Celebrating Sourdough

One of the things that has surprised me most about starting Hels' Bakehouse has been the number of people who say "I'm not sure if I could get through a whole loaf." Perhaps I am just very greedy but my problem has always been more like, "I'm not sure if I can stop myself eating a whole loaf in one go!"

Anyway, last week there were a couple of unsold Sourdough's from Edenmill Farm Shop, so I decided that to tie in with Real Bread week (11th-17th May) that I would do a special blog post all about the mighty Sourdough loaf; how it is made, what makes it special and how you can make sure you use it all up.

Sourdoughs tend to be more expensive then your average loaf, which I think probably puts people off unless you have tried it before, but there are some very good reasons for this:

1. A good one will take around 24hrs to make from start to finish, whilst your average yeasted loaf takes just 3. This is because sourdoughs are made using a fermented starter, and therefore take much longer to rise and much more effort on the part of the baker to make something that looks like a loaf.

2. They tend to be larger and keep really well, so you don't need to worry about them going stale after a day or so. Make sure you store your bread in a cotton bag so it can breathe. It won't go mouldy and should be useable for up to a week.

3. They taste amazing! The texture of a good Sourdough should have a thick crust and a chewy flavoursome crumb. The flavour comes from using a starter of fermented flour and water which will have been lovingly fed and nurtured for many weeks, months and if not years. Google them and be amazed at how much you can sell some prized starer for!

4. They are good for you. Not only are the natural yeasts developed in the dough full of friendly bacteria, but the long fermentation process also makes the bread easier to digest. Sourdough is therefore a great choice for people who want to avoid that bloating feeling without giving up bread. People with mild wheat intolerances may also want to give Sourdough a go for these reasons as many have reported they find it much easier to tolerate. It's not gluten free though!

5. A little goes a long way - not only will this bread make the most delicious toast, it is the bread that keeps on giving! From dunking in soups to Italian salads or being the soup itself (I first ate Sourdough in San Francisco where they turn it into bread bowls for their famous clam chowder). This week I transformed my 4 & 5 day old Sourdough into the following delicious meals:

Bread & vegetable stew with white wine, chickpeas, fennel and home made basil pesto - an Ottolenghi recipe from The Guardian website:

Panzanella salad with oven toasted sourdough soaked in a tomato, red wine vinegar & garlic dressing with cucumber, capers, basil and black olives. This particular recipe comes from Rick Stein's Food Heroes book but there are loads out there:

I also attempted to capture the 12 step Sourdough making process on Twitter this week in my real time Life of a Bakehouse Sourdough photo diary. Check it out and find out what it takes to get from here...

to here...

to here!

If you fancy having a go at making Sourdough yourself then there is plenty of information out there about how to get started or you could sign up for a bread class with your local friendly Real Bread maker. Personally, I first went on a one day course with the wonderful Lesley Martin of Lesley's Kitchen and have never looked back (Tip: her cakes and welcome are as good as her bread!).

In conclusion, if you haven't tried it before give some Sourdough a chance this week and help to celebrate Real Bread by supporting local artisan bakers. Think of it as a bread investment and enjoy a great bread, made with love and packed as much with good feeling as it is flavour.

Baking fever

Right then, here's what's been happening since I last wrote: I've left my full time job, found a part time job, filled up the Bread Club with lovely customers, been on a yoga retreat and slept a sum total of about 4.5 hours (not really, but it feels like it). There is no going back now and in between the waves of terror and panic I am super excited.

Today is the first sourdough week and the logistics of making 10 long fermenting loaves in a domestic oven with a four year old building Lego at your feet have been challenging, but I've done it and seeing all the lovely fresh loaves lined up and cooling in my kitchen makes me smile from the inside out.

My lovely friend Rowena, who makes one off original bags in her spare time has also agreed to make me some bread bags for my customers. The first prototype arrived today and it's fantastic. Storing your bread in a cotton bag is the best way to keep it fresh as it allows the air to circulate and stops your loaf going mouldy. Even when the bread goes stale you can still use it for bread crumbs and of course it's also good for the environment.

Hels' Bakehouse: saving the world one loaf at a time!

