Second batch of sourdough bread

As originally planned, I made a second batch of sourdough bread with the remaining ferment. With the benefit of watching Richard Bertinet's DVD, I thought I'd do better.



I made the dough with 800 g of white flour, 650 g water and 20 g of salt. Still, the dough was pretty soft and sticky, even after working it for about 30 minutes. But I sprinkled more flour than before and folded it into a tighter ball for the first rise, then again folded a lot before the second rise too. Then I divided it up in two and placed in the bowl and the basket and left overnight. This time I sprinkled a mixture of flour and bran on the towels in the hopes that it would stick less.



I was slightly worried as the room they were in was a bit warmer now, but neither tried escape from its container, which I took as a good sign.

When it came to turn them out, I sprinkled a lot of polenta on the baking sheet I'd use to place in the oven. As before, the bread that had risen in the bowl had soaked the linen towel completely and had to be teased out of it. And despite my efforts on forming a tight ball, the whole thing just sprawled over the worktop. So I folded it a few times, so that it would fit in the oven. At least I did manage to use the baking sheet as a peel, but that's again something that requires practice. But as before, the bread went quite dark on top and remained pale underneath and didn't sound hollow, but had baked through. In fact, the second boule was so light, I turned it upside-down and gave it another 10 minutes, not that it seemed to make any difference.



Now we have four sourdough boules, sliced and frozen and these should see us through for a while, even if I have toast for breakfast every day. But my hands are itching for more baking and I'm doing pizza tonight. I've also been browsing through youtube and spotted a number of videos on how to make Kaiser rolls, which seems quite intriguing, so I'd like to give it a try next.