Just wanted to come back and thank Benito for his encouragement, ciabatta for pointing me to foodgeek’s website ( excellent) also naturaleigh and Pham for further encouragement and explanations. I have been making sourdough for 10 years but despite thinking I understood the process pretty well, it’s amazing how much more there was to learn. The main things I have taken from this forum are the importance of giving bulk fermentation enough time. Also, I have invested in a banneton and I believe that really improved the overall structure and shape. This loaf was river cottage, I made a sponge, let it ferment about 7 hours, add in 250 flour ( to 250 g of flour and 300 ml water in the sponge) and about 80g of mashed potato ( I believe this gives a nice soft crumb). Knead 5 mins. Rest 10 mins. Add 10g salt. Knead another 5 mins. Rest 1 hour. Three stretch and folds at 1 hour interval. Knock back. Rise 3 hours. Overnight in fridge, bake at 260C 20 mins, 200C 40 mins, in a cloche.
Nice improvement you’ve made, so glad things are working better now. The mashed potato sounds like a good addition to make the crumb softer. So glad you posted a follow up.
Stay well and keep baking.
Benny
Thank you Benito. I have certainly learnt a lot on this forum. So much information, which one needs to integrate and filter to end up with a technique that works for one’s own circumstances, environment etc. On another thread, I found a link to a YouTube presentation on the importance of shaping, which was also helpfulThis guy is nothing if not thorough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctCN7E_kwnE&feature=youtu.be
Good job. I used to make a potato bread with rosemary and bacon. might have to have a go at that one again in a sourdough version.