Sour Dough Bread

Today I am making my second attempt at sour dough bread from my new starter. Not that the first one did not go well, I am still eating it a week later and it’s very tasty, but the uncooked loaf was very wet so I had to use a loaf tin in which to cook it. This time I have tweaked my recipe as I prefer the cobbler style loaf, which my first attempt would have been too wet for.

See the recipe for the starter here.

Stage 1: The Production Leaven

Ingredients

50g sourdough starter

150g wholemeal flour

300ml water

Method

Mix all the ingredients together into a wet dough.

Cover and leave in a warm place for 12-24 hours until roughly doubled in size.

Stage 2: The Loaf

Ingredients

440g production leaven

330g rye flour

100ml water

salt to taste

Method

Mix all the ingredients together into a sticky dough.

Form into a cobbler shape and place on a greased baking tray, using a sharp knife slice a cross though the top of the loaf.

Leave to prove for the final time until almost doubled in size, from 2-8 hours.

Once ready, bake at gas mark 9 (240c) or as hot an oven as possible. Bake for 50-60 minutes, reducing the temperature to gas mark 7 after 10 minutes.

UPDATE 21 May 2010

Just realised I published this by accident! I have now made 4 loves but still not happy with the final recipe. Keep in-touch for updates and soon I hope to have a great recipe to share.