This is the first time I felt really good about the sourdough bread I've made. I didn't get it to rise all that much the first times, but we could still eat it. Turns out we all love putting them in the toaster. This time I did much better and I believe my starter is getting better too.
I always use some milk and butter in the bread I make, but I have to admit that when I use less milk it gets better. I did about 1/3 milk this time and a smaller amount of butter and some oil. The only problem I've encountered this time is that I got the loaves to rise so nicely and then it began to collapse. Lucky enough I was right next to it so that I could see it just in time to put them in the oven. That saved the day.
My best guess right now is that by using baking syrup I might get it to rise to fast. I made the dough last night and let it rise over night, about 8 hours. I got them in the loaf pans and they rised for almost four hours before I could see how one of them started to collapse. I baked them at 200 C for 10 minutes and then 35 minutes on 180 C with a baking sheet over to keep the top from burning. I always get the bread out of the loaf pans and let them get a few more minutes in the oven upside down to let the bottom dry up a bit. It reached a inner temperature of 92-93 C and I just learned that's good for bread with fine milled flour. With whole grain it's supposed to get up to about 96-98 C.
I have to say, it feels so great to finally be a bit successful with making my own sourdough from speltflour. I was looking forward to it, but when I see that starter almost getting out of the jar or the dough rising beautifully I feel like a million dollar.
Now I better get started, I promised I'd make pizza for dinner and it's getting late!
Until next time, be well.
//S
