Sourdough/bread making

Over by there

Pineapple juice? Righto. Off to the shops we go. Don't carry that.

busterbenny2001

Been on a health kick for a month or two so sourdough off the menu, trying to coax my starter back to life here with a cheddar and chilli dough.

                                                                               
                                                                       

busterbenny2001

Came out ok loads of chilli will be spicy!

                                                                       

busterbenny2001

Plain white
                                                                       

Antiquarian

May I ask a general bread baking question?  I get more oven spring from my sourdough loaves than I get from conventional loaves.  I would love to get a steer on why my conventional loaves are so poor in this respect.  Would it be the kneading, the yeast, the hydration?  For time and other constraints I do not “knock back” the dough and give it a second rise/prove.  Any advice would be welcome.

busterbenny2001

Without knowing your exact recipe and temperatures etc it’s a hard one, my biggest  effect on oven spring seems to be the oven temperature and the addition of steam during the first 5 minutes of baking. Oven as hot as will go for initial 15 mins for me !

Antiquarian

Many thanks for replying so quickly, I haven’t used steam for a while now as it did not seem to have much effect in our fan oven.  I shall give it another go though.  Maybe I could try conventional oven rather than fan, the steam would last longer that way.

busterbenny2001

Still trialling a low impact dough this was ok not perfect
Mix for 5 mins rest half hour prove overnight, then shape final prove and bake
Trying again tonight with slightly higher ratio of starter

                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                       

busterbenny2001

Latest low impact test, really happy with these light as a feather great crust and taste only half a loaf left already !

                                                                       

busterbenny2001

Some new polish bread baskets today this loaf was 20% whole meal flour.