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Patricia Thornton wrote:
I would be interested to know if anyone has seen multigrain flour on their travels. My requests to friends for this (which I last bought in Waitrose) has resulted in bags and bags of various wholegrain flours but not one single packet of multigrain.

Sainsburys do an own brand "Speciality" multigrain, but it's 63p for 500g compared to their plain white bread flour for 59p for 1.5 kg.

I had a similar problem getting hold of multigrain flour, went to Julian Graves and bought a bunch of different grains, (millet, linseed etc), spent about a fiver I think but I've enough to keep me baking for about a year I think!
The millet is particularly tasty, as is the addition of pumpkin seeds.

I keep a large container with a mix of seeds and grains to put in my bread, whatever takes my fancy at the health food shop. I sometimes add a handful of rolled oats, which gives a nice nutty flavour.

A bit of history on sourdough bread - http://www.angelfire.com/ab/bethsbread/ ... dough.html

I saw a TV show about bread once and they visited a bakery in San Francisco, California that has kept their sourdough "starter" (I guess they call it the "mother dough") alive since 1849.

Hello there!Yesterday I made some sourdough bread for the first time,it really turned out very good! I was hoping to get some feedback from you fine folks,does it look like others sourdough bread?Another question is how do I get a thinner softer crust?Best wishes!

Michelle

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Hi Michelle,

One reason for thick crusts is allowing the skin of the dough to dry out too much during the second proving. I don't know if you proved a second time or not, but if you did one way of increasing the humidity is to use a dampened cloth placed over the loaf tins, or to place the loaf tins into a lightly oiled plastic bag whilst they are proving!

Bread looks fine to me, but more importantly was it good to eat?


Regards,
Richard

Hello Richard! I did proof the bread 2 times,I covered it with a wet towel while rising to prevent drying out.The recipe I used said to brush the loaf tops with melted butter,but this wouldnt cause the whole crust to be thick and crunchy?I am stumped?The good thing is that the bread was very enjoyable,the recipe is a keeper.Keep in mind the recipe is in U.S measurements.

Michelle

EVERYDAY SOURDOUGH BREAD (for five loaves)

The night before baking, mix in a very large bowl a batter made of:

2 cups sourdough starter
4 cups lukewarm water
5 cups flour

Mix well, although there may still be small lumps. Cover lightly
and leave overnight at room temperature. The next morning, stir
down the batter and return 2 cups to your permanent sourdough
container. Add:

3 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup powdered milk
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted and cooled (1/2 stick)
or vegetable oil
flour (white, whole wheat, or a combination
thereof; up to 10% other flours may be used)

Stir in about 5 cups of flour and beat well. Add about 5 or 6 more
cups gradually, until too stiff to stir, then turn out and knead
well, adding flour as necessary until the dough is smooth and
stands about 1/3 as high as it is wide when resting, or more.
Place in a greased bowl, let rise until double. Punch down, let
rest 15 minutes. Shape into 5 loaves, place in greased bread pans
(9 x 5 x 3). Brush tops with 1 tablespoon melted margarine or butter.
Let rise until tops are almost even with top edge of pan. Bake 45
minutes at 375. Turn out immediately onto racks. For a soft crust,
rub with hard butter or margarine while still hot. Freeze in plastic
bags when cool.

I'm actually rather jealous Michelle, although I can make decent enough bread, I have yet to be able to get a lovely thick crust! I just love the crust!

tristar wrote:I'm actually rather jealous Michelle, although I can make decent enough bread, I have yet to be able to get a lovely thick crust! I just love the crust!

The method I use to get a nice crust is to spray water on the loaves every three minutes for the first 15 minutes of baking (use one of those litle plant sprayer bottles; new of course). Works a treat.

As for getting a softer crust; I would try baking at a much lower temperature (around 160-170C) if you want to use the same recipe. If not then try adding a small amount of soya flour (2tsp in a 2lb loaf) and/or replacing half the water with milk and baking at 190C. (you may need to adjust these temperatures according to your oven type.

Wow,thank you guy's! Possibly tomorrow I will try out the misting the loaves with water.Now for the shapes of the loves,for the round loaf a person would proof thier dough in a round basket?For the oval loaf I would just shape and proof on a baking sheet?I am sorry if my questions seem odd,I have made yeast bread for a number of years but this sourdough is a whole new world to me!

Michelle

Michelle...

How old is your sourdough starter and did you make it yourself if so from what method,??

Mind you it would look that you have access to a better flour that we do in the UK as the colour indicates some good manitoba stock.


.

Hello Rik! My homemade sourdough starter (flour/water) is about 8 months old now,I was really scared to make some SD bread so I stuck to making SD bisquits,SD pancakes & SD chocolate cake....Now that I made some SD bread I feel very accomplished.We are very lucky here in Canada to have access to good whole wheat and white flour,the downside is finding other flour such as rye.If you do find it,it is very expensive! I have just been itching to make some SD rye bread!

Michelle

The addiion of some Rye flour to your starter gives another type of flavour and a lot of sourdoghers used it.....

But well done on your sourdough bread I much prefer your type of crumb and crust to the traditionalists which is far too holey for my liking as the butter runs down to your elbows with toast.

Hello Rik! The sourdough bread didnt last long,I made 5 loaves and we got depleted by family!My parents took a loaf home,my husbands parents took a loaf home,and my favorite brother inlaw took one home,we ate one hot out of the oven and the next morning we ate the last loaf for breakfast as toast.So hopefully tomorrow I will have time to make 5 more loaves in secrecy! lol I hope to have a good outcome again!

Michelle