Beer Sourdough

More experimenting with sourdough thanks to this months cupcake book club.

This is simply a white sourdough loaf but instead of adding water to the loaf along with the four I added beer.

The beer enhances the taste of the sourdough and produces a light and soft loaf. However it does not taste overly of beer.

I am going to experiment further with beer in my sourdough. I have noticed that in Paul Hollywood's latest book he makes a sourdough with beer and also uses a beer glaze, that sounds nice. I would also consider using a darker beer, maybe even a stout.

Anyway this bread made an excellent pulled pork sandwich, yum!

Definitely enjoying bread making, lots of exciting types to try to keep me occupied for a long while.

Banana, oat and raisin Sourdough

This months cupcake book club read was set in, and around, a bakery and inspired me to get creative with my sourdough.

I already have a sourdough starter which I have had for just over 3 months. Up until now I have only made white or wholemeal loaves, well once I added a little Gruyère!

So after this book I made a slightly more adventurous one, banana, oat and raisin.

There were mixed opinions on the finished loaf, M loved it and would eat the lot in one sitting if allowed. I was not so much of a fan. I found it denser than my previous sourdough loafs, I guess this could be due to the banana. Having made nice light, soft loaves over the past few weeks I am almost certain that I made no flaws technique wise, but hey, everyone makes mistakes once in a while so maybe I did something. I suppose I would have to make it again to find out.

I will not be deterred however and plan to make an adventurous savoury sourdough too.

My sourdough starter, sponge and loaf recipes can be found on the blog. The breakfast sourdough idea came from Paul Hollywood's latest book.

White sourdough

Having stored my sourdough starter in the fridge as described at the end of the post here, I reactivated it to make a white sourdough loaf.

To reactivate the starter I removed it from the fridge, removed and disposed of half and then added 100g of white flour and enough warm water to take the starter to a thick paint consistency. I left this overnight. and then made my loaf as described here, using all white flour instead of any wholemeal.

The white loaf seems a little softer then one made with spelt and wholemeal flour. It spread a little more on the baking tray and the end texture of the bread was a little lighter than the wholemeal. Its too close to call, both will be baked weekly in my house from now on.

This bread makes an excellent sandwich, is good toasted and, left to go a little stale, makes fantastic croutons and crunchy topping for macaroni cheese!

Thyme and Gruyère sourdough

After making a sourdough loaf I decided to store my starter until I needed it again. Once a sourdough starter is well established it is a good idea to use a method of storing it to save you on flour!

I added enough bread flour to the starter to make a stiff batter. I then covered with clingfilm and left at room temperature for 3 days. When I wanted to make my next loaf I first disposed of half the batter. I then added another 100g flour and enough water to take the remaining half back to the consistency of thick paint. Within a few hours it was bubbling happily again, non the worse for its 3 day storage at room temp.

For my next loaf I added a little flavouring to my loaf, I used the recipe and method described here, with a few tweaks. The flour I used was all wholemeal bread flour, to the batter I added grated Gruyère cheese (not sure how much, maybe 80g?) and a couple of tablespoons of parmesan cheese. I also added fresh thyme leaves.

The cheese added a nice dimension to this sourdough loaf, the thyme did not come through quite as much as I had hoped, I think I need to add more.

As I went away for a week I needed to store my starter more long term. I added enough flour to make a batter consistency and then kept it covered in the fridge for 10 days. I will be baking a loaf this week and will let you know how storing the starter this way turns out.

Sourdough bread

Its time! I have been feeding my starter religiously for a week and it is bubbling away happily.

Still its a little while longer before I can enjoy the fruits of my labour. I have to start making my bread the day before I want it!

Sourdough loaf

Firstly make your sponge the day before you want your bread or even two days before, depending at what time of day you want to eat your bread!

Take 100ml of your starter, add 250g of flour and 275ml of warm water. Mix well with your hands, cover with clingfilm and leave overnight. In the morning it should be sticky and very bubbly.

You can add whatever bread flour you like. To make my sponge I added 100g wholemeal and 150g white bread flour. 

The next morning it is time to make bread! Add 300g flour (I used 200g white, 100g spelt) 10g fine sea salt and 1tbsp oil (I used groundnut ). Mix with your hands until everything is combined, turn out onto a floured board and knead for 10 minutes. Place into an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm.

Leave to rise. This step will take longer than other bread. If you want your bread in the evening make  the dough, as outlined above ,in the morning and come back to it early evening. If, like me you want your bread at lunch, leave your sponge until the evening before making the dough. Make the dough, as above, and leave overnight to rise. 

Once the dough has risen, mine got HUGE, turn onto a floured surface and knock it back. Place the dough into a proving basket, or line a bowl with a floured tea towel instead, and cover with clingfilm. Leave to rise for ~2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250C/230C FAN. Put a baking tray in the oven to get hot. Put a roasting tin with boiling water in at the bottom of the oven to create a humid atmosphere.

Take the baking tray out of the oven and sprinkle it with flour, and tip the dough onto the tray. Slash the top of the dough with a serrated knife. Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature by 50C and continue baking for 20-25 minutes. 

When ready the dough should have a deeply coloured crust and sound hollow when tapped underneath. 

Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before cutting into the bread.

The smell of this bread as it cooks is amazing. The dough has a very distinct flavour and was worth the wait!

It was a perfect accompaniment to soup and I cannot wait to try it toasted.

I am going to experiment with a flavoured version in the week. I will also let you know if my method of storing the starter was successful.

Sourdough starter

I have started a science experiment in my very own kitchen. I have finally gotten around to the alchemy that is creating my own sourdough bread.

I do not know why it has taken me so long. All you need is flour and water, two things I always have!

Sourdough bread does not use packet yeast, instead it uses natural yeasts in the environment, this is why we have to be patient when making sourdough, it requires a little bit of time and love for these yeasts to get to work and grow, but we are promised that we will be rewarded in the end.

To make sourdough you first need to create your starter. You can use whatever bread flour you like but a proportion of some sort of wholemeal flour will help get your starter going as they contain more natural yeast.

You will need 100g of flour in total, I used 50g strong white bread flour, 25g of wholemeal bread flour and 25g spelt flour.

You then simply mix 100ml of warm water into the flour until it has the texture of thick paint. Cover the bowl and leave in a warmish, draught free place, the kitchen is fine. And then we wait!

My starter ready to go, grow little yeast, grow!

We are waiting for bubbles to appear on the surface, a sign the yeast is activated. This can take 2-24 hours. Mine took about 12 but did not get its initial 'feed' until after 24 ish because I was at work. I must confess I was so excited at the appearance of small bubbles on the surface that I forgot to take a photo!


The starter then needs feeding, add 100g more flour and enough warm water to take it back to the thick paint consistency. You can use all white bread flour at this point, I added 50g of white and 50g of wholemeal. Cover and leave for another 24 hours. 

Bubbles 12 hours after its feed

After the 24 hours are up, remove half the starter and add another 100g of flour and enough warm water to take it back to the thick paint consistency.

Every 24 hours repeat the removal of half the starter followed by the addition of another 100g of flour and warm water.

The starter must be kept on the go for at least a week or up to about 10 days. After this we are allowed to bake bread with it!

So check back in a week and I will let you know how the bread turns out and how to store your matured starter.