Using up my Sourdough Starter, Get a Proving Oven for Nothing.

I realised that I haven't said anything about my sourdough starter for a while, they are both well, and being refreshed every week. They live in the fridge quite happily between times, a weekly feed seems to suit them.

Of course there is the question of what to do with the ever increasing amount of spare starter you have every week.

I use this to make a loaf, in the following way. Its not quite a purists sourdough, but fits in with my sunday cooking routine, as the oven is on for roast of whatever meal we are having.

So I take 200g of each starter, this means of the 400g there is 200g flour and 200g water.
For a loaf at 70% hydration I need 500g flour and 350g water.Excuse the maths here, but it's easy really.

As I have 200g flour in the starters, I need a further 300g of flour, and a further 150g water.
To this I add 10g salt and 5g of instant yeast, just to help out. As I said its not purist sourdough, but I only have a few hours. I could start it on saturday night, and leave it to prove over night, but bread is usually the last thing on my mind on saturday night!

Anyway give it all a mix and form it into a ball. Cover it for 30 minutes, then stretch and fold. Form it back into a ball.

I then put it in a proving oven for about an hour and a half.

Incidentally, everyone has a proving oven, whether they realise it or not, and you certainly don't need to spend a fortune on one. I know that you can buy cookers with proving drawers, but you don't even need that.

I can't claim credit for this, but I can tell you that it works, and is very simple.

All you have to do is take a roasting pan and put about half an inch of boiling water in it. Place the pan in the oven, on the base and put your dough above it. Move the shelves to allow for rise, (I didn't allow enough room first time, I won't do that again) it can be spectacular. Next turn the oven to max for 1 MINUTE ONLY. This is important, turn it off again after 60 secs. Now leave it for an hour and a half. This is the result.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and knock it back. Shape it into a sausage, getting a good tension on the surface, then put it into a loaf tin,

cover it with a cloth. Turn on the oven to max.

After about 30 minutes, it should look something like this,

Slash and bake, about 40-45minutes, and this is what you get.

The thing sticking out on the right is my trusty temperature probe. I use it all the time to make sure that the breads are cooked, I learnt on the course at Manna from Devon that a temp of 95C means that the gluten has set, and thus the bread is cooked. I wouldn't be without it now, saves eating a lot of half cooked dough.

And there's the proof. Just have to let it cool and I can perform the taste test, I'll get the butter on standby.

Well the crumb looks good,

 
and someone enjoyed a bite while I was getting the camera ready!

Xmas is Coming

And the first trial of my festive breads will begin soon. On Wednesday in fact, but to whet your appetite, here is a clue as to what will be happening.

I delivered the Panini rolls to Millie and Me yesterday, they were organising a Macmillan Coffee morning, which did really well.

I mentioned that the results of the The English Riviera Tourism and Hospitality Awards will be soon, (its actually 11th October), Sophie told me that the judges has inspected and were apparently enthusiastic about the Panini that they had. So its fingers crossed for the 11th! I will be at work in Gravesend, but I'm sure that I will hear any news.

Anyway, back to the story, I mentioned the Pesto Bruschetta, and showed some photo's, and there was a bit of interest. I then mentioned the festive specials and got a very good reaction. Hence the samples, to be delivered with next weeks Panini.

There will be two spiral rolls, (my favourite, in case you hadn't noticed.) a savoury and a sweet.

The savoury will contain Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberries. The sweet has Apple, Cinnamon and Mincemeat.

Stay tuned for a step by step guide on Thursday, together with feedback.

In the meantime I actually made a loaf for us, and here it is, a Crusty White.

Pesto Bread Bruscetta

Following on, I put a baking sheet into the oven to heat up and slicd the Pesto loaf in to inch thick slices.

When the oven was at 200 degrees, I put the slices in for 20 minutes,

By which time they were crisp and just starting to brown.

Theywill be good with a bit of cheese, I tried a piece with some Balsamic vinegar on it, very tasty.

Update on the sourdough, the crumb looks good.

Pesto Bread

I did 40 Onion seed Ciabatta for Millie on Friday, and needed some bread for me on saturday. In addition to the Sourdough loaf that I made,

I thought that I would try a pesto marble loaf, just for a change. (And I had some Green Pesto in the fridge that needed using)

I made a standard white dough, and when I knocked it back, I stretched it out into  rectangle and spread the pesto on it. I then folded it into the loaf tin, let it rise and baked it as normal.

I must have slashed it a bit to deep, as the pesto erupted, but the crust was crisp and it looked nice when I cut it.

It tasted good with tomato soup for lunch, I am going to bake slices of it tonight and try to make a bruschetta type crispbread.

Good news from Oats, the Soad Bread is now a regular order for Wednesday, as is the Spelt tin loaf. And the Spelt Ciabatta went down a treat in Gravesend. Also I have had enquiries about ordering online for delivery in Gravesend. We will have to see about that.

A quiet week

Not a lot to report this week, the usual order for Oats had a twist, the Soda Bread had been reserved! I believe the spelt is also going well.

As it's the end of the season, and trade is dying down, their weren't any orders from the West Country Deli, but Jo assures me that normal service will be resumed shortly.

I know Millie have had a bereavement, and both my and Yvonne's thoughts have been with them, so I've not been pestering with unimportant things like bread orders, but I expect as their lives start adjusting to things they will be back, I certainly hope so and wish them all the best.

So although I had a week off, I wasn't quiet, far from it, a deep clean of all the kitchen and equipment took up quite a bit of time, as well as a stock take and a check on sell by dates kept me busy.

I have also had time to think about new products, and have come up with a couple of things. A marbled pesto loaf, and a soda type bread made with local beer, which I have called "Bays Bread" (largely cos the beer is made by Bays Brewery) Now to make samples and see if I can find takers.

These in addition to my festive specials, the Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry roll, and the Apple and Cinnamon fruit bun. These will be released on the unsuspecting in October, for delivery  from December 1st, just to get you in the mood.

Now it's Sunday, so the whole cycle starts again, today at 7am I started a Spelt Ciabatta ferment for a man in Gravesend. Tomorrow morning at 5.30 I will be starting the Organic Spelt loaves for Oats, then at 7 the Soda bread (the organic yogurt is fermenting as we speak),
7.30 and the doughs for Cheese and Onion and the Cheese and Chorizo rolls that my Gravesend customers are expecting will be mixed and the Ciabatta completed. 9.15 is the Oats delivery, and I set off for Gravesend in the bakers van at 14.30. Whilst I am in Gravesend I might find time for a little light Pilotage, before coming home on Wednesday. By then I should have a WCD order, and maybe one from Millie.

So this has been a quiet week, so quiet that I managed to do some bread just for us!
A white bloomer,

and a Wholemeal using some of the spare Spelt Sourdough starter (after refreshment) for a bit of extra flavour.

Enjoy your week!

A New Loaf

Jo at the West Country Deli, has asked me to do an Olive Bread, in a Cob shape, for a customer who has been asking for it. As you may have seen in my last posts I did some samples of soft rolls and a flatbread.
I decided to make a soft loaf, in the style of the rolls only bigger, here they are shaped and ready to prove

and here they are 30 minutes later,

after a light cut on the top, and 20 minutes in the oven, the internal temperature was good, and they were done.

 

Now we must wait for feedback!!