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Culinary news
When I decided (long pre-pandemic) I wanted to make sourdough, it wasn't exactly an overnight process. There's a lot of advice out there on exactly how to go about it. A lot. For a long time, it just seemed easier to keep spooning in the commercial yeast and stay well clear.
Eventually, however, I managed to hack my way through the thicket of info and decided to follow just one person's advice. And that person was Ed Wood. Not the director (unless he has a side hustle), just a guy who with his late wife spent decades tracking down different sourdough cultures from all around the world and perfecting baking with them. One guy. One recipe book. Two cultures I bought from Ed, one from Bahrain that was particularly sour, and one from South Africa which was fantastic at leavening wholegrains.
It turned out to be a good plan, as Ed Wood knows what he's doing bread-wise. Following his instructions, I've made terrific sourdough from loaf one and I've never had a failure. I particularly like his method: unlike modern sourbros who bang on endlessly about percent hydration, Ed encourages you to adjust things as you go along depending on the feel of the dough. That kind of vagueness was one of the reasons I was intimidated about starting in the first place, but having come out the other side, I think it's the way to go. After all, people have been doing this for five thousand years without benefit of calculator. And as a result of understanding what the dough should feel like and what the ingredient proportions are, I can pretty much throw together any sourdough now without a recipe and expect it to come out well. I take no credit for this whatsoever. It's all Ed and those heroic hardworking yeasts.
Despite doing this for years now, though, I'm no Ed and I still have plenty to learn. And one of those things turns out to be that I should read Ed's recipes more carefully. I accidentally discovered recently that all along I've been ignoring Ed's advice that the last hour of proving the bread should be done at a high temperature (about 30 degrees C/86F). Well, cover me in flour and butter and bake me for thirty minutes. Who knew? Perhaps a better question might be how I could have missed this when it's in every single one of Ed's recipes. Sigh.
So I gave it a shot, and this was the result. This is an entirely wholegrain loaf with a decent percentage of rye in it, making it difficult to get a good rise. When I used to make this type of bread with commercial yeast, although it was tasty I could have used it to pave the driveway. With sourdough, the rise was much better. But adding the extra heat to the proving step was a revelation. Look at the puff on this thing!
So yeah, Ed's the man. If you want to launch into sourdough yourself, I recommend his book, Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood and Jean Wood. But read the whole recipe. Turns out it's better than way.
In other news, I planted plain mint, but this year it appears to have hybridised. Now I have catmint.
Eventually, however, I managed to hack my way through the thicket of info and decided to follow just one person's advice. And that person was Ed Wood. Not the director (unless he has a side hustle), just a guy who with his late wife spent decades tracking down different sourdough cultures from all around the world and perfecting baking with them. One guy. One recipe book. Two cultures I bought from Ed, one from Bahrain that was particularly sour, and one from South Africa which was fantastic at leavening wholegrains.
It turned out to be a good plan, as Ed Wood knows what he's doing bread-wise. Following his instructions, I've made terrific sourdough from loaf one and I've never had a failure. I particularly like his method: unlike modern sourbros who bang on endlessly about percent hydration, Ed encourages you to adjust things as you go along depending on the feel of the dough. That kind of vagueness was one of the reasons I was intimidated about starting in the first place, but having come out the other side, I think it's the way to go. After all, people have been doing this for five thousand years without benefit of calculator. And as a result of understanding what the dough should feel like and what the ingredient proportions are, I can pretty much throw together any sourdough now without a recipe and expect it to come out well. I take no credit for this whatsoever. It's all Ed and those heroic hardworking yeasts.
Despite doing this for years now, though, I'm no Ed and I still have plenty to learn. And one of those things turns out to be that I should read Ed's recipes more carefully. I accidentally discovered recently that all along I've been ignoring Ed's advice that the last hour of proving the bread should be done at a high temperature (about 30 degrees C/86F). Well, cover me in flour and butter and bake me for thirty minutes. Who knew? Perhaps a better question might be how I could have missed this when it's in every single one of Ed's recipes. Sigh.
So I gave it a shot, and this was the result. This is an entirely wholegrain loaf with a decent percentage of rye in it, making it difficult to get a good rise. When I used to make this type of bread with commercial yeast, although it was tasty I could have used it to pave the driveway. With sourdough, the rise was much better. But adding the extra heat to the proving step was a revelation. Look at the puff on this thing!
So yeah, Ed's the man. If you want to launch into sourdough yourself, I recommend his book, Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood and Jean Wood. But read the whole recipe. Turns out it's better than way.
In other news, I planted plain mint, but this year it appears to have hybridised. Now I have catmint.
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I can't open the photo, (you know DW photo issues) but I will take your word for it!
I know sometimes on the Great British Baking Show they were proving some things warm.
I just ordered his book!
Thank you :)
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If not I will private message you here.
Is the kneading hard on your hands or do you have a bread machine?
Thank you!
helen
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https://msconduct.livejournal.com/
I use a bread machine (the noisy one I keep in my laundry:)). I make all our bread and I'm afraid I don't have time for the artisan route. You can use a heavy-duty mixer with a bread hook as an alternative, although Ed Wood warns that sourdoughs can strain even the heaviest machine so I've never tried it. He recommends a bread machine and some of his recipes are adapted for that. Some machines have a dough-only cycle - mine doesn't so I just turn it off after 20 minutes. Of course it's entirely possible to do it by hand too if you're feeling energetic.
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Oh right, sorry! You are my friend with the noisy bread machine in the laundry room! I was mixing you up with another person who just got a bread machine on that.
Right, I would probably try by hand first and make sure I want to do this before investing in a bread machine. And I only have a laundry closet, ha hah!
Thanks for cross posting so I could see your beautiful loaf! :)
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That is a good idea, the garage. It gets cold out there but better than the noise! I am thinking more and more about it. Waiting for the book.
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Re my catmint plant: catmint is a real thing, but I was making a joke as the photo was of one of my cats who has taken to sitting in the plant pot where my mint is planted. I added an alt text to explain the photo, but perhaps something went wrong with it.
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Oh wow! I just went back and saw that! I didn't even pay attention, as I figured it was just a picture, but it's not! Hugs. I didn't know this could be done on Dreamwidth!
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Your kitty is darling.
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Thank you! I think so too:).
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