markboulton’s Twitter Archive—№ 32,212

After seven months of baking two loaves twice a week, this morning I managed to bake a decent loaf of bread. The effort vs reward in baking sourdough bread has to be questioned. Regardless... here's a little thread on the recipe and method I use.
On twitter.com ❤️ 10 Favorites 2020 Oct 29 Mood +1 🙂

…in reply to @markboulton
Let's start with the starter. I feed mine the evening before baking, and immediately after. I keep it in the fridge. When I feed it, I use 50g of wholemeal dark rye flour, and 50g of room temp water.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 29 Mood 0

…in reply to @markboulton
The starter must be active when I make bread. This means it's all bubbly and doubled in size since it was last fed. I get the starter out of the fridge first to warm it up a bit, then I mix my flour and water together and leave to stand for 30 - 60 mins (called Autolyse).
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 29 Mood +1 🙂

…in reply to @markboulton
Recipe: 900g of *strong* white bread flour. 200g of very active starter 620g of water 15-20g of salt (depending on taste – mine is towards the 20g).
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 29 Mood +3 🙂

…in reply to @markboulton
Once you've let the flour and water autolyse. Add the starter and salt and mix together for about 5 minutes. Then, every hour, stretch and fold the dough for about 2 minutes. I repeat this for three hours.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 29 Mood 0

…in reply to @markboulton
Then, put the dough in a warm place. I put mine in a boiler cupboard where it is 85F. I leave it there until it doubles in size. At that temp, it takes about 4 hours. Take it out on the worktop, divide into 2, and roll it up like a Swiss roll, then form that into a round loaf
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 29 Mood +2 🙂

…in reply to @markboulton
Leave it to rest for about a 30 mins. Then do the same rolling into a Swiss roll process before putting into a proofing basket. It goes into the fridge overnight. In the morning, I bake for 10 minutes at 250C – with added water to create steam – then lower temp to 160C...
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 29 Mood -1 🙁

…in reply to @markboulton
For a further 25 minutes. Oh, I forgot, I score the dough (but have not yet had a decent 'ear' from it!). Loads of effort, and, until this morning, unsatisfactory and often frustrating results. The key difference this morning: warmth for the proofing. Very active starter. Steam.
Permalink On twitter.com ❤️ 1 Favorite 2020 Oct 29 Mood 0