I did the usual light kneading and then I left it to bulk prove with one fold after 90 minutes. Keep covered at room temperature.


The formula and instructions are taken from his very popular book, "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes". Rye starters are much easier to get going for some reason and seem to more stable than white ones.

Thanks for taking the time to do all that. (After each feeding, you will watch it transform and grow, doubling, even tripling in size and smelling very sour. I think you are more likely to get mould if you wander around trying to catch airborne yeasts ! and then gallop over to the raised veg bed and grab some salad leaves… :) But it’s pouring with rain and all the peonies have their heads bowed over full of water… just got the bbq and all… oh well I’m sure the sun will be back soon enough :). Jeffrey Hamelman, Bread: Sourdough Baguette recipe This hybrid recipe (which combines sourdough leaven and a small amount of commercial yeast) ... (including fold) and around an hour final fermenting after shaping makes this an option if you start baking in the morning but want to some fresh interesting bread at lunchtime. Why have a starter? Click on the Bun for Links Shape in to round/oblong and place into bannetons.Cover the loaves and let them rise. Make sure the bowl is large enough for the levain to triple in size as it grows and bubbles up. This is the famous sourdough formula from Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman. 740 gm bread flour 98 gm rye flour 491 gm water 20 gm salt. To allow enough time for rising, start this bread the day before you bake. I’ll try Dan Lepard’s method. After they build a bread’s initial levain, they remove about an ounce and use that to start the next dough. I mixed the dough up and following the instructions, left the salt out and left the dough for 45 minutes before gently kneading it into the dough. Make this pizza dough once, and you'll never again buy a frozen pizza or one of those pre-made doughs that taste like dessicated wood chips. Hmm. When I attended the San Francisco Baking Institute in 2015, master baker Didier Rosada laughed in disdain when I bragged about the number of years I’d kept my starter alive. Your descriptions are beautiful and make me eager to try this one! Let stand in a warm area (75F to 80F) for 12 hrs.

Thanks for your nice words ::). Here’s his five-day “liquid levain culture” – bakers’ speak for sourdough starter. I am calling it Norwich Sourdough, in honor of the home town of Hamelman’s King Arthur Flour bakery. I love the mystery of bread-baking and its complexity. I don’t leave mine open to the elements. ), Anne Marie and Abby – Look forward to reading your posts soon :). ), Di, the important thing for me is that I am doing it at all :) I love making bread and I think it’s miraculous – such a joy and such fun and you get to eat it too! Thanks! wet flannels, well maybe not the latter, but get the steam in there. The ‘wild yeasts’ come from the flour and the currants as far as I am concerned. But I agree it is much harder! Refrigerate 12-24 hrs. And, if you’re looking for the recipeso as to dip your fingers in the flour for the first time, try Susan on the WildYeastBlog.com site – her Norwich Sourdough is derived from the Vermont sourdough. The steam keeps the skin of the dough moist and stretchy long enough for the oven spring to happen and probably does something else, as I always seem to get better colour with steam, but I don’t know the tech reasons for that. Great read, thanks Jo!
I love all your pictures, especially the top one–that looks delicious!