Tuesday, 21 May 2013

A Good Rustic Loaf

More like a bad rustic loaf!  Another disappointing experiment with yeast.

A good (?) rustic loaf
Texture
I used a special artisan stoneground spelt flour but the results were disappointing, a very dense loaf albeit moist.  It seemed to go wrong from the beginning - I accidentally measured out 3 times as much flour than I needed for the starter dough so had to add more yeast and water which made enough starter for 6 loaves!  Began it about 10.30 one night and it took all the next day to go through the various rising stages, one of which I caused because I could see the loaves were spreading on the baking sheet and would have been more like flatbreads so I re-shaped them into 2lb loaf tins and they obviously had to rise again.  I was told the final result resembled a couple of house bricks and maybe the local builder would like them.....


PS my bread machine is the easier option - open a packet of mix, add water and press the button!  But that's not what Bake Off is all about.


A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER

I used one of the extra starters that I had in the fridge and just used ordinary strong bread flour, kneaded it in the food processor, proved it, knocked it back, shaped it and proved it again.  Then baked it and hey presto I got a half decent loaf!

A good rustic loaf!

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