The Mock Turtle

I'm rubbish at working out percentages but mine is 510g flour, 300g water, 180g starter and 12g salt. It's sticky but not usually that wet.

I knead briefly and then do three lots of brief stretching and folding at 40min intervals, then leave for another 30mins before shaping and putting in the fridge over night.

I usually use (for a standard loaf) 75% water, 20% leaven, 2% salt (375g, 100g, 10g to 500 g of flour), but it's dependent on the type of flour, even the brand, and needs adjusting. That % is for 90% white, 10% wholemeal.

I just go by how the dough looks for proving, not by time. In my cold kitchen, it usually takes about 4 hours before it can go in the fridge, often longer, depending on weather/whether I'm using the oven. I knead a tiny bit to start with (again for a standard loaf, other breads vary) and then stretch and fold about every 30-40 minutes but in reality, when it's convenient/ad break. It gets a bench rest once it starts to be puffy, silky and bubbles are visible (I prove in a glass bowl so I can see the texture develop properly). Then after 30 odd minutes of that, it gets shaped, tension roll, into a banetton and overnight in the fridge.

Ah, so you all seem to prove your loaves in the fridge, overnight?

You use much more starter than I do, too. My weights are 600g flour (usually strong white, but white bread flour seems rare as hens teeth around here, these days, so I'm experimenting tonight with half and half wholemeal and strong white), 450ml (ish) water, 90g starter, and 12g salt. I started the loaf at around 7am, left it to rise in the hot press until around 7.30pm (by which time it looked like an atomic mushroom). Knocked it back and shaped it, and put it in the oven about 10 minutes ago. The wholemeal/strong white mix seems much less wet than the unadulterated strong white. It had a good shape but, unfortunately, stuck to the heat-proof chopping board I use as a sort of peel to slide the loaf into the Dutch oven (actually a large oval Le Creuset-type casserole). So, it semi-capsized. Might not be pretty, but am pretty sure it will taste good.

Edited - 12g salt, not 2!

So here it is, my capsized loaf. I'm quite happy with it. It's soft and tastes good, but doesn't have the airholes I'd expect in a white loaf - maybe this is normal for wholemeal? OTOH, I rushed the folding stage a bit, as we had to leave for work, so it may not have had its full quota. Hadjiandreaou's sourdough book is very speedy in comparison with most methods. He recommends 10 minutes autolyse, then 10 minutes between foldings, 10 times. I used this method quite successfully until I killed off my original starter and then, for some unknown reason, I've never been able to get the same results - although the starter I'm using now is generally better looked after and more active.

Thay looks good!

My first loaf, I didn't put anywhere enough salt in.

Nice holes!

OTH that looks really good, nice and crumbly in the right way.

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! My fourth sourdough loaf and my first sourdough focaccia. Yumbo!

I must give foccacia a try. That looks really tasty.

Is there a shortage of bread flour in the UK? I haven't seen any strong white flour here for weeks. I even looked in our local cash and carry, to see if they had any catering-sized bags (having been told that the shortage was a packaging issue), but no. I've been mixing half and half wholemeal flour for the last two weeks, but I'm down to my last 150g. I've bought a small bag of spelt for feeding the starter. I assume I could mix that with the wholemeal the same way I did the strong plain. (I just don't like wholemeal bread that much.)

It's sourdough or soda bread all the way, now, as there's no yeast to be had either.

I've been able to get bread flour again here for the last three weeks. Before that, there was none for weeks.

One of the threads here has PAGES on the impossibility of buying bread flour. For a week or so I was logging in to five different mills every morning at the appointed time to try to be one of the lucky few for that day. Now I have loads they keep emailing to see if I want more yet so I guess it's much more available.

I can't get flour through any reasonable supermarket means. I've just ordered some via Lakeland to try and get my baking back up and running.

I've tried since this began to get SR and strong white flour but haven't been able to. I had a couple of plain so am working my way through that. No yeast or any raising agents have been available either. These are only on my supermarket deliveries as I haven't been going in apart from a quick visit a couple of weeks ago so I expect I would probably be able to get some in person.

I got my flour from FWP Matthews in the end, if that's any use to any of you. You have to buy in bulk though (either a 5 pack of normal sized bags, or a sack).

https://www.fwpmatthews.co.uk/

There is pretty much always flour some kind in the supermarkets near me at the moment.

I'm getting mine from my corner shop, who are getting it in plastic bags from the local independent bakery.

Hello. I am hoping to join the gang. Here is my starter, his name is Paul, after Ol’ Blue Eyes himself and his recipe. From the book my mum gave me when I had Chunk.

I genuinely have no idea what I’m doing.

The starter is a grated cox apple, flour & water. I’m setting an alarm to feed him on Saturday.

Good luck!

Apple? That's interesting. I've never used anything other than flour and water. I imagine the bread will eventually have a slight 'cider' character to it. I'll look forward to updates. Good luck!

He does say it should smell like cider by day 3. I wasn’t able to get an organic apple though so I’m not sure he’ll survive.