brioche

made brioche (no sourdough). made half the dough into a tart base, covered with creme fraiche and berries - and the rest of the dough into little buns. tried to make the "nipples" but as it proved they disappeared... Was actually a very easy dough to make. Used the super dough hook at flavours, then kept it in the fridge for 2 days (also worked after three). The taste was great. Soft and not too sweet.

1:2:3 loaf with a rye starter

made my norm 1:2:3 but with a rye starter. taste is good. texture is good. crust is good. the only thing is that my last few breads have all been very flat. they never seem to rise properly any more. maybe the starter has become too dormant in the fridge, and never fully revives? mayb my doughs are too wet?

sourdough rye crispbreads

sour rye taste really quite strong - which is good. wonder what will happen as they dry out more?

cinnamon and raisin sourdough ring

made 0.5 of a Dan Lepard recipe. didn't have enough raisins - but still worked pretty well. looks like a huge cinnamon and raisin bagel.

Debs was away so i got to shape her chollah. very fun. this was one of the little rolls. i plated it - i think maybe i was meant to just knot it. but it did come out looking sweet.

half spelt sourdough

mixed half spelt and half strong white for this loaf. but excited because got to use new banneton proving basket which arrived in the post a couple of days ago. helped hold shape, and you can faintly see spiral pattern from canes. this loaf really blew up in the oven. it's a wopper. taste was very strong - and quite sour. texture soft. perhaps a little too much salt?

flat ciabatta intergralle

disapointed. this was a 3 day process bread - and it's come to nothing. flat as a pancake. i could see the dough was very wet - but considering this was supposed to be a recipe for a very open texture i thought perhaps that wetness was intentional. sadly not. didn't even rise in the oven. luckily i made some hummus last night so perhaps we can use it as the pitta for that.

spelt sourdough with mixed grain barley flour

very flat. i left it out of the fridge over night because i was hoping for a more open texture - and that did work - just no shape again. taste quite strong. over all quite pleased.

three seed malted sourdough

i realise all my breads look pretty similar. but this is a really nice one. a ready mixed three seed malted flour. over night fridge prove. forgot to prove upside down in bowl, so top is the blemished side - but i quite like the rustic look. taste was like that of a really delicious granary loaf: chewy, fresh, seedy.

white (flat) sourdough

used 100% white (sourdough enhanced) flour which i got in recent postal order. did it all white for a change. left out (rather than in fridge) because recent loaves have been dense and chewy, and i wanted to see whether i could get airy holey texture. dough very wet. after over night prove on kitchen table flopped out to fill almost whole baking tray. didn't dust. slightly over baked. Daddy and lil complementary. very light and good texture - but how can i achieve this and get the loaves to hold their shape?

sourdough malt loaf

Really pleased with this loaf. I'd say it's the best fruit loaf i've ever made. I used Dan Lepard's current and cassis loaf as my base - and modified it into a malt loaf (to try out my new flour). I thought it needed more water - but the result was pretty good just as it was. Left it in fridge overnight to prove. Not a huge rise in the cold - but once in oven rose perfectly. Light, tasty (not too sweet because no added sugar, just the sweetness of raisins), and malty (added 10% of overall flour weight.) Had wanted a malt loaf recipe, and been looking for ages - it's different to the Delia - and I actually think nicer (and it uses Alluisus).

spelt sourdough

I ordered a load of flours online - dark malt flour, spelt flour, a flour with dried rye sourdough in it.... I wanted to try them out, so this was my 1:2:3 loaf with 2/3rds spelt flour and 1/3 unbleached white. It worked out quite well. I feel perhaps my loaves don't taste as sour as the could.
I tried to do a lattice on top - not completely successful - but the dough did rise a lot once baked. I think it's good not over proving it before hand.

sourdough 1:2:3

Just the basic. But worked really well this time. Went for a star pattern.

sourdough breakfast muffins

sourdough breakfast muffins - didn't really have the muffin taste. Got pan too hot so tops and bottoms a bit burnt. Next time go low heat. Texture quite good. Needed to be toasted.

granary sourdough, 1,2,3

made the 1:2:3 loaf but used a malted seedy mix flour.
seems to rise really well with this overnight method/ covering with baking tray for 1st 20mins.
cross on top worked.

Made a sultana cinnamon loaf. (Aloysius not involved.) Best fruit loaf ever made - not hard because generally they are so dense they have a consistency of glass. Started it at 6am. Went to work and Lil baked it for me. Pleased with it. Nice texture, sultanas well dispersed. Only thing for next time: perhaps more cinnamon (4 tsp instead of 2?) N.b. added much less sugar than recipe stated - and glad because the sultanas give sweetness. Had it fresh today, but i'm sure it will toast well tomorrow.

Really pleased with this bread. Think it one of the best yet. "1:2:3" i.e. 1 starter, 2 water, 3 flour. Mixed white, wholemeal and rye. Slow overnight rise in the fridge. Baked straight from cold. Perhaps a little too much flour. But covered it for first 25mins with roasting tray (recipe used metal bowl which would have been better as loaf rose and hit the top of roasting tray). Like the square cuts on the surface - looks really good. Soft and nice texture. Wonder whether flavour is as good as my old classic?

Tried to make Dan Lepards rye loaf. Was surprised how light it felt. Good sign i thought. So wrapped it up in brown paper for two days like he said. Excited to cut in. But when eventually I did... it had a huge hole. That was why it was so light! Raw at the bottom - and air. Cut the top off and had it like a ryvita. Sad.

This is Aloysius my sourdough starter.
Together we play around trying to make breads. This is going to be a visual diary of those efforts.