sourdough

[Guest guest]

Hi all - I just made my first sourdough bread and could use a little

advice. I made my own starter - half water half spelt and used it

while it was 'fermenting'. I have to say the bread (made with

organic, stone ground wheat flour) is much better than I imagined

for my first try. It tastes slightly 'fizzy' though - is that

normal? It certainly tastes 'alive'! The other thing I'm not sure

about is the texture - it rose quite well but it is still very

moist/sticky inside after cooking it for longer than reccomended -

crust is very thick and cruncy. Is this normal? If not, how would I

stop it happening again? I cooked with a pan of water in the bottom

for the first half of cooking time - could this have made it too

moist? Advice appreciated - I'm just finding my feet here!

[Guest guest]

Is it moist inside or is it uncooked inside?

It should be moist. The bran should absorb more water. And the

fermentation and long soaking should make the starches absorb lots of

water. Good bread is very moist.

The crust is hard because of the water that you put in the bottom of

the oven. Also, good sourdoughs will have a nice crust because of

process that occurs involving boiling water and organic acids. (I

forget the details right now). This would not have effected the

moisture of the bread at all.

If it's not cooked, you probably needed a higher temperature.

Soren

--- In @y..., " ziggyhindson " <mystical1972@l...>

wrote:

> Hi all - I just made my first sourdough bread and could use a

little

> advice. I made my own starter - half water half spelt and used it

> while it was 'fermenting'. I have to say the bread (made with

> organic, stone ground wheat flour) is much better than I imagined

> for my first try. It tastes slightly 'fizzy' though - is that

> normal? It certainly tastes 'alive'! The other thing I'm not sure

> about is the texture - it rose quite well but it is still very

> moist/sticky inside after cooking it for longer than reccomended -

> crust is very thick and cruncy. Is this normal? If not, how would I

> stop it happening again? I cooked with a pan of water in the bottom

> for the first half of cooking time - could this have made it too

> moist? Advice appreciated - I'm just finding my feet here!

>

>

[Guest guest]

>>I've yet to see a spelt loaf that comes anywhere near the lightness of

>>wheat.

>>Really, in NT it says that spelt makes a lighter loaf. I am very

>>interested because I just began my 'starter' today.

Let me re-iterate that I haven't used spelt flour myself. I've only seen

spelt loaves in the bakery at my local co-op, and they're much heavier than

the whole wheat ones are. Your mileage may vary...