Today is my second attempt at homemade sourdough bread (actually third if you count the english muffins). The first time the bread tasted good but I had some problems with shaping the loaves. I’m still at a loss when it comes to shaping anything that doesn’t go into a loaf pan! I just haven’t been able to learn from my books and I haven’t found much help online either. Today the loaves are round which was much easier than the french style loaves I made last time.
Tomorrow I’ll try some more whole wheat bread. I wasn’t impressed with my last batch of whole wheat. It didn’t rise enough, the recipe called for too much salt and I didn’t like the flavor of the molasses. Tomorrow I’ll probably try the same recipe with less salt, honey instead of molasses and I’ll replace some of the whole wheat flour with bread flour to see if I can get a better rise. I don’t have a good selection of whole-grain flours here and I just haven’t had good luck with what I’ve been buying at the commissary. I would like to order my flour from King Arthur but it’s way too expensive to ship!
But even the worst loaves that come out of my oven are better than the bread we buy at the commissary here. All of the bread is baked in Germany, frozen, and then shipped here. I’m not sure what they do to it but if you don’t stick it in the fridge, it molds within 2 days. I love bread from the Italian bakeries of course but I prefer whole wheat bread for sandwiches and toast.
So, I’ll keep working at it and hopefully I’ll come up with a good whole wheat recipe for everyday bread and some good sourdough for the occasional treat.
linda says