More sourdough...

...I hope I'm not boring you!

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1pm Thursday 14/01 - See that layer sitting on top of Sally? That is called the 'hooch' - alcohol that is produced.  I drained a bit of this off then stirred the rest into Sally.

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I fed the jar starter at 1pm with 1/4cup water and flour.  At 5pm, I took half of the starter and tipped it into a bowl and fed it 1/2 cup water and flour. I returned the jar of starter to the fridge.  I fed the bowl again at 9.30pm and she had good bubbles forming.  I left her to sleep until this morning.

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Sally was looking very good this morning so I proceeded to make two batches of dough.
(a good tip from Celia - get a glass of water and if a teaspoon of the starter floats on the top, the starter is good go).

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I mix the dough in my Kenwood (much too messy with my long fingernails for hand mixing).  In goes the starter, olive oil, salt, flour and water...

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I have the figjamandlimecordial.com site in my favourites on my iPad...
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I give it a quick mix to combine then let it sit for 10 minutes..,

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Then I gave it about 4 minutes in the mixer to really stir it up.  Plopped it into a big, oiled bowl and covered.  I'm hoping it will be ready at 5pm to shape for a final 1 hour prove before baking.

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The dough on the left is sloppier than the dough on the right.

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I'll come back with the results later today.

Cheers - Joolz xx

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Well, I had the dough flying in the kitchen this afternoon!  I had floppy ciabatta rolls rising and bread loaves rising, not enough oven trays so it was a bit chaotic!  But the results were great!

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When I got home from work, this is what was waiting for me...a mammoth lump of sourdough! This was the 60% hydration dough - Sally, you champion!

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Unfortunately, the 74% dough deflated as I took off the plastic cover but it was up to the top of the bowl too! Pics taken at 6pm.

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I plopped the 74% out onto my floured pastry sheet.  I then just cut off slabs and gently floured then formed them into rectangle-ish shapes...

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I left them to rise for about 40 minutes but they didnt rise much, although they were soft and squooshy to touch...

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But oh, when they came out of the hot oven - yay! Exactly what I was hoping for!

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Perfect vehicles for a good steak sanga (sandwich)...

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With the more solid 60% dough, I just cut it in half then patted out each blob into a rectangle then folded the ends into the middle, pinched the seam together then flipped the loaf over for a smooth top.

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I cant remember how long I baked these but I basically checked every 10 minutes until they reached this colour (maybe 40 minutes all up?)...

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Gus cooked some lovely steak in the Weber and I prepared a big plate of 'fixings' - tomato, cucumber, lettuce, cheese, beetroot, sour cream, fried onion and mushrooms! So bloody good!

Kirby reckons I should sell the ciabatta rolls, she was so impressed! I said I'd go broke waiting for each batch to be ready!

This is the 60% loaf - a little coarser than my last loaves.  My next batch will be a 74% one for bread, lets see how holy I can get it!  I love experimenting - no two bakes are the same!

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Below is a link to Celia's blog with the recipes for the two different hydration batches.

http://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/02/20/basic-sourdough-recipe/

Cheers - Joolz xx