As I said, I've been reading Do Sourdough by Andrew Whitley avidly and the first loaf I made was a success.
Andrew also advocates using a proportion of old starter (Around 10% by volume) in yeasted breads, I've already been using my spare starter to make crumpets and in digestive biscuits, this seemed like another good idea.
So I made a White loaf this morning, adding Olive Oil as I always do (50ml of Oil and 300ml of warm water) and put about 80g of Wholemeal starter into the mixture whilst kneading.
Apart from that addition, I just made the loaf like I normally do, 500g flour and 10g each of salt and instant yeast. A one hour prove in my oven, knock back and shape and then an hour in the tin.
It might have just needed another five minutes before I put it in the oven as its bloomed on the side, but apart from that (and the added starter may have been a factor that I didn't allow for) it looks fairly appetising. The smell was enough to get Yvonne interested!
It's all about experimenting after all, and next time it will probably be different, but as its for us I can put up with a bit of trial and error, you always get to eat the samples!
After I let it cool I cut a chunk to see how the crumb had turned out. I have had negative comments in the past because my bread is not full of large holes, but while I accept that there's a place for that, I don't think that a sandwich loaf is it. I can do large holes when the occasion demands, Maybe in a sauce-mopping bread the greater surface area is good but I like my filling to stay between the slices, not run up my forearm.
So I'm glad to say, this one was just fine.
And the taste, well suffice to say that I'll be doing that again.
I've just spotted that my fellow blogger Pattypan has kindly given me a mention on her excellent blog, give her blog a read at http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.co.uk/ its full of good food and musings.
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