Sourdough, cake and inspiration

This weekend it was time to try out my rye sourdough starter which has been slowly fermenting for the last month. It had gone from smelling of paint stripper to boozy, sharp apples so at last I could experiment with the sponge method and get baking.

This technique involves mixing together a ladleful of your starter with some flour and warm water the evening before you want to bake and leaving it in a warm place overnight. The next morning it had transformed into a frothy milkshake and was good to go. The next stage was making the dough by adding more flour and salt and kneading until smooth and shiny. This took me about 10 minutes using the satisfyingly aggressive and noisy French kneading technique to which I am now a firm devotee.

You then leave the dough for an hour or two, before deflating and re-forming into a ball, then repeat the resting, deflating and reforming stage 2-3 times until you have a lovely fluffy, smooth pillow to play with. The final stage is to divide the dough and form into loaves to pop in proving baskets for the final rising stage (again another 2-3 hours). Finally by tea time they were ready to go in the oven and by supper time we were tucking in to some delicious fresh sourdough.

This is definitely a technique for a long lazy weekend, rather than when you want bread in a hurry but the results were amazing. My best sourdough yet.

It also gave me a chance to try out my new signature slash to the crust. The H for Hels' Bakehouse looks great, although much to the delight of my husband, who works at the SECC, it also looks like the new Hydro arena in Glasgow and has now been christened 'Hydro bread'. I spy a marketing opportunity!

In between all of this bread making it was the usual weekend mixture of dog walking and child ferrying. My son goes to a drama class on a Saturday so whilst he was busy becoming a star, I took advantage and headed off for a coffee and a cupcake at The Butterfly Bakery & Cafe in Bearsden. I've been driving past for a while and looking for an excuse to pop in and I'm glad I did because the cake was delicious and it's the perfect sneaky treat for busy Mum's looking for a sanity saving 20 minutes peace and quiet.

To keep my motivation levels up (with less calorific side effects) I've also joined the ManicMums group on Linkedin and would definitely recommend this and the website mumandcareer.co.uk for anyone struggling to balance work, family, career, guilt and ambitions for a better way of doing all of this. It's full of inspiring advice from like minded people and there's nothing like feeling you're not alone to give you the confidence to keep going.

Bank holiday baking bonanza

This weekend has been all about the the bread. I am slightly obsessed and my kitchen now looks like a science lab, come illicit still.

I've baked bread occassionally over the years but the obsession started in earnest in June when we went on our family holiday to Lyme Regis and made a daily pilgrimage to the Town Mill Bakery.  I love everything about it: the communal cafe set up and open plan kitchen, the friendly atmosphere, the home made muesli, jam and peanut butter and, of course, the bread. We started each day with a mountain of toast, fresh apple juice, coffee and a pastry or two on the side, and I left inspired to bring some of that feeling back to our every day world.  I heard on the grapevine that the franchise is up for sale, and if I lived at the other end of the country and had won the lottery I would definitely be up for it.  As it is, my home kitchen will have to do for now.

Since then my bread maker has been relegated to emergencies, and I've been working my way through Richard Bertinet's great book - Dough. Every weekend, I've been trying something new and watching my family devour the results. It takes a lot of time, but it is time well spent and I am now addicted to therapeutic qualities of the French kneeding technique which I'm sure helps set off the calories I am now consuming in fresh bread. Next time I go to visit my parents, I'll definitely be insisting we head to Bath to check out the Bertinet Kitchen.

Although my results so far have been impressively edible, I decided that I really wanted to get a bit of expert advice, especially as I wanted to take it to the next level and start experimenting with the king of all artisan breads - the sourdough.

That's when I found Lesley's Kitchen, run by the lovely Lesley Martin, and signed up for her one day sourdough class. Lesley and her husband run a B&B and baking school in Muirkirk, Ayrshire. They converted an Old Church into their beautiful family home and business and Lesley now passes on her many year's of baking expertise to keen amateurs like myself in the heart of her amazing kitchen. I had a brilliant day, starting with fresh cake and coffee on my arrival, to going away armed with my own starters to try and keep alive and a whole host of new tips, suppliers and techniques to try out. The next day I baked off the white and sourdough loaves I had started under Lesley's expert tutelage and enjoyed the fruits of a day well spent. Now the only decision I have to make is which course to try next!