5 February 2016

My first sourdough bread


I grew up watching my grandmother baking rye sourdough bread every week and occasionally helping her out (not that I was much of a real help). She made such a tasty traditional regional bread and since then I haven't been much in touch with sourdough baking. I have never baked one from my own starter until now. However as I love eating that style of bread, I have been determined to make my own at some point. Of course it takes a little bit time and patience to make a sourdough bread, but the results are absolutely worth it. This dough variation didn't need much of kneading, just long rising times, but that's fine if you plan your schedules well.

I got the starter mix from BreadMatters and it came with instructions that were very easy to follow. There's also quite a lot of advice and FAQs for sourdough bread baking on their website. I knew I wanted to make a rye bread as my first attempt, so I made one entirely from rye flour. I liked this variation very much, and now I have some starter left for other breads to experiment with. I think I'll need to try something with spelt flour as well. The starter can be fed so that it doesn't run out! 
 



What are your experiences of sourdough bread baking?

Your VegHog

4 comments:

  1. Well done you, I gave up after 1 year of baking once in a week, that was a hard work. I used to bake mine in a oval big iron roaster with its lid but any roaster with lid will do. Best bread ever! Keep up the good work,yours looks very nice

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    1. Thank you Laura! I do remember that you mentioned sourdough bread baking before. It is a lot of work, but still totally worth it! :)

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  2. congratulations on your first loaf of sourdough - I make white sourdough which I have been doing for a few years and love it - I must try a rye sourdough loaf - though tonight I think the starter will go into pizza. I grew up with my mum making bread and I am sure it helped me when I started to bake bread myself - did you find that you remembered a lot from helping your grandmother?

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    1. Thank you Johanna! White sourdough is next for me I reckon. I do remember quite a bit about the kneading, shaping and baking in a wood fired oven with my grandmother, but nothing really of the dough making. But it's lovely to remember back to those times anyway.

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Thanks for reading! I would very much appreciate any comments or suggestions from you.