Ru007's blog

Hello and happy easter to all!

Thanks to every one who commented last week on how to make my scoring better, this weeks bake has a much smoother look to it, which is what I wanted.

And the crumb shot...

Hi Freshloafers!!

A big thank you to every one who has give me advice on how to improve my sourdough loaves. This is now loaf number four (using more or less the same formula), a vast improvement from loaf 1...

This weekend's bake was a basic sourdough loaf. Its got a bit of everything in there, I used my 100% rye starter and white flour to build my levain, and then a 1:4 whole wheat to white flour ratio for the rest of the dough.

This week’s bake was my second attempt at sourdough and I’m pretty pleased with the result!

It certainly looks better that last week’s attempt and it tastes better too! Sourdough is really yummy! 

(Last weeks try: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45059/first-sourdough-loaf-need-help)

This time I gave the dough a 4.5 bulk fermentation at room temp, I did four S&F at half hour intervals during the first 2.5 hours before shaping and then I left it for another 2 hours.

The last week has been interesting, I made my first sourdough starter and then this weekend, I made my first loaf with it!

 A big thank you to Dabrownman, who gave me a great (and easy) way to get a starter going).

I didn’t used pineapple juice in the starter, just bottled water. I did have a bit of a battle with leuconostic bacteria during the first few days, but I just waited it out and the problem resolved itself.

 So here’s loaf number one:

Today was my first attempt at a rye loaf! I decided to start cautiously so I went with Peter Reinhart’s “Transitional rye sandwich loaf”. It definitely didn’t disappoint.

I wasn't sure what i was supposed to expect in terms of the crumb, i know that rye tends to yield fairly dense loaves, but this is a lot lighter than i thought, probably due to the fact that there is only about 41% rye flour.