Trigger warning: if you are still experiencing post-Pandemic sourdough trauma, please don't read this.
I know that I'm late to this but if, like, everyone else in the UK can make sourdough bread, I need to be able to as well. I missed out on the sourdough phenomenon as I was in Hong Kong so I thought I'd give it a go and now I'm hooked.
The process is arcane, strangely inaccessible and full of jargon. My friend Robert first put me onto the great Elaine Boddy on Threads, who was really kind and helpful. I started with her simplified and accessible version of the sourdough process and, as instructed, I named my first Starter Anthony.
It turns out that Anthony, while adequate, wasn't an Adonis, capable of supporting my wholemeal loaves and most of my first loaves turned out cakey and, well, a bit flat.
I made Beatrice from Anthony for a lower hydration, richer, Christmas pannetone starter but I was disappointed with the results. (Yes, I did become distracted by the Eurocentric naming, but I've saved that knotty issue for another day.)
As I was dieting post-Christmas and not eating much bread, Anthony was consigned to sit in the fridge and think about what he'd done and I almost gave up hope of baking again until I gave him one last go, with better flour, and made this:
Buoyed, I decided to do it all properly and downloaded Sourdough Sophia's (she of the heavenly 2019 Panettone recipe that can no longer be found anywhere on the Internet) ebook and online sourdough course, which tackles the subject of baking bread with scientific rigour.
It's all very complicated, this way, and involves an initial rye-based starter, which you feed every 12 hours and keep at a constant temperature. There's quite a lot of discard waste which, in theory could be made into pancakes or added to cakes, if I made cakes anymore, but I'm not clear what the benefit of that would be.
You keep a diary and observe the tidal ebb and flow of your starter with a view to being able to predict the best time to start a loaf. Needless to say some additional kit is necessary for this method. I do like purchasing additional kit and I must say that it's made all the difference so far.
My geriatric Kitchenaid sits in Norfolk so I took the opportunity to buy a Swedish-made Ankarsrum mixer, where the motor turns the bowl and the dough hook stays still mimicking, it is said, the action of hands on dough, though I'm not convinced about this. You have to be really careful not to over-process and break the gluten, but I've had promising results with this so far.
Two other niche purchases are the Sourdough Home, which keeps the developing starter at a constant 26C, and the Proving Box. I was intitally sceptical of spending a large amount of money on a heated box, especially as, in theory, my ovens are capable of proving dough but I'd say that this is the piece of equipment that has made the most significant difference as I'm not reliant on a constant ambient temperature, which can be difficult to achieve overnight in a kitchen.
Initial results with the first loaf were pretty encouraging so I tried the Good Food recipe for Sourdough Hot Cross Buns. These took a litte bit more effort in monitoring and shaping but I was delighted with the result, not least with my first piping success. I was on a roll. Just look at the crumb in these!
You might wonder why I don't just go down to the nearest artisan bakery or supermarket and just buy the bread and save myself the effort and, especially, the waiting around for the flavour to develop. It's a fair question, but the truth is that I find the whole process of experimentation and anticipation completely fascinating. And fresh homemade sourdough toast, even from bread that's gone a bit wrong like the produce in the early stages of this journey, is much, much better than any other bread that I've ever tasted. So I'll keep on. Speaking of which, I have had a seeded wholemeal dough in my proving box overnight ready for its final shaping and fridge fermentation so I'd better get up and do that.
A post script: Today's sourdough has come out of the oven as flat as a pancake. Too much water, despite the recipe? Overproofed? Probably a combination of these but who will ever know? We live and learn.
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