments on Stone in a domestic oven, why?

‘Stones’ are almost indispensable when it comes to home baking, especially bread. Most home bakers have heard this but are not sure exactly why. The complete answer is twofold.

Firstly, to produce ‘naked’ bread – baked without a tin – would mean baking on a tray. The dough has the tendency to ‘flow’ and flatten when baked on a tray unless the water in the recipe is reduced. That’s fine for some bread and rolls but for many it’s a reduction in quality since the water content has an influence on the crumb texture and of course the flavour.

Tags baking stone bread, home oven, sourdough

Bread Education

Good slashing is easy when you know how!

Post author By Boris
Post date 10 November, 2014
7 Comments on Good slashing is easy when you know how!

The final touch to your dough just prior to entering the oven is one of those moments that gives the inexperienced home baker performance anxiety. Understandable really, since many a nice loaf has been made to appear pretty average on account of the slashes.

Slashing is a bit like engraving or Japanese ink art on silk. Once you’ve executed it you can’t change it. It’s there for everyone to see, good, bad or ugly! There’s no fixing it, you just have to live with it.

Tags baking bread sourdough, dough baking, lame, slashing bread

Bread Education

Tasmanian Baking

I was recently down in Tasmania for a bamboo fly rod makers weekend – “Cressy Cane” – at the Brumby’s Creek Lodge.

Cressy Cane Weekend 2014 Phote by: Aidan Macnamara — **Cressy Cane Weekend 2014**
*Photo by: Aidan Macnamara*

I was surprised to find there were quite a few home bakers amongst the group as well as other anglers who attended.

Two of the blokes presented me with a sourdough starter they had been using in the past. These starters were in the fridge a little too long and a bit neglected. But I was keen to try one of those starters out and see if I could make something that would impress them and the guests.

Tags bamboo fly rods, bread, Cressy cane, home baking, sourdough, tasmania

Recipes

Rustic White Sourdough

To create this rustic sourdough using only bakers flour you must first create a sourdough and then the bread dough. Essentially the sourdough stage is a method to increase your starter from its original amount to the amount needed to successfully leaven your bread dough. Additionally there needs to be enough sourdough created to allow you to remove the amount added as starter – effectively cycling your starter as well as making bread.