and again

the starter was very bubbly, and this shows in the bake.

Cooked well all the way through.
Started off with maximum heat in oven.
Water tray at bottom for heat.
Loaves in with spray from water bottle for extra steam.
Turned oven down to gas 7 setting.
20 minutes one side, then turned around for another 30 minutes, including 10 minutes for the underneath which is always soft - have to turn loaf upside down to finish off.

Taste and texture - 8/10. Would like more 'sourness'.
How to achieve this?

After completely cold, cut loaf into good thick slices, wrapped in brown paper, then cling film, then put into zip lock bags for freezer.

Excellent for toast and lemon marmalade.

Bonne Maman lemon marmalade (my current fad)

Thursday: sourdough again

Getting back into making sourdough after a long absence.
Starter taken out of freezer.
This is second loaf made. Better fermentation than first one, but final dough was a bit 'sloppy' ... ?
Retarded overnight for 12 hours.
Took out of fridge and didn't bring up to room temperature as the spring-back indicated it was ready to bake. Used Banneton baskets - (I am beginning to like the long one rather than the round).

Bake: much better. Hot water tray in bottom of high oven, creating steam.
40 minutes at 200 degrees, swapping half way through bake. Turned loaf over for final extra 10 minutes because bottom was soft.

Taste: really nice.

 

 

a cook's diary

Cooking is fundamental to my enjoyment of life. I live to eat and love to cook, learning at my mother's and grandmothers' sides. One grandmother was great at baking scones and the Christmas pudding, the other was great at baking cakes. My mother, on the other hand was a trained cook and knew all the basics and, lucky for me, I learned by osmosis over the years always watching every step she made. Also lucky for me, she knew how to not waste food and leftovers were a great staple in our house.

As I have been cooking since childhood these were at first were my mother's recipes including long-remembered family dishes, which I have now passed onto my own family.

I often forget what delicious food I have made over the years particularly since my family have grown up. So this blog is purely for me - a diary of what I cook with notes of how I made it, what went wrong, what could be improved, plus new dishes I discover from my library of cookbooks which I have never made before. So many books - so many recipes! I do these on the weekends when I have more time.

There's no amazing photography here; nothing clever or on trend.

This is a just diary, and I am just an ordinary home cook.

(Bonne Maman's Seasonal Cookbook: stuffed lamb with redcurrant glaze)