Such a grand loaf

This morning I had a friend come over for breakfast of pancakes and poached blueberries.  The sourdough pancakes weren't as spectacular in height because I didn't have the mix as thick this time.  Very light and lovely.

Breakfast loaf

My second Boy loaf came out of the oven this evening.  I made the dough into a single large loaf in a pan and this better suits my needs for toast in the morning.  The crust isn't as chewy and the loaf has smaller holes - all the better for buttering with my breakfast egg.

I feel that I'm conquering this sourdough bread making.  This time, my initial sponge was doubled in 4 hours.  I cut back on the times allowed for the bulk proof and final proof stages and the dough was much easier to handle at the shaping stage.

After the initial shaping, the dough stood proud and didn't collapse.  I shaped again (for luck) and let it rise in a large loaf pan.

Slashing wasn't (in retrospect) as deep as it should have been because the loaf "broke" on one side.  I need to either become more confident with the curved blade lame or give up on it and use a sharp knife instead.

I'm really happy with this loaf - can you tell?

It's working

The Brett Noy yeast and recipe is giving me a better loaf and I'm thrilled with it - henceforth the starter shall be named Boy.  The bread reminds me of the taste of bread from my youth so I'm wondering if there was an element of natural yeasts and long preparation back then to give such great flavour.

Yogi is not forgotten.  He gave me great results with my pancakes and both Yogi and Boy have distinctive "banana" odours.  Perhaps they have cross pollinated in the refrigerator.

I am disappointed that I've purchased a lame with a permanent blade.  I can't replace the blade when it becomes blunt or rusty.  It's also a curved blade and I'm having a problem using it.  I think a flat blade would be easier to wield.  The banneton is smaller than I imagined.  It's meant for a .75kg loaf and I'm thinking that I need to make larger loaves for myself to be able to slice for toast.

So so scones

I found a recipe on the net for sourdough scones and baked them as a trial.  Not a huge success and I'm not sure how they could be improved.  The scones rose a little in the oven, but I'm thinking they might need to proof a little while before baking.  Will try that next time.  It was also a very dry dough so I'll use less flour next time.

My usual scone recipe is a very wet mix which has minimal handling - I combine wet and dry ingredients in a bowl and plop the mix onto a floured counter, sprinkle more flour on top and gently press the dough to flatten before cutting.